Pubdate: Tue, 25 Nov 2003
Source: Des Moines Register (IA)
Section: Crime & Courts
Copyright: 2003 The Des Moines Register.
Contact: http://DesMoinesRegister.com/help/letter.html
Website: http://desmoinesregister.com/index.html
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/123
Author: Tony Leys, Register Staff Writer
Note: Part of a series on methamphetamine - see 
http://www.mapinc.org/source/Des+Moines+Register

PEDIATRICIAN TREATS TINIEST TRAGEDIES

The Babies Hurt Worst by the Meth Their Moms Took Begin Life 'Basically in 
Shell Shock,' Rizwan Shah Says.

Many of Iowa's smallest meth addicts are brought to Blank Children's 
Hospital in Des Moines, where they meet with a sweet-talking woman whose 
smile belies the countless tragedies she's seen.

Pediatrician Rizwan Shah is a nationally recognized expert on treating 
children whose mothers took drugs while pregnant.

On this day, she calmly watches as a nurse runs two of her patients, 
7-month-old Lukas and his brother, 3-year-old Jacob, through a series of 
tests and examinations. Shah is watching for trouble with their mental and 
physical development.

The boys' parents sit nearby, hoping the family's luck will continue to 
hold. The mother, a central Iowa woman named Renee, smoked meth throughout 
her first pregnancy and for the first six months of her second. She often 
smoked in front of Jacob as he grew into toddlerhood. That was before she 
went into treatment last year, before she was arrested on drug charges, 
before state child-welfare workers stepped in with urine tests to make sure 
she kept her promise to change.

The young mother can't explain why she kept smoking crank while pregnant. 
Like so many women, she worried about what would happen, but couldn't stop. 
"I wasn't thinking straight - I was just so messed up," she says.

Shah says that so far, the boys appear to be doing relatively well.

Lukas, the baby, hasn't begun to babble, which the doctor finds a bit 
worrisome. "Grunting sounds are not considered words," she says. "But "bah" 
and "dah" are."

The speech issue could be nothing, she says. "He's an awfully nice and calm 
kid - tremendous."

Jacob, the older boy, has good coordination and vocabulary. He has trouble 
getting to sleep and can be prone to tantrums. How much of that is being a 
3-year-old, and how much stems from the meth that flowed through his 
system? It's too early to tell, but Shah is optimistic. For one thing, he's 
never shown the excruciating sensitivity to touch often seen in meth 
babies. "I was looking at a kid yesterday, and you could not touch his feet 
without him kicking and screaming," she says.

The worst-off babies suffer strokes before birth and wind up with permanent 
brain damage. Many spend their first few weeks of life sleeping up to 23 
hours a day. "They're basically in shell shock," Shah says. Later, they 
become jittery and have a hard time staying asleep. Some will have learning 
disabilities, which can be eased if identified early.

Many children also face significant danger posed by meth use in their 
homes. They're exposed to fumes from people making or smoking the drug, and 
they're often neglected. Some of the most dramatic cases make headlines: A 
Des Moines baby drowns in a bathtub while her drug-using father sleeps in 
the hall; a California 3-month-old dies after drinking meth-laced breast 
milk from his mother. But most of the other cases are behind the scenes.

Deb Rohlfs, a Webster City counselor who deals with some of the families 
Shah treats, sees children trying to grow up the best they can. She recalls 
an addict's 5-year-old who went to stay with his grandmother. All he knew 
how to eat was breakfast cereal, because he could pour it into a bowl by 
himself.

"Every meth addict will tell you, "I always took care of the kids, even 
when I was using," " Rohlfs says. "But you can't. You come down off meth, 
and you sleep for two days."

Authorities are moving more aggressively to take children out of harm's 
way. About 70 percent of the meth babies Shah treats are placed in foster 
care. Half of those wind up being permanently separated from their parents.

Others, like Lukas and Jacob, have parents who stick with treatment and 
sobriety because they can't bear to lose their kids.

Renee fears people think families like hers are hopeless, but she says they 
can be redeemed if they seek and accept help.

"So far, we've been really blessed," she says. "We must have an angel up 
there." 
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