Do You Know Anyone Who Smoked During Their Pregnancy? (medicine, chances, babies)
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When I was pregnant there were certain smells that just made me want to gag - alcohol, tobacco smoke, natural gas were the worst. My husband could have one beer and just the smell of it on his breath would make me feel nauseous.
Even if I had been given the green light to smoke and drink I really don't think I could have done it, at least not in the first trimester.
That doesn't happen to everybody, either. I threw up exactly once in the early months of my pregnancy. The only smell that really made me gag was the garbage bag when I was taking it out. For some reason it smelled worse than usual when I was pregnant. Meanwhile, my sister barfed morning, noon, and night when she was pregnant. And both of us smoked. However, here is the difference between 1978 and 1991--when she was pregnant, her doctor told her to have no more than three alcoholic drinks per day! She didn't drink that much in the first place, lol. By the time I had my daughter, the no-drinking recommendation had become the trend.
That doesn't happen to everybody, either. I threw up exactly once in the early months of my pregnancy. The only smell that really made me gag was the garbage bag when I was taking it out. For some reason it smelled worse than usual when I was pregnant. Meanwhile, my sister barfed morning, noon, and night when she was pregnant. And both of us smoked. However, here is the difference between 1978 and 1991--when she was pregnant, her doctor told her to have no more than three alcoholic drinks per day! She didn't drink that much in the first place, lol. By the time I had my daughter, the no-drinking recommendation had become the trend.
I know, I knew women who had morning sickness but smoking didn't bother them. It just surprises me that there was a time when most pregnant women smoked and/or drank alcohol.
In my case, I really didn't have much in the way of morning sickness. But I did have certain (really strong!) food and odor aversions. I could be stopped at a light in my car with the windows rolled up and if someone in a nearby car was smoking, I'd smell it and feel kind of queezy.
It's weird to crave a cigarette (or at least the nicotine) and also have an intense aversion to them - but that's what it was like for me. I guess in a weird way I was lucky because it made quitting pretty easy for me.
Last edited by springfieldva; 02-23-2012 at 02:02 PM..
I know, I knew women who had morning sickness but smoking didn't bother them. It just surprises me that there was a time when most pregnant women smoked and/or drank alcohol.
In my case, I really didn't have much in the way of morning sickness. But I did have certain (really strong!) food and odor aversions. I could be stopped at a light in my car with the windows rolled up and if someone in a nearby car was smoking, I'd smell it and feel kind of queezy.
It's weird to crave a cigarette (or at least the nicotine) and also have an intense aversion to them - but that's what it was like for me. I guess in a weird way I was lucky because it made quitting pretty easy for me.
I don't know if most did, but many more than now did. My mother had 7 children from 1950 to 1969, but she never smoked in her life and rarely drank anything at all. Maybe she would have a "highball" at a wedding.
It's good that the queasiness worked for you to help you quit!
In this day and age, knowing the harm smoking can cause to your own body and the body of your child, do you know anyone who smoked knowing that they were pregnant?
I work in a fertility clinic that doesn't accept patients who are unwilling to quit smoking, and there have been many people who simply transfer to another facility because they aren't willing to stop. This completely baffles me since many of these people are spending hundreds or thousands of dollars to get pregnant, but they refuse to give up their daily cigarette. Have you known anyone like this or is this you? What reasoning is there to keep up the habit at the risk of your child's life?
My dil has smoked through all 5 of her pregnancies. She steps outside to smoke when we're over but the full ashtrays all over the house speak to the fact she does not do this when we're not there.
This baffles me too. I quit smoking when dh and I decided to attempt a vasectomy reversal. Being able to have a healthy baby was a strong motivator. I didn't want to have to live with knowing I had harmed my own child. I'm celebrating 20 years not smoking in two months and I have two healthy kids.
When I was pregnant there were certain smells that just made me want to gag - alcohol, tobacco smoke, natural gas were the worst. My husband could have one beer and just the smell of it on his breath would make me feel nauseous.
Even if I had been given the green light to smoke and drink I really don't think I could have done it, at least not in the first trimester.
