I am 4 weeks pregnant, am I doing the right things?

Question

Hi all, I am 4 weeks pregnant and I have a couple of questions. I am very concerned about my babies health and I want it to be healthy and have nothing wrong with it.

I have been super stressed out the past week because my 5 year old son doesn't listen very well and he is making it very hard on me. I have heard that stress can damage an unborn baby.

I also smoke cigarettes but I am really trying to quit. I did smoke 1 pack a day and over the past few days I have cut down to 1/2 pack a day, and I'm hoping to quit entirely before too long.

So my questions are: do you think my baby will be ok? I know this is the most critical part of the pregnancy when they are delevoping their organs and stuff.

I am trying to relax as much as possible and I'm cutting back on smoking, so do you think if I don't stress out anymore and cut back on cigarettes as much as I can, do you think from now on out my pregnancy will be ok and I will have a healthy baby?

Answer 1

take your prenatal vitamins. avoid caffeine and follow your doctors instructions. I agree with what everyone else said, cut back to ultimately quit smoking. Everything should be fine.

Answer 2

Quit smoking NOW! Smoking is probably the number one worst thing you can be doing. Half a pack a day is too much. One is too many! I smoked a pack a day until I found out I was pregnant. Quit cold turkey until I was done nursing 2 years later. Started again, got pregnant again, quit again. You HAVE to do it. Contrary to what most believe, smoking does not relax you. It revs you up and makes you want another one when you start withdrawal an hour later. It will take about 4 days to get over the urge if you quit cold turkey. Smoking less doesn't help you quit.YOU CAN DO IT FOR YOUR BABY!

Answer 3

I have talked to several people about this subject because I too smoke. I went from smoking 1/2 a pack a day to smoking between 1 and 4. Every single one of my doctors advised me not to quit cold turkey because the effects of with drawl are greater on the baby than actually smoking is - but instead, to give yourself a quit date and gradually ween yourself off. I am in the process of doing this. I think if you limit your smoking, your baby will be fine.

As for the stress, when your 5 year old starts stressing you out, send him to his room and take a few minutes to yourself. Sit back, close your eyes and take a deep breath. When you do this, imagine yourself inhaling a white fog. Exhale. Imagine yourself exhaling a black fog.

The white fog is to represent all the good things in life - being stress-free, knowing that your baby will be okay, clean auras and everything else that goes with being positive.
The black fog is to represent all things negative - stress, the 13 week wait, bad vibes and everything negative.

You do this so you can see yourself inhaling the positive, stress free stuff and exhaling the negative, stressful stuff.

I had nightmares for about 2 weeks that had me so stressed out I was sure I'd lose the baby - I talked to a friend of mine that had me do this and I haven't worried or had a bad dream since. Congrats on your pregnancy, I hope all goes well for your new baby and the rest f you family. Good luck, and lots of baby dust to you!

Answer 4

Yes, you need to quit smoking altogether, but believe me I know it is hard. I was a pack a day smoker when I got pregnant too. I cut back a lot like you did. I wasn't able to quit until about my 6th week when just the smell of cigarettes (even unlit) would make me vomit. Doctors obviously will tell you to quit, but mine said that the baby would be fine since I at least cut back. My mom smoked through all four of her pregnancies and we all turned out fine. I am sure you will have a beautiful, healthy baby! Congratulations and best of luck!

Answer 5

I have 3 beautiful healthy children, I tried quitting smoking with each of them , and I have to be honest with you I just couldn't do it. I had good days, and bad days where I smoked more than I normally would. My son was only 13 months when I got pregnant with my last baby, and he is ALWAYS on top of me and was jumpin on me and I ha dto tell him to knock it off of course, and as my belly grew he didn't haveroom to be on me anyhow. My daughter is 5 now, and she already went through one pregnancy with me, so she knew she could hurt the baby if she ruffhoused , but even when she was only 3 with the first one I explained to her that there was a baby in my belly and if she was always on mommy and jumpin around she could hurt the baby.
As for the whole stress thing goes, it can be hard, just try to give yourself some time at least once a day to gather your thoughts and relax.
Keep in mind that quitting smoking you may go through withdrawl symptoms, which can be more harmful to the baby than you being stressed out from your 5 year old. My doctor told me this with all three, he did sugesst i try to quit though to wait until the second trimester when the risk of miscarrige goes down to try to get them out of the picture completly.
I'm sure you will have a beautiful heathy baby.

Answer 6

Smoking is way more dangerous than stress. Just relax and remind your self frequently that there is a life growing inside of you and depends on you 100%. This should be one of the best times in your life. And stress can be, well, stressful, but I believe it would take over the top stress to harm the baby. Try talking to your son, I have a six year old(and two year old). When I was preggo, my daughter was going through her tantrums and I thought I was going to miscarry at anytime because she would get me into tears. But I finally stood up and said I am not going to let this four year old stress me like this. I am the mother and what I say goes. Stearness will help. Good luck to you. Relax and enjoy the life you have within you.

Answer 7

you said you smoked 1 pack a day and now your smoking half a pack a day.your on the track to quit smoking try smoking only 2 cigarette's a day and finally you will not want to smoke while your pregnant i know you can do it.i was a smoker and i quit when i was pregnant with my daughter who is turning 5 so i haven't touched a cigarette almost 6 years.

Answer 8

hun you really should stop smoking! dont quit cold turkey though! that could be very stressful! but cut it downto 4 a day and start replacing it with gum, or a small snack! as for your son, it may be jelousy does he know about the baby? if so he may want more attention because he thinks he'll be ignored i had the same problem! when my girls find out im pregnant i took some alone time with them! now my 4 yr. old daughter is my napping buddy! if you need ideas try e-mailing me ! im happy to help with anything!

Answer 9

I found out I was pregnant at about 4-5 weeks and quit smoking cold turkey. I had tried to quit before that, but just didn't have a "good enough reason", even though getting pregnant should've been good enough.

I craved them badly through the first trimester, but kept reminding myself of all the bad things that could happen even if they didn't happen to him while I was pregnant.

For instance, my cousin smoked her entire pregnancy and her baby was ok, but she had VERY high blood pressure. At 3, she had to rush him to the hospital with severe asthma, most likely caused by her smoking while pregnant. That was enough to scare me.

Answer 10

Truthfully u need to quit NOW a friend of mine smoked while she was pregnant and she tried to quit, she said she would stop when she was 44 months but @ her second doctors appointment she said she was really stressed from trying to quit and all, then the doctor said, "you are to far along now, it is more unhealthy for the baby if you don't quit", and now her child is born 4 months old and sadly she is mentally handy-capt, so ask god for help and get lots of nicorete gum, and try and quit asap

Answer 11

well, i'll hand it to you for cutting back... but you need to quit entirely, I had to too, and I understand its not easy, especially with a 5 year old and hormones drawing you to light up once 'n a while, but you can do it! I'm sure you'll be okay though, but I would really consider quitting all together, because cigarettes can cause low birth weight, and the baby won't be as healthy as it potentially could be..