pregnant smokers stories

[madmillie92]

Soo.. To cut a long story short, I recently found out I was pregnant at 18 weeks pregnant (I was on the implant- needless to say it was a massive shock)
Up until that point I was a heavy smoker, smoking at least 20 a day. Of course I immediantly stopped and was apsolutley terrified that I had done serious damage to my baby. I knew all the risk and complications of smoking during pregnancy and obsessivley googled info about it and the risks and had terrible nightmares about my baby being tiny and dying. However, I had my first scan yesterday, and to my surprise my baby was a good size and in perfect health. After yet more googling I came across countless stories about people who had smoked during pregnancy and their babys had been fine. To my slight annoyance, although there is lots of info on the risks of smoking there was actually no stories about people who have smoked and bad thing have happened to their babys.
So needless to say, my willpower is now waning, and I want to know about other peoples experience with smoking during pregnancy... And please no judgemental posts like ' if u smoke ur babys going to die and your and awful mum blah blah' ... Just peoples honest experiences... Not opinions...
Thanks xxxx

 

[iWitch]

Smoking is bad for your health & that in turn is bad for your baby's. I've got family who have continued to smoke through pregnancy - some have had no complications, others baby's had respiratory problems when born which meant they spent longer in hospital. All are fine now.

Don't forget smoking is expensive & the money you save will come in handy!

 

[Shootingstar11]

A friend of mine smoked through her pregnancy and the baby was underweight. Something to consider is that the midwife, when examine your placenta after birth, will be able to tell if you smoked through your pregnancy. If you have been smoking the back side of it goes very dark and feels sandy. What happens is your placenta starts to die from the lack of oxygen- in turn restricting oxygen to your baby - and it starts to detach from your uterine wall.

Anyway, the thought process to have is that every time you smoke you are cutting of oxygen to your baby and damaging its food source/the thing that keeps it alive. Plus it would be awful knowing that your midwife could tell that you smoked throughout.

Try and stay strong and not smoke. You've done we'll so far.x

 

[Jayjay027]

You shouldn't really need to read horror stories online in order to keep away from cigs while pregnant. Your common sense should just tell u that's its damaging and harmful to your baby, so you shouldn't do it.

Tapatalking from my blackberry!

 

[Rachel80]

A friend of mine smoked during her pregnancy, even in labour. Her little boy is autistic. Now I know this may well not be related, doctors do attribute autism in part to smoking in pregnancy x

 

[Lynds77]

the thing is, you get junkies who inject all the way through their pregnancy, and on occasion their babies are ok!
you get alcoholics that drink all through their pregnancies, and on occasion some of their babies are ok!

just because a few are ok, doesnt mean all will be. Nor does it take away from the risk to your own baby

do you really want to risk it? Thats what you are really needing to decide on. Your baby might be ok. But then again it might not......

 

[Doodles]

I smoked through the majority of my pregnancy with Doodles, it's not something I'm proud of + something that's made me feel guilty every day since. I don't smoke anymore, I gave up after he was born 7 weeks early (through my own ill health, and not related to smoking, yes I asked infact I was beating myself up about it) as I felt that he had gone through enough without having poisons in his milk too. It now really upsets me to see pregnant women smoking + people smoking around children. However, only you can make the descision to stop, if it's something you feel strongly enough about it CAN be done, I was very naive with Doodles & didn't do any research, all I knew was it "wasn't good" but I also didn't get any incouragement to quite from my midwife either, I was just told to cut down "if you can cut down to 10 a day that would help". It was only after I'd had him & all the pregnancy shows came on BBC3 etc that I realized the full extent of what could have happened.

Good luck hun, I hope you can stay strong + not give into temptation, I know it's hard (ciggarettes is my main craving at the moment but after nearly 4yrs of ttc + losses I refuse to take any chances) xx

 

[mrswoody]

My little sisters mum smoked through get pregnancy and my sister has asthma. When she was younger she was in and out of hospital with bad chests and coughs.

Stay strong if not for your baby but for your own health x

 

[Emmaw_9]

Just don't do it!
I can sympathise, I was a smoker when I found out I was pregnant but I gave up straight away, it's one thing knowing what it does to me but its totally another thing giving it to this little person who hasn't even arrived yet.
Don't get me wrong, there were lots of times I could have picked up one but I changed my routine and I found fresh orange juice stopped the craving.
You are doing great, don't cave in!!

 

[Chezza]

A friend smoked through all 4 of her pregnancies and each one (oldest is 10 and youngest is 3) has asthma - 2 of them have it very severely and can't take part in sports days most years... Very sad. I was a smoker for 10 years and luckily managed to give up a little while before I got my bfp - I couldn't stand the thought of my baby suffering just because I wanted a disgusting ciggie!!

Well done for giving up hun - keep going, you are doing amazingly well!! xxx

 

[Kelly450]

Well done for stopping straight away. Thats great.

