Feeling her baby move inside her was the only reward Lucie Mathieson wanted for giving up smoking.

MARION SAUVEBOIS reports

THE DAY she felt her baby kick and wriggle inside her for the first time, Lucy Mathieson knew her decision to give up smoking had been worthwhile.

The young mother was 21 when she discovered her chances of ever having children were significantly reduced and that conceiving may be a struggle.

When she fell pregnant three years later, only one thing stood between her and her life-long dream of motherhood – her addiction to tobacco.

Determined to quit, she sought help from Swindon’s Stop Smoking Service.

Five months into her pregnancy, she finally beat her addiction and on July 15 gave birth to a healthy baby boy, Riley.

“I didn’t want to be one of these mum stood outside the shops with a massive bump and a cigarette in their hand,” said Lucy, a customer assistant at Marks and Spencer.

“When I found out, I knew I had to give up; I didn’t want to harm him in any way.

“I had always wanted to be a mother but I was told it would be hard for me to conceive. When I had the first scan, it still didn’t seem real. It was a miracle. And that was my kick up the bum.”

Like many before her, Lucy started smoking at the age of 17, as a way to bond with her friends. Despite her promise to her mother never to smoke, she soon became hooked and her cigarette breaks began punctuating her life both at work and at home.

In November, she initially halved her cigarette intake from 10 to five.

As she was pregnant, she did not have the luxury of taking Champix, a drug prescribed to a large number of smokers to relieve the craving and withdrawal symptoms.

Instead she had to fight her addiction the hard way: with nicotine patches.

But the thought of exposing her unborn child to nicotine combined with recurring nightmares about losing him during labour, prompted her to just go cold turkey.

“I was absolutely petrified of having a stillborn,” she explained. “Quitting was hard. It did take time for me to quit. Cigarettes are very addictive and not just the nicotine but all the chemicals in them.

“I cut down to about three or five cigarettes a day. And I saw Annabel at the Stop Smoking Service when I was about three months pregnant. That was in January. In February I got patches.

“But I felt guilty all the time. I had nightmares that I went in early labour and that he was born tiny.

“At the beginning of March I went cold turkey. I was five and half months pregnant. I didn’t want any nicotine in my body. You are responsible for another life and smoking endangers your baby every day.

A few weeks later, Lucy started to feel Riley wriggling noticeably– something she had never experienced before. The almost immediate benefit of her decision to quit on her child was all the motivation she needed to keep her resolve.

“They tell you that it restricts the oxygen to the baby and that he won’t move as much because of it; and a few weeks after I stopped I noticed more movements. The first time I felt him wriggling inside of me properly I thought ‘That’s why I’m doing it’. I had felt little movements before but nothing like that. He started kicking. I think he was just saying ‘Thanks, mum’.

“I realised how much the smoking had affected him. You realise it’s true what they say about smoking and that you should have listened a long time ago.”

On average, smokers’ newborns are 200g lighter than other babies. A low birth weight adds to the risks of stillbirth, and makes babies weaker and at greater danger of disease, hearing loss, learning difficulties and sight problems, as well as cerebral palsy.

As they grow older, they are more likely to get infections, such as inflammation of the middle ear, and have health conditions that require hospital treatment, such as asthma.

Not only is smoking harmful to the unborn child but it can increase the risk of complications during pregnancy.

Quitting means mothers-to-be will experience less morning sickness and fewer complications. It will also reduce the risk of cot death, which is increased by at least 25 per cent by smoking during pregnancy.

“The thought of poisoning my baby with that smoke kept me strong and I haven’t had one since.

“I feel so much better, I would definitely recommend life without it. You worry about the repercussions after they are born. Babies can be small, premature or have breathing problems.

“Seeing him so healthy when he was born was magical. It’s a massive reward.

“I still do crave cigarettes sometimes. It’s one of those split second thoughts and then I look at him and think ‘That’s why I stopped’.

“I had to give up for him – he is the most important person in my life.”

Would you take the risk?

Stopping smoking will benefit both you and your baby immediately. When you stop smoking:

  • you will have less morning sickness and fewer complications in pregnancy;
  • l you will reduce the risk of stillbirth
  •  you will cope better with the birth
  •  your baby is less likely to be born too early and have to face the additional breathing, feeding and health problems that often go with being premature
  •  your baby is less likely to be born underweight
  • l you will reduce the risk of cot death, also called sudden infant death.

     

    The Swindon Stop Smoking Service offers free one-to-one support for expectant mums who want to stop.

    For more information call freephone 0800 3892229 or 01793 465513, text 07881281797 or email besmokefree @seqol.org.