All three substances attach themselves to hemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying protein in red blood cells. The deadly substance is carried to the lungs and other organs of your body instead of oxygen. There are many things you can do to foster a healthy pregnancy. Quitting smoking is one of the top four, along with wearing a seatbelt, not drinking alcohol or using illicit drugs, and taking folic acid. If you are pregnant and have not quit smoking, you are harming your child.
Many people worry about minor environmental influences that affect their unborn children.
Things such as air pollution, electromagnetic fields that emanate from computer screens or home appliances, and high-tension wires are really small concerns when compared to the damage cigarette smoking can do to a fetus. Smoking has a much greater impact on the fetus than air pollution because the poisons in cigarettes are concentrated in the mother's lungs and bloodstream. And whatever gets into your blood is transferred to the baby. In addition to tar, nicotine and many other toxic substances, such as ammonia, cigarette smoke contains carbon monoxide, which reduces the amount of oxygen available to the baby. Studies indicate that the blood vessels in the umbilical cords of babies whose mothers smoked show the same types of damage seen in the blood vessels of adult smokers.