Smoking is a bad habit and can easily become an addiction. Everybody who is addicted to smoking must try to quit the habit. Pregnancy and smoking effects are adverse both for the expectant female and for the growing baby inside the womb. Tobacco contains several harmful chemicals, the number of which exceeds 4,000. Some of these chemicals are carcinogenic and some others are highly poisonous and toxic. Pregnancy and smoking effects are numerous; the chemicals present in tobacco such as Nicotine, carbon monoxide and tar adversely affect the fetus and impair its growth. When you smoke though some chemicals quit the body immediately by exhalation, certain others stay within your body and will find their way to the placenta. Pregnancy and smoking effects on the unborn child are due to the fact that the baby inhales two types of smoke; the smoke that the mother breathes in and the smoke that is present in the surrounding air.
Before delivery the growing fetus in the mother’s womb depends on her mother for all types of nutrients, food and oxygen that are required for the healthy development of the baby. The main connection between the mother and the fetus is the tissue called placenta through which the growing fetus in the mother’s womb receives all the required nourishments for its healthy development. Pregnancy and smoking effects on the new born baby are plenty. Pregnancy and smoking effects that first occurs in the baby is a reduction in oxygen supply. The reduction in oxygen supply is the result of the chemicals carbon monoxide and nicotine that are increased in the mother’s blood stream because of her smoking habit. The baby’s movement slows down and heart beat increases in an effort to inhale more oxygen. This pushes the baby towards unwanted stress.
Pregnancy and smoking effects not only reduce the oxygen supply but also the presence of nicotine tends to shrink the blood vessels of the mother’s placenta. The shrunken blood vessels deprive the baby of its necessary blood supply thus reducing the quantity of nutrients and oxygen reaching her which is important for her proper growth. Pregnancy and smoking effects on the baby is that the delivered baby tends to be underweight and underdeveloped and has to be kept in an incubator or under intensive care. The baby may be still born due to the death of the fetus in the uterus. Pregnancy and smoking effects is that after birth the child won’t get the nicotine she was receiving in her mother’s womb due to her smoking habit. So the child will now suffer from withdrawal symptoms of nicotine.
More severe pregnancy and smoking effects are development of ectopic pregnancy which means that the fetus grows outside of the womb in other places such as the fallopian tubes. This condition is life threatening to the expectant female. Pregnancy and smoking effects also include an increased risk for miscarriage, still birth and death of the baby in the first few weeks. The probability of placenta lying in extreme low position increases risking the lives of both mother and child during delivery.
Some more pregnancy and smoking effects that arise are vaginal bleeding, urinary tract infection, vomiting, deficiency of the essential vitamins and folic acid and breathing problems in mother. The mother may also develop fatigue and lacks the strength to face the pregnancy. Pregnancy and smoking effects can also lead to premature birth of the baby due to the premature rupture of the membranes. Therefore, once your pregnancy is confirmed quitting the smoking habit is the best solution to have a safe and normal pregnancy and baby.