After 10 hours in labor, Kimberly Anderson gave birth in the early evening of May 15 to a nearly 8-pound baby girl. She named the child Freyja, a name derived from Norse mythology’s powerful goddess of love, beauty, fertility, war and magic.

Anderson described her newborn daughter as very big and healthy. “I couldn’t be more proud,” she said.

Anderson, 37, of Lexington, has a lot to be proud of. She delivered Freyja, her fourth child, after becoming sober when she found out she was pregnant. Before that, she’d been using illicit drugs on and off for years, including the powerful stimulant methamphetamine, following some personal trauma.

She thanks a local treatment program for pregnant women and new moms with helping her stay sober. The program, Maternal Outreach Management Services, was established by the Midlands nonprofit LRADAC in 2014 to help reduce the number of children born with alcohol or drugs in their system. 

Since then, participants in the MOMS program have given birth to hundreds of substance-free babies, said program manager Kimberlee Cannon. 

Freyja is baby No. 383 on this list, her mom told the Chronicle. 

“My sobriety and recovery led me to this new life for my kids and I,” Anderson said in a text message. She shared a photo of herself holding Freya at the Columbia hospital where she gave birth, with her partner, the child’s dad, grinning beside them.   

Participants often enter the MOMS program “broken, ashamed, angry and wounded,” given the social stigma attached to substance abuse, said peer counselor Buffy Shisler. After putting in the required work, she said, the women leave feeling empowered and more resilient. 

The program, which is offered at LRADAC’s facilities in Lexington and Columbia, has been expanded in recent years to mothers with babies up to 18 months old. The women receive practical help in moving away from substance use, enabling them to raise healthier families.

The program includes case management, counseling, support groups, drug testing and educational sessions. Canon said LRADAC also offers expectant moms with baby supplies, such as car seats and diapers, as well as the assistance of a doula.

She said some participants complete their individualized goals in as little as six weeks; others stay for half a year or so.  

Last year, Melissa Pinkney delivered a baby girl who tested positive for THC, the main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis. Because of the drug’s presence in the newborn child’s body, Pinkney said, the S.C. Department of Social Services placed her daughter with another family member until Pinkney could complete the MOMS program.

Since the program started a decade ago, Cannon said, participants have given birth to more than 390 babies and only 10 have tested positive for substances.

Whether a child is born with substances in his or her system is due to various factors, such as how soon a pregnant woman stops drinking or using drugs, what type of substances she was using and how much she ingested.

During her five months in the program, Pinkney, 33, said she learned about cannabis use's harmful effects to an unborn child. Among them was having a premature baby, which Pinkney said had been the case with her previous child, a boy who was conceived and born in a state where cannabis was legal.

“I didn't put two and two together until I'm sitting in class one day, and we’re going over things that could be wrong,” she said of the MOMS program. “I don’t want anything to be wrong with my kids, you know.”  

Though Pinkney was allowed to freely visit her infant daughter while the child was living with a family member, she’s now happy and relieved to have the baby home with her and her partner. 

Experts say the joy of having a new child often goes hand in hand with tremendous physical, emotional and financial strain, which have led some parents to seek relief in alcohol or drugs.

“Parenting is incredibly stressful, overwhelming,” Cannon said. “Sometimes it's easy to turn to the substances to cope, to numb.”

To Anderson, having the support of peer counselors and fellow moms in recovery has given her the conviction that she can continue down the path of sobriety. During difficult moments, she said, she thinks about how much she wants to be present in her children’s lives.