LOUISVILLE, KY (WDRB) -- They're drug addicts who have no other choice than being a junkie.
Local health officials say the number of babies born addicted to opiates or pain pills is on the rise in Louisville and surrounding areas.
WDRB's Jennifer Baileys sat down with Tiffany Hicks, a recovering addict. Hicks explains how her addiction led to her daughter being born with major health issues, including being addicted to pain pills.
"It started out with Lortabs, and then it went to Oxycontin," said Hicks.
"By the age of 17, I had to have a pain pill every day just to be able to make it through [high] school and by the age of 21 I was shooting up and I was pregnant," Hicks said.
But that's where the 25-year-old's story takes a turn for the better. That pregnancy changed her life, so she was able to stop using.
"All I've ever wanted to be was a good mom, I wanted to be just like my mom," said Hicks.
That dream was shattered when she miscarried, sending her into a deep depression and back into the arms of addiction.
"Two weeks later I was pregnant again and in that two weeks I was shooting at least 20, 30 milligram Oxycontin a day because I was trying to kill myself," Hicks said.
She didn't die, but her addiction got worse. Hicks turned to selling drugs to feed her habit -- selling and using -- all while pregnant. Her addiction was so bad, she didn't even know she was in labor the day her daughter was born.
"I was actually giving birth in the back seat of my mother's car. We got to the hospital and my body was so tore up and so tore down that they couldn't get an IV in me. I was giving birth without pain medication besides the pain medication that I had taken," said Hicks.
She says it wasn't until the next day that her worst fears were realized -- her baby was born addicted: "They told me when she was in the hospital, she was addicted to pain medication."
Not only was her baby addicted to pain pills, Hicks said her daughter suffered severe side effects from the drug exposure.
"Her stomach wasn't attached to her esophagus," Hicks said.
Child Protective Services stepped in and forced Hicks to hand over her baby to a family friend. The girl is still with that friend today. Four years later, Hicks is 18 months sober and finishing treatment at the Healing Place. Her daughter is a vibrant four year old. She doesn't know Hicks as her mom, but only as a friend.
"I have to love her from a distance because I'm still sick," admitted Hicks.
She is not alone. The fastest-growing population at the healing place is 18- to 25-year-olds addicted to pain pills.
"It doesn't matter the race, it doesn't matter the economic level, we see it from all," said Mary Lynne Shackelford, the Nurse Manager of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Kosair Children's Hospital.
"We'll see cocaine, barbiturates, you name it, that's out there, we're seeing babies that are born addicted to those drugs," said Shackelford.
She says the number of babies born addicted to opiates or pain pills in the Louisville and surrounding areas is growing at an alarming rate.
"If this annualizes out, we're going to see about a 40% increase from 2012 over 2011," Shackelford said.
Shackelford says, on average, the babies stay about 28 days at Kosair. In the most severe cases the babies are helped through withdraw with another powerful drug, morphine. "They're having a lot of vomiting, they have feeding issues, they can't get a suck, swallow down, so they're very frantic to eat," she says.
Hospital volunteers such as Donna LaFolled also help the babies cope with the pain of withdraw. She spends time just rocking the infants and helping them find comfort.
"You feel their pain you know, you know that they're struggling and their hurting," LaFolled said.
For some babies it takes weeks, others months, but eventually they're drug-free. Child Protective Services will often send the infants home with foster or temporary caregivers like the Jacksons.
"This is a picture of her in front of the hospital, so she would know where she was born," said Mary Jackson, foster parent.
For the past few months, they have been caring for a baby born addicted to pain pills. "When they sent him home with us they said you can treat him like a healthy baby and he has pretty much been right on target ever since," said Jackson.
That's not always the case. The Jacksons have fostered more than 30 children over the last 23 years and learned first-hand the long-term affects of drug exposure.
"They may have learning difficulties that you don't notice just at home playing, they can hit other issues during puberty, they can have issues through any cycle through life. These drugs can come back and haunt them into the future," Jackson said.
With such an uncertain future for so many, what can be done to stop the growth of this generation of prescription babies?
"If these moms, when they do find out they're pregnant, can get with an obstetrician and figure out if they can go through withdrawal during pregnancy so the baby is not born addicted," said Nurse Shackelford.
Tiffany Hicks wishes she would have done that, but now she has to live with the choices she made. "I brought something into this world so perfect and so innocent and I found it necessary to ruin her life. I never meant to hurt my child, but I was not able to stop," said Hicks.
Hicks will soon finish treatment at the Healing Place in Louisville. She hopes one day to become a drug and alcohol counselor.
To contact the Healing Place click HERE.
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