Your Tuesday Read: I Went to the Hospital to Give Birth…And Tested Positive for Meth
When the nurse first told Maggie Downs, mid-labor, that there were methamphetamines in her system, she cracked up laughing at the absurdity. When child services showed up, it stopped being funny.
Writer Maggie Downs imagined herself doing things like stretching and walking around freely while in labor — maybe not a walk in the park, exactly, but something that involved her own will. The experience she had instead — at a time when she was at her most vulnerable — was much, much different. This one will have you at the edge of your seat with anticipation the whole way through. Plus, it’s gorgeously written, to boot.
I Went to the Hospital to Give Birth…And Tested Positive for Meth
It’s the birth of my first child, and I’m seven, maybe eight hours into labor. Whatever time it is, I’m well past the point of caring about modesty, so I don’t even think it’s strange when a nurse follows me into the bathroom.
“Just so you know, you’ve tested positive…” The nurse pauses there, and shifts her eyes to the floor. My anxiety fills the silence. I expect she’s going to say something about the whirring machines that have been measuring the baby’s heartbeat, my contractions, my blood pressure, any of those things.
“For methamphetamine.”