Smoking And Pregnancy

One's health is perhaps the most difficult aspect of human life that is hard to maintain. I must admit that I am not very keen when it comes to my health. Shame on me, but I do have bad habits that never seem to die. I drink alcohol and smoke a lot, shun away from healthy diet, and engage in sex more than the usual. At times, I even thought of having serious psychological problem.

By and large, smoking is pretty life threatening, but my wife and I tend to just shrug shoulders off. She sniffed cigarettes even when she was pregnant and we didn't seem to care at all. Dangerous is it not? But the hell I care. Not until a friend of us related her story about smoking during pregnancy. We were told that she delivered a smaller baby who became mentally retarded too. She also developed mild lung cancer.

As a result, my wife and I did not just cut down, but quit smoking for good. We have learned that smoking damages the placenta which yields to lesser oxygen supply. As such, the fetus inside the placenta does not get good nutrition. The pregnant mother is also adversely affected in many ways. I can attest to this because my wife had several health problems during her pregnancy. It was an ilk of good luck that our child grew up physically and mentally healthy.