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16 years ago 0 +0 / -0 22

Years ago I also smoked while being pregnant, knowing very well that it could hurt the babies.

My family doctor said that the baby would be underweight, but I guess he was wrong.

my daughter was a whopping 8lbs 15 oz. and my son, three years later, hit the scale at 10 lbs.

knowing things a lot better these days, I guess I would not have smoked.

but I am not beating myself up over the fact that I did in those days.

times have changed and a lot of things have changed for the better.

I think the quit is the best thing I could have done for myself, but also for my family and esp. for my granddaughter.

my advice to feeling guilty about what happened in the past. Don't!!! It will not resolve things, and only bring you down and you might become more anxious, and who know what the consequences are going to be then.

what happened - happened, just leave it therre where it is. in the past

My Milage:

My Quit Date: 4/18/2008
Smoke-Free Days: 60
Cigarettes Not Smoked: 1,500
Amount Saved: $480.00
Life Gained:
Days: 8 Hrs: 16 Mins: 3 Seconds: 38

16 years ago 0 +0 / -0 1890

In Dublin in the late 'fifties, New Me ... I would lie to the marginally interested shopkeeper and say they were for my mother! She never believed me but it let her conscience rest... it was a little huckster's shop at the bottom of our road which sold emergency stuff like bread and milk and sugar and candies and cigarettes... shame, huh?! But virtually every boy I knew while growing up started smoking and buying singles at around 10 or 11 yrs old... inconceivable nowadays...

My Milage:

My Quit Date: 1/18/2008
Smoke-Free Days: 151
Cigarettes Not Smoked: 3,775
Amount Saved: $1,698.75
Life Gained:
Days: 28 Hrs: 3 Mins: 20 Seconds: 9

16 years ago 0 +0 / -0 1288

New me,

You shouldn't feel guilty for others actions and decisions. You can visit www.depressioncenter.net for more information.

Sylvie, Bilingual Health Educator

16 years ago 0 +0 / -0 598

thanks DL and Danielle,

Maybe I am making too big a deal out of it. It was an emotional day! Oh, DL, buying cigs at 10 years old??? Where did you grow up? I also stole cigs out of my mom's pack. I remember one time I stole her LAST cig out of her purse. She was sooo mad that she hit me. I can remember only one other time she was so upset that she hit me, so it was unusual behavior. I was about 12 or 13, I think. I climbed out my window and sat on the roof and smoked that cig. My daughters are very proud of me for quitting. I have really shared my heart with them about what I went through to get to this point. They both smoke once in a while when they are socializing....I know that I have scared them straight about getting dependent on nicotine. So, that is a very good thing. I am not ignorant to the statistics about children with smoking parents..so we do have some influence. But, it still is their choice. I really would appreciate some psycological insight on how to overcome guilt. Thanks again

new me

My Milage:

My Quit Date: 5/26/2007
Smoke-Free Days: 388
Cigarettes Not Smoked: 9,700
Amount Saved: $2,425.00
Life Gained:
Days: 54 Hrs: 1 Mins: 23 Seconds: 42

16 years ago 0 +0 / -0 1890

Hi, Meg and New Me... really, don't be so hard on yourselves... yes, it wasn't the healthiest thing to do for the babies while pregnant but you were addicted to nicotine at the time... now you've quit and your kids are doing alright and the one who's a smoker is that way (most likely - according to what we know about these things today) because he choose to get addicted to cigarettes... don't beat yourselves up about these things... let them go... My mother smoked during her three pregnancies and smoked after I was born for another 10 years; yes, I stole her cigarettes but it wasn't she who set me on the road to smoking - that was reserved for the "cool" older guys on the block!! She punished me and warned me over and over again about my early days smoking but none of it stuck... hard-headed and stupid ... by the time I was 10 I was getting 24 pennies a week pocket money and I could buy one cigarettes at a time from the local huckster's shop for 2 pennies each... I only supplemented my smokign purchases with ones stolen from her pack... When she figured it out she stopped smoking altogether .... no mother is perfect and none of this means that you loved your children any less...

My Milage:

My Quit Date: 1/18/2008
Smoke-Free Days: 149
Cigarettes Not Smoked: 3,725
Amount Saved: $1,676.25
Life Gained:
Days: 27 Hrs: 17 Mins: 49 Seconds: 7

16 years ago 0 +0 / -0 8760

New me,

I think many parents probably did the same things you described. It was accepted practice. I know my mother did the same and said the same things you mentioned and I don't love her any less. Don't be so hard on yourself!

You can't do anything about the past but you can do something now and in the future. Your quit gives you more time, make the most of it!

The very fact that you have quit and are giving your children many more years with you is in itself the greatest gift you can give!

Danielle, Bilingual Health Educator

16 years ago 0 +0 / -0 406

Hi Newme, I also smoked while I was pregnant with my son.

I smoked in the hospital room after he was born and I breast

fed him. He was born 10 days early and had jaundice.

He wasn't gaining weight so we switched him to formula.

He was allergic to formula so had to switch to soy bean

formula. After that switch he was a healthy toddler. When

he was preschool age we were told he had ADD. He spent

his school years in special needs classes. Graduated from

high school and is now 27 and a smoker.

My Milage:

My Quit Date: 3/7/2008
Smoke-Free Days: 100
Cigarettes Not Smoked: 800
Amount Saved: $205.20
Life Gained:
Days: 10 Hrs: 23 Mins: 0 Seconds: 50

16 years ago 0 +0 / -0 598

I smoked cigs when I was pregnant with all 4 of my children. The fourth was premature, surely caused by my smoking addiction. Even though all my children are healthy, I have one child with addiction problems. Sometimes I feel so guilty that I smoked when i was pregnant that I cry. Maybe you wonderful mods could handle the topic of "Guilt after smoking". I feel so bad about some of the memories that i actually cringe when I think of them..like having my kids ask me "come on mommy, read me a story."...My answer, "wait until mommy is done with her cigarette". I did read to them all the time; but there were so many times that I could have been in the house spending precious moments with them and I chose to spend those moments outside on the back porch feeding my addiction. Now they are all grown up and I can not get those moments back. Oh geez, help me. I need some mental exercises to get over this guilt.

new me

My Milage:

My Quit Date: 5/26/2007
Smoke-Free Days: 385
Cigarettes Not Smoked: 9,625
Amount Saved: $2,406.25
Life Gained:
Days: 53 Hrs: 17 Mins: 57 Seconds: 9

16 years ago 0 +0 / -0 1153

Women who smoke and breast feed their babies can expose their infants to harmful chemicals from tobacco.

Brenna, Bilingual Health Educator

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