To say no to drug/ alcohol test when pregnant?

[nobloodsplease]

I'll try to be brief and get in all the points.

I am 20 weeks pregnant with my 2nd child. With my 1st on my admission paper work I said I had been in a MH hospital and had, had issued with alcohol abuse. That had lead to a 4 month in patient stay in 2020. DC was born in 2022. Like many people alcohol while a major issue for me was a 'symptom' not the cause. But I haven't drank since.

I was told this was great to admit and I would be offered loads of help and support, I was not.

The day I went into hospital to have DC the MH midwife met with me. We went through my issues etc, she said I was so open/ honest. The reason I had not been seen before was because of mothers being in active drug use when pregnant taking a lot of her time - fair enough. But that I would need a careful plan as I was at high risk for post partum depression.

She then said could she have a blood and urine sample so 'we were all on the same page' I agree.

She came back and wanted to talk to me alone without DH. She said there was 0.02% alcohol in my blood. That she was so disappointed, she had honestly believe in me but I had lied etc I asked to have the blood re-done. She did and it was 0% but she said that, it would be because of the time. It wasn't until later I remembered the urine. She never mentioned it, so I guess it was clear.

By the time of the 2nd result I had DH with me because I was so worried. He had been with me for the 24 hours in the run up to admission and knew I had not drank. I knew I had not drank.

She said I would need to come in for regular meetings with her and that she would be doing blood tests to check to see if there was alcohol. That for now she would not contact social services, but that there was a real chance of having intervention as drinking while pregnant was taken seriously. That she would 'bury' the result though so not to worry.

I never once saw her again.

As you can imagine I was very worried by all of this. I did get PPD, but was very reluctant to seek help but eventually I did and my GP was fantastic. She was horrified by what had happened and said that was minute and could have been from the alcohol swab they used to clean my arm.

I have a clinic today, in my last pregnancy they never tested for alcohol/ drugs but if they ask I will say no.

AIBU to say no? I have also ticked no to having any MH issues. The admitting MW said something about it but I said all sorted now.

I don’t blame you. You can’t trust any of them.

Unless they are planning on taking it further, I would avoid the stress as long as you can.

I refused blood glucose testing in further pregnancies after failed the initial the GD blood test only because I'd eaten an entire some chocolate orange hours before my appointment time, when they then phoned and asked if I could come in early, which I did and of course my glucose was sky high. Passed the fasting lucozade test in the hospital fine as I wasn't 90% chocolate then.

Hey I would probably do the same! It must have felt really unsettling and undermining.
it sounds like you’ve got a great relationship with ur GP and are generally seeking support when you need it.
I don’t see that ticking yes to mh and having more tests would help you or your baby by the sounds of it - and my feeling about mental health care around pregnancy and birth is that it is more of a safety net unless you have an active and severe condition that triggers more support.

They can’t force you to have any tests that you don’t want to.

And to reassure you that a social worker would not be concerned about one test result with a very minute reading. Drinking in pregnancy isn’t illegal and although it’s not recommended it is recognised that a small quantity on occasion is fine.

she sounds bloody awful.

As soon as you seek 'help' for alcohol/ drugs, you have a black mark under your name for just about every service going.
I know people tarnished by a 6 month drug habit 20 years ago, still to this very day. Denied adequate pain relief in major trauma ward/ disbelieved about meds/ treated totally differently.
The fact they were saying there was a point of alcohol in your reading. Do they realise that alcohol in tiny amounts is in lots of foods/ preservatives? That your body can produce fermentation?
I'd be deeply offended.
Would it make them all the more scrutinous of you if you were to refuse these tests? You know you don't drink, so I guess it's a fine line.
Unfortunately recovering addicts (ex addicts) are never trusted like those who have not reported their addiction.

Here now. I do need bloods today but not to check for alcohol. That's the only one I'd refuse. In case the same thing happened again.

I think she treated you really inappropriately. it's not illegal to drink alcohol in pregnancy, and it could have been from mouthwash. fair enough you don't have the tests this time.

That's the only thing I'd be worried about. They would think I was hiding something. Testing for alcohol doesn't seem to be something standard that they do so hopefully it doesn't come up, especially if I never meet the MH midwife again. I know it hadn't been tested before, I asked her to check and see if it had been detected before and she said it wouldn't be tested for.

She honestly scared me so much. But I do have an excellent GP so I will go to her if I have any issues. Especially if I'm worried Pp depression will rear it's head again.

I wouldn’t decline the alcohol test purely because if you have nothing to hide then it’s a none issue and I do think if you refuse if you’re going to set off alarm bells for them thinking well why refuse it if it would come back negative?

She said she would "bury" the result? Really? Why would she lie for you. This doesn't ring true

@tearsandtiaras by bury, she wouldn't get social services involved this time. But it was weird she said she would follow up with me before I left, she had plenty of time I had a really long induction (3 full days) that ended up in EMCS. She said I would need to be into see her every few weeks to submit to blood tests but she never followed up with me once. I had agreed to do that.

Social services never contact me so I am guess she didn't send them info that there was alcohol in my blood before I had DC, I would like to know what the urine sample was but I didn't think to ask at the time. But I was on edge about it for quite a while which is why I am just avoiding any services offered like that.

I had put it all behind me for a good while I suppose going through pregnancy again brings it back up.

This midwife saying she’d bury it is strange. But would an alcohol wipe on your arm really cause a blood reading of 0.02% when that is like having one alcoholic drink god and average person? Something wasn’t right there.

I would just have the tests.