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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Lifestyle
Ann Neumann with photographs by Rebecca Kiger

She was pregnant and addicted to fentanyl. Getting to keep her baby saved them both

A collage of a mother with her daughter
Stephanie and Izzie. Composite: Rebecca Kiger/The Guardian

Eight months pregnant and in pain, Stephanie Rosell went to the Holy family hospital emergency room after an infection began spreading up her legs. Unemployed and homeless, estranged from her family, she lived in a shed she had built in a friend’s yard. She was also addicted to fentanyl.

As doctors treated her infection, she began to panic. Withdrawal was setting in. She leaned over the bed and vomited.

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