So you're pregnant - and over the moon - as you contemplate a new life with a bouncing baby daughter or son! But
there's just one thing that's been troubling you, nagging you, playing
on your mind... You're a smoker! And you're worried about the effect
that might have on your beloved and much anticipated offspring. So what do you do?
Ignore
the threat and hope for the best? Try to cut down until the baby is
born? Or come to terms with how to stop smoking altogether?
"Either way," you're likely to be reasoning - "I'm in for a tough time!"
Let's
face it, as a mother to be, you're desperate to do everything in your
power to protect and care for the beautiful little person that's growing
inside you. At the same time, whether you care to acknowledge it openly
or not, you're in the vice-like grip of that damned smoking habit!
It's a case of 'irresistible motivation' meets 'immovable addiction'.
So, like any good Mom or Mom-to-be, you do the right thing and research the true dangers of continuing to smoke.
You
find out to your horror that smoking during pregnancy increases the
risk of pregnancy complications, premature delivery, low-birth-weight
infants, stillbirth, and sudden infant death syndrome.
Some more
delving and you come up against the worrying fact that babies of mothers
who smoked during pregnancy have lower birth weights and that low birth
weight is a leading cause of infant deaths, resulting in more than
300,000 deaths annually among newborns in the United States alone.
The
bad news keeps coming. Babies unprotected from secondhand smoke after
birth are at twice the risk for sudden infant death syndrome, and
infants whose mothers smoked before and after birth are at three to four
times greater risk.
"Enough" you reason. "There's no way I can
expose my baby to this kind of threat! I simply must work out how to
stop smoking before the damage is done."
But hold on. This is
supposed to be a special time for you. You've got to keep your wits
about you as you focus all your efforts on growing that wonderful little
baby. The last thing you want is the distraction and stress of having
to cope with quitting smoking.
What about the mood swings,
sleeplessness, cramping of the muscles, cravings and coughing that you
know will accompany the fight to dump the habit? What detrimental effect
will you subject your unborn child to if you start on some regimen of
pills, patches, or nicotine replacement drugs?
Like so many
pregnant mothers who face the same predicament, this dilemma appears to
have you headed firmly down a no-win 'cul de sac'.
Yet,
mercifully, that no longer has to be your fate, thanks to some wonderful
new approaches and methods that are available to deal effectively with
the question of how to stop smoking.
It's true. Nowadays you can
stop smoking easily, quickly and permanently and still manage to
circumvent all the nasty side effects and withdrawal symptoms that are
associated with giving up.
The secret to success is within your
reach, far closer than you could imagine. Your very own personal belief
system and frame of reference for what you think is possible and not
possible holds the key to making the change that you know - deep down -
you need to make.
That's right. 'Magic' pills, patches or drugs
are not the answer. You and your amazing mind are - admittedly, perhaps,
with a little help from those who have been there, done it and designed
the program!
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