Pregnant, addicted and struggling with the lure of drugs

Kim Short waited in the doctor's exam room on a freezing February day, exhausted from the first trimester of her pregnancy and trembling from withdrawal from meth, alcohol, of Xanax and Klonopin.

She stared at the ground, her dark hair hiding facial tattoos of a dagger and stitches, memorials to friends who died of overdoses. Wings of inky eyeliner lined her eyes.

This was Kim's second pregnancy with the Great Moms Clinic at Corewell Health Medical Center in Grand Rapids , Michigan, one of the few programs serving one of society's most reviled patient populations: pregnant women and new mothers addicted to drugs and alcohol.

Kim, 32, was the first to arrive at the clinic in fall 2022, and in April 2023 she gave birth to a healthy, drug-free boy. But a few months later, she relapsed and Child Protective Services placed the baby in foster care. Her desperation pushed her further into addiction.

Now, pregnant again, she had returned to the one place she believed to be her best chance at staying sober and raise this new baby.

Dr. Cara Poland entered the exam room.

"I'm so grateful you came back to us," she told Kim. p>

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