*sigh* help with smoking marijuana issues during pregnancy

Hello, everyone. I am a very, very, very concerned mother & have a legitimate question and I am hoping not to be judged, as I would not wish that upon anybody.. I truly care about the health and well-being of my little One, and well....here goes....

ok. I am 21 years old, this is my first pregnancy and child, and everything is going along beautifully so far. I am 22 weeks pregnant & expecting a baby girl she is growing so healthy so far and I haven't had any complications whatsoever. I'm very surprised at how beautiful this being-pregnant experience has been, I half expected it to be sort of miserable, ya know? that's how some women at least make it out to be. Anyway, I smoked weed regularly before I found out I was pregnant, & I found out I was pregnant around 6-7 weeks. After that point, I stopped smoking weed. Not because I have any belief that it would harm my baby, but I just wanted to be super safe. idk how to explain it. I have NOTHING against weed, have no beliefs that it harms the unborn baby, or anything. Well, last night I was around my friends and away from home, I didn't have my nausea meds, and I got insanely sick from something I ate...just couldn't stop throwing up or feeling nauseous. So my friends suggested I hit the bowl a few times to calm my stomach, so I did, and of course it made me feel better. Like I said, I'm about 22 weeks along. Then I remembered I live in the terrible state of Alabama, and I read that a mother just months ago got arrested because her newborn tested positive for THC.... MY questions are do hospitals test every newborn for drugs? I read that they often drug test babies by their meconium, the first poop they have after birth, and it stores every drug the mother has done since 4 months. If that's the truth, then I am so so so so so afraid that they will take my precious baby away from me and send me to jail. I wish I could express just how ignorant people are here where I live, and it scares me endlessy... I don't have many options since I'm young & poor, and also midwives are illegal here too so it's impossible to have a birth outside of the hospital. I just want to know if any of this is true, if any other mothers had issues with this, I CANNOT find any straightforward laws or information about this. And I am worrying to death. I love my baby so much already, and I wouldn't do anything to ever not take care of her.... God this craziness has me stressing out which is worse for the baby than anything. I hate how I feel like I have no rights as a human being.

Any help, information, or advice would be so very, very appreciated. Thank you all so much for reading . love & light to allllllll

 

Ok, I'm a nurse, and while I don't work in OB, I can tell you from my experience with maternity in nursing school they do NOT test every baby. That would be far too expensive. When they do test them (I had a patient who had admitted to smoking weed while pregnant) they test their urine. I've never heard of them testing meconium.

When they ask you about drug use during pregnancy, DENY DENY DENY!! They won't test your baby unless you give them a reason to.

 

I hit a bowl a couple of times when I was pregnant because of morning sickness too and I had the same worry. I'm in SC so there is definitely the same atittude towards weed as in Alabama. I didn't get tested, to my knowledge anyways. Like Strawberry said, its probably way too expensive to test every baby. They probably only do it when they have a legitimate reason. If you're healthy throughout your pregnancy and obviously taking care of yourself and the baby, I don't think its anything you should worry about.

Even if they do test, and I seriously doubt they will, they would probably just assign a social worker to come out for a few visits. Obviously thats not something any new mother wants to deal with, but its much better than the worse case scenario. They aren't going to automatically take your baby away.

 

if you only did it the one time, it should be out of your system by then anyway.

 

Ah, thank you so much. I already feel better, i appreciate each response. I honestly do not believe they'll have any reason to test me:daisy:

 

My mom smoked it through her pregnancies. My sisters were fine. I still chose to quit when I got pregnant because i do not take chances. I do not think you harmed your baby. For some reason my doctors did drug test me during that time. I suspect my family may have instigated it because they were trying to get me to sign over our farm to my mom and they were all mad at me when I refused and they were doing revenge tactics. So I doubt they will have reason to test you.

 

The meconium does test positive for substances used after the firt trimester...where I am from all testing for newborns is done via mecconium. However, there would be no reason to test your baby unless someone reports you to authorities. Here I know a baby would not be removed for pot use...but there would be a number of home visits to discuss substance use/abuse while parenting to make sure it doesn't pose a safety risk.

 

if you had a tiny amount you could just tell them it must have been second hand smoke...

 

second hand pot exposure does not show in meconium...and really they won't care about a small amount. I think with pot use in pregnancy the same concerns are that of smoking cigarettes...higher risk of SIDS, low birth weight, greater risk of lung issues. The postnatal concerns with pot use is just the need to make sure there will be a sober caregiver. Its the harder drugs that are a bigger worry.

 

where do you live? perhaps legal matters concerning this can be searched on internet?