I quit smoking cold turkey when I decided to try getting pregnant. So glad I did . . . and I didn't even drink a glass of wine from that day forward, as I was so afraid of having alcohol in my system and becoming pregnant. Of course, back in those days, getting a pregnancy test was not as simple as it is now - so a person could be 2 months pregnant before confirming it. I didn't want to take a chance.
As it turned out, I had a lot of problems with morning sickness when I did become pregnant, so like you - all sorts of smells made my stomach roll.
I continue to be surprised about how many women have told me they smoked throughout their pregnancies. Please understand - these are women who gave birth in the 60s and 70s - I think by the mid-70s, people were fully aware of how damaging smoking and drinking can be for a pregnant woman.
I also think that what SaraLee brought up was important - fetal alcohol syndrome. Drinking during pregnancy can have very far-reaching effects on a fetus.
I sure hope it doesn't appear I was minimizing how important maternal health and behavior are during pregnancy. I have just wondered why so many women have told me that they worried about their children's health and how it may have been affected by smoking (and drinking) once their children were older (and they learned/read about the dangers of smoking while pregnant) - but they never saw a relationship w/ respiratory problems or growth and development of their kids. Maybe moms simply justified it or minimized whatever health problems their kids may have had when they looked back, but it really does puzzle me.
My dil has smoked through all 5 of her pregnancies. She steps outside to smoke when we're over but the full ashtrays all over the house speak to the fact she does not do this when we're not there.
This baffles me too. I quit smoking when dh and I decided to attempt a vasectomy reversal. Being able to have a healthy baby was a strong motivator. I didn't want to have to live with knowing I had harmed my own child. I'm celebrating 20 years not smoking in two months and I have two healthy kids.
Happy 20th anniversary (a little early).
It must have been very hard to watch your DIL smoke while she was pregnant with your precious grandbabies. I would have a hard time watching that, myself. Hopefully, she doesn't smoke around them a lot now.
What does your son think about it? Does he smoke, too?
A friend from our old investment club had this woman she sort of adopted to help, as a Mitzvah. What a mess. The woman looked like Jabba the Hut, couldn't drive because of drug & alcohol DUIs...morbidly obese...a chain smoker...totally was ruining the life of what would have been a rather beautiful man she'd attached herself to (He started suffering from depression when she moved in on him. Now he's unemployable.). Natch, she's the only person of any race I've ever met, who's still rooting for Obama. Not many pitifuls to help in that town of achievers, and so my dutiful friend just had to get involved. Friend was visiting on a more pricey nearby street, onto which Jabbaette had wandered. She'd rung the doorbell, "Hi. I'm just lonely, and wondered if I could come in and visit for a while." A few minutes later, Jabbaette spots a bottle of pain meds. "Are you gonna take those? I'm supposed to be on ___ for my Degenerative Discs, but we just don't have the money..." (apparently, this is her MO...wandering around...'visiting'...bumming meds off people unlikely to take them... Incompetent area docs push pain medication onto reluctant patients...). And, apparently, my friend is thinking, "Oh, FINALLY! In this town full of rich people, someone who NEEDS HELP!!!"
So, my kindly and naive friend and I are over there, dropping off things for this hopeless case to sell in her yard sales (she can't drive to work, remember, and her body is falling apart in mysterious ways...something a lot of smokers seem to be having going on...so she's unemployable, too). So we're talking, and it turns out the little crack-ho Granddaughter of a nice 80-year-old down the block was hauled off for pawning Granny's treasures, and depleting Granny's bank accounts. She'd been allowed to move in with Gran (one more time...after having cleaned Granny out previously...and her parents...usual story...), because Drug treatment "Really worked this time! I'll never touch drugs again! Please give me a chance to turn my life around! And I'm havin a baaaaaaybeh!"(I'm imagining Carol Burnett's voice of Eunice Higgins when she's on a tear...)
So, my friend volunteers that she saw Crack Mommie, last time she was on the street, sitting under the carport. "Well that's no surprise. I saw that little skank sitting out there, so big I'm sure she was about to whelp out a baby, suckin' on a cigarette. Anybody who'd do that to their unborn child would do anything!"
