Smoke your way to pregnancy complications
Smoking is a major public health issue. There are millions of smokers everywhere who not only put themselves in danger but also those around them. Smokers face a risk of contracting various cardiovascular and lung diseases, lung cancer in particular.
Smoking is harmful even to the fittest person as the risk of contracting lung cancer is very high. For a pregnant woman smoking poses an even more serious health risk.
Various studies have shown that smoking leads to quite a few pregnancy complications.
1. Increased risk of ectopic pregnancy. This is where the embryo gets implanted in an area it is not designated to such as the fallopian tube. Surgery has to be done in these cases to remove the embryo and save the mother’s life.
2. High chances of your baby dying an instant unexplained death. This is also referred to as the Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Prenatal smoking by the mother is one of the biggest risk factors.
3. Baby born with very low weight. This has been associated with smoking in that the more a pregnant woman smokes the more likely the child’s birth weight will be lower.
4. Double risk of having placental complications. Placental problems can occur in many different ways and are deemed very risky since they can very easily lead to the death of mother or child during delivery.
5. Causes birth defects. Mothers who smoke continuously throughout pregnancy can deliver a child that has many birth defects and abnormalities.
Second hand smoke can affect the growth of the baby as well with statistics showing a decrease in birth weight for those babies whose mothers were constantly around chain smokers.
There are so many different complications that can occur due to smoking that it is impossible to list them all in one article. It is indeed very difficult to quit smoking after you are addicted, but you have to ask yourself various questions. Are you ready to bear a child that may have possible birth defects caused entirely by you? Are you ready to risk your life or the baby’s life? Are you ready to have a child that would die unexpectedly of cot death?
If you have already smoked through part of your pregnancy, you can stop immediately to reduce risk of complications. It is never late to quit as every little bit helps. You can even contact your healthcare provider to direct you to local programs that assist people in quitting smoking.