How I Overcame Addiction to Have a Healthy Baby : Perinatal Program at Brandywine Counseling Changed My Life

How I Overcame Addiction to Have a Healthy Baby

Perinatal program at Brandywine Counseling changed my life

By Kimberly Legg

Sometimes, we hear awful stories about women who are pregnant and struggling with addiction. How they couldn’t get the help they needed. How they weren’t able to turn their life around.

This is not one of those stories.  It has a happy ending. And if you are a woman in the midst of a substance problem and are either pregnant or already a mom, know that there IS hope and help for you.

My help came from the perinatal program at Brandywine Counseling and Community Services (BCCS). Last year, the perinatal case management program helped 84 mothers and moms-to-be and 69 infants.

About five years ago, I was addicted to opioids and pregnant. I had been pregnant before while using opioids and tried to stop my addiction on my own, but the withdrawal caused early labor and I lost my baby boy at just 21 weeks. This time, I knew something had to change, so I began methadone treatment at BCCS.

At first, I wasn’t sure I was going to keep the baby.  I was homeless and struggling with my addiction. But my case manager at BCCS gave me the help – and hope – I needed.  She enrolled me in the perinatal program. And that was the beginning of my new life.

BCCS became my world, my complete support system. My case manager helped me secure housing; she took me to my doctor appointments, and most importantly, she taught me how to overcome my addiction so I could be the best mother I needed to be for my child.

On October 16, 2013, my baby girl Kiarra was born: two months premature but healthy with no addictive side effects from the opioids. She was one of the lucky ones, only because I got help in time. Without the perinatal program, my daughter could have been born with terrible withdrawal symptoms: vomiting, convulsions, constant crying, diarrhea, and dehydration. Things no baby should ever have to experience. (In Delaware last year, there were 431 reports of substance-exposed infants to the Department of Services for Children, Youth and Their Families.)

The perinatal program gave me a safe and compassionate space to overcome my addiction. The staff was available 5 days a week from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. to help me.  I earned points for every doctor’s appointment I went to, every negative drug test I took and every support group meeting I attended. I collected enough points to earn diapers, a stroller and a car seat. My case manager helped me navigate what I needed to do not just for me, but for my baby. She was even with me when my daughter was born.

I am so grateful for BCCS and how it changed my life. I wanted to do the same for other women who were struggling with addiction, so it became my passion and is now my career. I work at BCCS as a certified peer recovery specialist.

In all honesty, I never gave recovery a chance all those years ago. When I decided to try it, I never looked back. My life is now better than I ever thought it could be. Yours could be the same way if you just give yourself – and your baby – a chance.

Kim Legg is the Community Wellness Advocate, TCE-TAC Program (Targeted Capacity Expansion through the Use of Technology Assisted Care) at Brandywine Counseling and Community Services, and a mother, and former opioid user. To learn more about the Perinatal Program at BCCS, contact Adar Wells at 302.504.5382 or [email protected].