 

csunchild, try not to stress, your baby can feel it! I doubt you have anything to worry about and like strawberry said just deny! do not under any circumstances admit to having smoked weed. even if they try to scare you by saying the baby could be sick and if you just tell them they could fix her or whatever. it's a load of crap.

when i was pregnant, i didn't know it for the first 8 weeks, and i was away on vacation, christmas and new years had passed. as you can imagine i had gotten drunk on one occasion, smoked weed a bunch of times, cigarettes and taken a few tylenols. as soon as i discovered I was pregnant I went into super health mode and even cut sugar out of my diet.

anyways my son is 5 months old now and is 100% healthy, developing exactly the way he should. no delays, no issues with feeding. perfect.

you and your baby girl will be fine
good luck x

 

babyjay - I have tried searching the legal matters on the internet for north AL but have found nothing informative! it is seriously frustrating. Nothing is clearly stated and, from what I've seen with local mothers, they will test without your knowledge/consent... I believe I should at least be informed of the law and able to find good information on it, but nope. And I would feel suspicious asking any professionals, even my OB....

TheMistress - THANK YOU LOVELY! I appreciate every word and the positive thoughts. I'm still a bit worried about the meconium testing positive. As you might imagine, people here in Alabama are NOT very tolerant (intelligent even)...the only thing I have done is take a few hits of weed though. I do not believe they should have any REASON to test me however, so I believe all will be well 16 more weeks to go until my baby girl is here!! <3

 

I would say being ignorant is taking drugs while pregnant...

While weed isn't some over the board extreme and dangerous it still is potentially dangerous.

It doesn't mean your kid will have some problems for 100%, but you are increasing the chance.

It also doesn't mean that your child will be born with third hand. It can show up later in life, for example as mental problems, lowered IQ.


I'd say don't worry about it as there is nothing you can do right now. Just try not to smoke more while pregnant.

 

My friends doctor unofficially reccomended her to smoke pot no more than once a week throughout her pregnancy to help with stress.

 

It is all about common sense.

The doctors can be wrong.
No one really knows what could happen.
It might not cause anything bad, but sure can.

Why increase chances for diseases when you can lower them instead?

After all you are the one bringing this life to this world and it is on you to make his experience as best as possibile.

 

I had a friend who--later in her pregnancy--was a hormonal, moody mess of emotions to the point where she would just lay on the floor and cry. She was an every day pot smoker and stopped smoking for the majority of her pregnancy, but the emotional issues were overwhelming and she decided to start smoking again. I believe she mentioned this fact to her doctor--who immediately became indignant and threatened to involve Social Services--so my friend once again had to quit smoking. Of course, the doctor's answer to the emotional issues was...prescribing Zoloft. Talk about being a hypocrite. (This was in 2003)

It irks me that the medical industry is so quick to prescribe anti-depressants, and that their answer to everything is, "Here, take this...it will make you feel better" but god forbid you take a toke while you're pregnant.

 

I researched this when I was pregnant. Naturally the united states hasn't done any studies on the effects of smoking while pregnant but there was a long term study done in Jamaica on women that smoke as part of their daily lifestyle and don't slow down during pregnancy. Out of all the children studied throughout their childhood, none had birth defects. None had learning disabilities. All developed at the same rate or faster than their peers. Many showed superior organizational and artistic skills in later childhood compared with their peers.

 

Thank you. I am not ignorant just because I knowingly took a couple of hits of marijuana while pregnant... I absolutely do not plan to anymore throughout my pregnancy, but my main concern -again- is the legal issues. I've done my research as far as the EFFECTS of marijuana during pregnancy and I also think maybe a total of 4 hits will not affect my child even later with mental issues, learning disabilities, etc... if I thought weed was unsafe in any way and would cause any damage to my child in any way I would never have taken the hits in the first place. But I've read the research from other countries where they are NOT as ignorant as Americans in actually doing research and finding actual results, not just fear tactics and assumptions

I don't understand why you shouldn't do anything at all while pregnant that can risk harm to your unborn baby but it's perfectly fine to throw it all out during labor and receive epidurals, pain meds, whatever. I am having an all natural birth as well. I do not want want/need any other drugs and don't want my baby exposed to them either... I DESPISE when people make me feel like a careless, irresponsible mother because I took a few hits of weed...I love my little baby girl and want the absolute best for her which is a huge reason I am planning a natural birth

Thank you for all of the responses!

 

it's because by the time you're in labour, the baby is finished it's development...

 

that's interesting, any chance you remember the name of the study or the journal it was in? i'd like to try and find it.