My mum smoked through her pregnancy with me and my brother. My brother was born at 38 weeks weighing just 5lb 9 and I was born at 39 weighing just 5lb. I also suffered asthma for years.

Ive heard about smoking and growth and think this may have been a factor to us two being so small at birth. However, no one will ever prove anything.
But its well known that smoking effects your health and in turn that effects your baby too.

Xx

Sent from my GT-I9300

 

[Rachaellius]

You'll always hear stories such as 'I did such and such through my pregnancy and my baby was fine' but it's not going to be the case for everyone. Personally I don't think it's the risk. I'm an ex smoker, I gave up when pregnant, unfortunately I started again a month or so after LO was born, I felt so guilty though, although I never ever smoked around her, I felt bad that I stunk of it afterwards, no matter if you wash your hands or change your top it's still on your skin. Stale smoke that your baby is breathing in when you cuddle them. Not only that but it's sooo expensive, the money is much better spent on new toys, clothes or days out with her. I managed to quit again about 6 months ago now with champix and am so glad I did, I'll never go back to it now x

 

[Chezza]

Something else (quite obvious) that makes me never want go back (aside from the health factor!) is that we are saving around £9 a day (smoked approx 30 cigs between us each day)...we gave up last May and have already saved nearly £4k! This helped to pay for most of JJ's things...plus a holiday in 4 weeks time to Dorset...and a really nice AI holiday to Menorca next May

I'm healthier, financially better off, smell nicer and am not putting my little one at risk of SIDS xxx

 

[JoanneG79]

I managed to stop smoking when I found out I was pregnant. Some days are better than others though. A friend of mine smoked all through her pregnancy - partly as the first of her knowing she was pregnant was when she went to hospital in labour, thinking she had a stomach bug! Was a massive shock to her but baby is well and has no health concerns at all. Another friend never smoked a day in her life, her baby was born premature, with lung problems, cerebral palsy and learning disabilities.

You are going to hear good and bad stories all the time, everyone knows smoking is bad for you and baby. You may be very lucky and have a perfectly healthy baby but is it worth the risk?

Not sure if this has helped at all, but if you need a 'stop smoking buddy', I am here for you! x

 

[Jojo84]

Can you ask your midwife for some help in staying off the cigs, she can refer you to someone if you think that would help... Also, sounds silly maybe but hypnotherapy worked for my friend

 

[Mummybexee]

I quit smoking when I found out I was pregnant- not only because of the health risks- but the fact seeing pregnant women chuffing away like a trooper on a fag is possibly the most unattractive vile thing I've ever seen in my life- same goes for all the parents I see chuffing away In cars full of kids or outside the school gates.

If smoking is bad for us- its bad for the baby..

Well done to all mums and mums to be that had the determination to quit I feel so much better for it

 

[.Ruth.]

I found out I was pregnant when I was about 8 weeks along, quit instantly... but tbh I have had the occasional smoke.

When I was at about 16 weeks, I had a hard time at work leading to me leaving and very very stressed. no excuse but that set me off again and I had a bad week or so.

Since then I have had maybe once a month. I know people will think even this is terrible and tbh I do too. Smoking was something that always helped with my anxiety.. in my head at least and it has been VERY hard to give up.

Smoking is an addiction, and people don't seem to understand that sometimes. It is hard to just quit! I think if you are trying to give up, good on you. There are obvious health risks to both mum and baby and I hope you can find it in yourself to give up.

I hope I don't start again when baby is here, but I'd be lying if I said I'm not looking forward to a nice glass of wine and a menthol fag!

 

[rainbow.nicola]

When I found out I was pregnant it was early on and I quit but then my mum told me that she smoked all the way through her pregnancy with me back in the day. I turned out fine... I think haha! She said they didn't really tell you to stop or how bad it was x

 

[DiddlePlumbs]

My mum has had four daughters. She smoked all the way through the 1st, 3rd and 4th but gave up for the 2nd. Me and my little sister (3rd & 4th) have suffered from asthma in the past but then my dad has reallllly bad asthma anyway. The sister that she did give up smoking for however, is the only one us that is constantly ill with colds and flu and tummy bugs. She also has Crohn's disease...

You will always hear that it worked out okay for some babies and you'll always hear stories about it not working out. But at the end of the day, is it really worth the risk? If *God forbid* anything happened to baby, you would probably end up feeling guilty and feeling that it was your fault for not quitting.

 

[katyloumc]

I know people who have smoked and had really tiny babies.

Everyone is different and all babies can develop differently, so you dont know what factors actually contribute to how the baby turns out. The point is increasing the risks, its bad for your health and bibies health and there are lots of stories to back that up.

If you dont eat all of the things your told not too, then you should follow the same rules for smoking and drinking etc.

I know its hard I used to smoke, but I quit and people quit all of the time, after so long you wont want one. The hardest thing is getting over the hurdle of REALLLLLLLLLLLLYYYYYYY wanting one! once you've passed that and had the willpower to do it, it gets easier.

Good luck xxxx