Pregnant, Addicted and Fighting the Pull of Drugs
Kim Short waited in the doctor’s exam room on an icy day in February, exhausted from the first trimester of pregnancy and trembling in withdrawal from methamphetamine, alcohol, Xanax and Klonopin.She stared at the floor, her black hair curtaining face tattoos of a dagger and stitches, memorials to friends dead from overdose. Inky wings of eyeliner rimmed her eyes.This was Kim’s second pregnancy with the Great Moms clinic at the Corewell Health Medical Center in Grand Rapids, Mich., one of the rare programs for a population of patients who are among the most reviled in society: pregnant women and new…
