Smoking while Pregnant
COMM/215
August 28, 2010
Dr. John

Smoking while Pregnant

In United States, smoking is responsible for about 443, 000 death per year. Smoking although disclosures pregnant mother and her baby to a serious health complications. The more the mother smokes, the higher the risk of the baby developing these and other problems associated with smoking cigarettes. Smoking while pregnant exposes the mother and her unborn baby to several health problems. When a pregnant women smokes her unborn baby smokes too. What this means is that the nicotine, carbon monoxide, and the other chemicals that the mother inhales with every cigarette are passing into her baby’s body. Ectopic pregnancy is an uncommon pregnancy that occurs outside the uterus. When this happens there is no way to save the pregnancy. According to American Lung Association, “women who smoke during pregnancy are estimated to count for 20%-30% of low birth weight babies, Up to 14% of prematurely deliveries and about10% of all infant death” (Biradar, Bhagavati, & Swamy, 2006, p. 1).Those babies born with low-birth weight are more vulnerable to many more newborn problems than normal-weight babies. Low birth babies are more vulnerable to many health problems such as breathing difficulties and long- term healthy problems in adulthood. The mother’s oxygenated blood runs in and out of the fetus through veins in the umbilical cord. If this course is obstructed, the fetus will not receive enough oxygen to develop properly. Smoking not only exposes the baby’s fetus to poisons in tobacco smoke, but it also harms placental function. There are more than 4,000 chemicals in cigarettes. Among these chemicals, there are several life-threatening health issues that can happen to both the smoking mother and her baby during pregnancy and after the babies are born. Naturally this disturbs