Drug Addiction Stories & Info

In one week, my son turns twelve.  I had him when I was 19.  I gave him life.  I also gave him fetal alcohol syndrome.  I didn’t even know what that was.  I had seen other girls and women drinking from time to time when they were pregnant.  They smoked just as much when expecting as they did when they weren’t so I didn’t think it was a big deal.

Till Billy was born. He was so small, I nearly lost him.  My ex-boyfriend took off when he heard I was pregnant and I did a little too much drinking to deal with the pain.  When Billy started school, he had problems with understanding and learning. 

Today, Billy is sort of an outcast.  He argues a lot with other kids and from everything I have researched, I am worried.  His counselor said he could be prone to acting out and even end up in trouble.  However, he also said that since Billy has been coming to for the past year, that he sees a difference in him and in me. 

Sometimes I used to get aggravated with Billy and then I remembered that I caused this.  How am I going to feel if he does some day get into trouble?  I try to keep him busy.  I keep him in church.  I have given him chores and responsibilities to do around the apartment.  I spend time with him and I am actively involved with his soccer team. 

He is going to be twelve next week but in some ways he’s so much younger while in others he is just so different.  But he has taught me one thing for sure: I LOVE HIM.  He is my son and I adore him and I am going to work hard every day to make sure that he does not become another statistic in the fetal alcohol syndrome books. 

I did this to him.  Therefore, I’m not going to let him down again.  I pray for forgiveness every day and I am even involved with a counseling group that tells our story as part of their way of helping others and educating teens on drinking and drugs and what they can do not only to the users themselves, but their unborn children. 

Next week, Billy turns twelve.  I’m proud of him and working hard to make sure he gets through life without any more fallout from my mistake of drinking while pregnant.  If you are reading this and you are pregnant, I am begging you, please, PLEASE, don’t drink.  It really will hurt your unborn child.

I did not really know anything about Fetal Alcohol Syndrome until I met Casey. He was a neighbor boy of about 12. He had some facial abnormalities and another neighbor told me he had been born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. She also said to be careful with my youngest around him. I did not know what she meant till the a couple of months later. 

We lived on a military base. Just outside our back fence was the neighborhood playground. My two younger children, Anna, who was five and Adam, who was nine, were out there playing. Suddenly there was a loud knock on the door. Casey’s father stood there and informed us he had phoned the S.P.’s the security police, because Casey came home with a bloody nose and he wanted them to arrest our teenage son for hitting his son. However, Andrew had been in the house and we were all confused.

That is, until Adam walked up and, seeing Casey, went after him again. It turned out that when I had gone into the house to answer the phone, Casey had attempted to pull down Anna’s pants. Her big brother, who was four years older than her and three years younger than Casey, lunged after him and hit his nose in the effort to protect his little sister. When the S.P.’s heard the entire story, it left little doubt who was responsible as Adam was simply defending his little sister.

We had always taught our children fighting was not the answer. However, Adam was not punished for what he did that day. I did do some research on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and found out that it does cause a child to have mental problems as well as physical ones and that problems with the law can occur.

Anna and Adam are now grown and in college. As the mother of three, I could never see putting my unborn children at risk with any form of drug or alcohol during pregnancy. I have wondered once in a while where Casey is and how he is doing today. I am proud of Adam for standing up for his little sister; there is no question about that.

I do not know if what happened that day at the park was connected to the Fetal Alcohol Syndrome that Casey was born with. What I have learned over the years tells me it is quite possible. If so, Casey was just as much a victim that day as what Anna was but it did not stop it from being wrong. I am just glad that even in the security of a military base with the playground right outside our back door that I did not let Anna out of my sight unless her dad or one of her brothers was with her at all times.