And now I have to pay for it by doing research on smoking during pregnancy.

I defended one side of the argument in my Developmental Psychology class today by stating that I smoked throughout my pregnancy, unable to quit without becoming violently ill (which is the truth) and although I was threatened with the possibility of a premature delivery or a low-birth-weight baby, I carried my son full term and he was over 7 & 1/2 pounds at birth (I am 5'4" and 98 lbs...same height and 129 lbs the day I gave birth).

Sooooo, in order to find out how much has changed in the medical field regarding smoking during pregnancy, I was instructed to bring in current research (with no promise of extra credit lol). I am still not sure if I think the instructor was out of line but I do think its cool that he wants the rest of the class to know how standards may have changed in 21 years.

In the U.S. they haven't.
Canada offers some threat of cancer in babies but lacks any medical proof to back it up.
The U.K. adds that it is associated with learning disabilities and developmental disorders but also lacks evidence to back it up.

Apparently I am one of the "lucky few" that haven't suffered from the effects on babies by a smoking mother as my son was carried full term, he was of an average weight for newborns, he has never had any kinds of cancer and he was involved with the Gifted and Talented Education Programs throughout High School. Programs you just don't get in to if you suffer from learning disabilities or developmental disorders.

I've got all the info for him come Thursday. I expect points for this LOL. ;)

Lol, you're part of government research! Just like ET [img]tongue.gif[/img] :D

Well, there's a purpose in life! ;) [img]tongue.gif[/img]
Gotta be good for something right? ha ha ha

[ 09-11-2002, 11:20 AM: Message edited by: Moni ]

<font color="#55aacc"> I did research on AIDS and the World Health Organization
and ended up with much the same results you did on this subject Moni [img]smile.gif[/img] Funny how you try to find hard data for things and end up with nothing but fluff and warm air. [img]smile.gif[/img] </font>

Warm air? nah, Its just that the Center of Disease Control and the American Lung Association can't come up with any conclusive evidence to add any further dangers to smoking during pregnancy. It is a medical fact that smoking will constrict the blood vessels and prohibit the amount of oxygen a fetus receives. What long term effects this has on a developing fetus is still unknown (or unproven) by U.S. standards with the exception of documentation that more cases of SIDS occur with babies whose mother's smoked during pregnancy.

What'd you do that you had to research AIDS? ;) [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[ 09-10-2002, 04:11 PM: Message edited by: Moni ]

My mum smoked 60 a day while she was carrying me! I was a little premature (a couple of weeks) and slightly underweight, but didn't suffer any health problems as a result. In fact I was a very healthy child.

Whoa! That's a lot of smokes! (I smoked just less than a third that amount per day).
I am glad to hear your health didn't suffer as a result Epona! :D

WOW! In health class wehave to look up stuff for aids and lots of the sites on aids has some crap i've never heard of.

<font color="lightblue">My mother smoked (AND drank some) while she was pregnant with me; and before that with my brother and sister.
So far, none of us have had anything wrong with us. For the record, I`m 16 in just over a month; my brother is 21 just over a week ago, and my sister is about 23/24 I think [img]tongue.gif[/img] </font>

I did not realize there was so little hard science (not paid for by tobacco institute, e.g.) about smoking whilepregnant.

I do remember when the research came out about kids in households that smoke having 5X the occurrence of breathing problems, asthma, and hay fever, unfortunately amanda was already 5 yrs old by then, and being able to say i told you so to her mom did little. :(

Interesting that they could not find any childbearing related consequences, I wonder if it has to do with the blood barrier and exceptional immunities babies have while being carried by moms?