At this point, Jabbaette the Charity Case puffs up like a Poison Toad, and spews, "Well, I smoked while I was pregnant! Don't talk about people who smoke when they're pregnant. There's nothing wrong with that!!!"
Well, I moved out here soon after that. But we got an update. Jabbaette's fine teenage baby boy, the one she'd whelped out after a pregnancy spent smoking, comes for a visit (can't imagine why, but Jabbaette lost custody of him when he was a tot...). Apparently, he's every bit as slim, attractive, and accomplished, as his Mama. He's even learned to read, and they're real proud of that...
I quit smoking cold turkey when I decided to try getting pregnant. So glad I did . . . and I didn't even drink a glass of wine from that day forward, as I was so afraid of having alcohol in my system and becoming pregnant. Of course, back in those days, getting a pregnancy test was not as simple as it is now - so a person could be 2 months pregnant before confirming it. I didn't want to take a chance.
As it turned out, I had a lot of problems with morning sickness when I did become pregnant, so like you - all sorts of smells made my stomach roll.
I continue to be surprised about how many women have told me they smoked throughout their pregnancies. Please understand - these are women who gave birth in the 60s and 70s - I think by the mid-70s, people were fully aware of how damaging smoking and drinking can be for a pregnant woman.
I also think that what SaraLee brought up was important - fetal alcohol syndrome. Drinking during pregnancy can have very far-reaching effects on a fetus.
I sure hope it doesn't appear I was minimizing how important maternal health and behavior are during pregnancy. I have just wondered why so many women have told me that they worried about their children's health and how it may have been affected by smoking (and drinking) once their children were older (and they learned/read about the dangers of smoking while pregnant) - but they never saw a relationship w/ respiratory problems or growth and development of their kids. Maybe moms simply justified it or minimized whatever health problems their kids may have had when they looked back, but it really does puzzle me.
The 60's and 70's, even the late 70's were different. Even if women had heard about the dangers of smoking/drinking while pregnant, it took time for the information to sink in.
In this day and age, all of that is pretty much common knowledge now. I would say that the vast majority of women do quit drinking/smoking while pregnant, or at least they cut back.
In fact, I have never seen a pregnant woman chain smoke. And of the women that I know who drank alcohol while pregnant, they never drank more than a glass or two in a day.
In this day and age, knowing the harm smoking can cause to your own body and the body of your child, do you know anyone who smoked knowing that they were pregnant?
I work in a fertility clinic that doesn't accept patients who are unwilling to quit smoking, and there have been many people who simply transfer to another facility because they aren't willing to stop. This completely baffles me since many of these people are spending hundreds or thousands of dollars to get pregnant, but they refuse to give up their daily cigarette. Have you known anyone like this or is this you? What reasoning is there to keep up the habit at the risk of your child's life?
I smoked all the way through my two pregnancies. Forty cigarettes a day! Nobody told me not to! My eldest child is in his fifties, he has no health problems and is in fact a smoker. My daughter is in her mid forties, once again no health problems and is a non smoker. Heavy smokers are supposed to have small babies. Mine weighed nine and eight pounds respectively, the smaller one as her birth was induced early because of her size. I am not condoning smoking in pregnancy just replying to the post. All the way through my pregnancy with my daughter I was prescribed (and took) barbiturates, tranquilisers and anti depressants. My daughter was born perfect (thank God) Was I just lucky? Incidentally both my children went on to have two perfect healthy children each.
Coffee? I've never heard of coffee being bad for a pregnant woman. Being 36 shouldn't have had any effect, either. That's hardly old. Two packs a day could definitely have had an effect on the pregnancy, though.
If I were you, I'd rethink carrying around anger at your mother for going on three decades for something she did when she was pregnant for you. Sounds kind of poisonous. You don't know who she was then--she was a PERSON before she was your mother--or what her fears might have been during that pregnancy. To hear some people talk, pregnancy is a magical time of unicorns and rainbows. For some of us, it was a terrible time full of fear and uncertainty about the future. It's hard to drop an addiction like smoking when you are living in a constant state of anxiety, too.
I agree with you so much!
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A little 'Smoking While Pregnant' story...
Incidentally both my children went on to have two perfect healthy children each.
