Success Stories
Stories (gifts) from the view of participants...
I think the Gifts program is a wonderful tool for a Mother to be. I believe the thing that helped me the most was the CO2 monitor. It allowed me to see my progress each time I used the monitor. I didn’t know that smoking could put so much poison in my bloodstream. (anonymous)
The Gifts program was great for me. The program encouraged me to quit smoking. I had someone to help support me when I needed it the most. The brochures and handouts were great. I would recommend the program to anyone that is pregnant and smokes. (anonymous)
"I have smoked for two years with one unsuccessful quit attempt. Upon enrolling in GIFTS I had already cut back to 5 cigarettes per day and decided to quit completely. When my husband and I met with the GIFTS Supporter and heard all of the things that are actually in a cigarette, we both decided to quit. My husband and I have managed to become smoke-free and stay that way for almost four months now!" (Terra Pittman)
“…I w0uld say the biggest contributing factor to staying smoke free is the baby, and not wanting to expose her to that (smoking) in her environment, and she has had some ear infections and I know that, that could increase her risk of having more, so I don’t let anyone smoke around her or you know be around her that is smoking…” (anonymous)
"It is a mindset, it’s, you know once I got over smoking, I kind of demonized it I guess. When I see it you know I look and I think, how ugly is that, how disgusting is that, it smells bad, it gets in your clothes and, there’s no point in it you know, you’re just making money for some big corporation that doesn’t care about your health, you know. Why do you want to spend your money on a pointless habit?” (anonymous)
“Okay when you have a baby and this new little person comes to be with you, it’s like starting over, you’re at ground zero, you know, everything you’ve done in the past you know that part of your life is over with, your selfish part of your life and now you have someone else to live for, you know. You have a new chance; you have a new beginning …I want to make her life, you know the best it can be.” (anonymous)
Stories (gifts) from the view of the GIFTS Supporters…
I met a lady who has several other health problems, and she agreed to quit smoking altogether after speaking with me. She had originally been smoking 4 per day. Her mother is with her constantly and has been a great source of support for her. She stated she had begun smoking by sneaking a few from other family members when they weren’t aware. After a couple of years, she found herself craving them more and more. She said just knowing the contents as well as what they could do to the baby was more than enough reason for her to quit.
I met with a mom who was 3 months postpartum (had already delivered her baby). She had quit smoking within 2 months of signing up for the GIFTS program. Many women will go back to smoking after the baby is born but she is still smoke free 3 months postpartum and was successfully discharged from the GIFTS program.
A mom signed up for GIFTS when she was at the end of her 2nd trimester. She had 2 kids already and the youngest had been born with a low birthweight and she did not want that to happen again. About a month after she signed up for GIFTS she read an article about GIFTS in the newspaper and decided that she did not want to be one of the few statistics that failed, so she quit smoking. She also stated that the information sheet that the GIFTS Supporter gave her about how the body starts to immediately repair itself really impressed her. She had an ultrasound at 32 weeks-she was still smoking at this time-and it showed the baby only weighed 4lbs. She quit soon after the ultrasound and the baby gained 4 pounds in the last month. She delivered a healthy baby girl on May 30 that weighed 8lbs and 4oz. She just came in for her WIC ADD and is still smoke free!
A woman came to the health department pregnant with her second child. She quit smoking during her first pregnancy but had started back. Once she found out she was pregnant again she quit. By the time I met her she was six weeks along. During our meeting she informed me she had five other smokers in the house with her and her daughter. I asked her to blow on the CO monitor and she blew an 8 (high level). We were amazed. She informed me that she was going home to tell her family to take the smoking outside. The mom did not want her little girl, the unborn baby, or herself exposed to that much smoke. I look forward to seeing her next month and hearing about her progress!
A pregnant mom came into the clinic just one month before she was due and she decide to sign up on the GIFTS program. Everyone in her house had quit smoking but her. She felt that with a little extra support she would be able to quit. The mom set a quit date for 30 days from the date she signed up. She called me about 3 weeks later and told me she had been successfully quit for 2 full weeks which was just in time for her to deliver and bring her baby home to a smoke free environment.
I had just exited one client from the program when I found out she was pregnant again and wished to rejoin the program. She stated that although she had been successful in her quit attempt with her first baby, she relapsed due to all the extra pressures and concerns of having this new baby to care for and her husband being out of work. (There are several other problems occurring at this time for this couple also.) She said that she really wanted to quit and stay quit. I believe her, but also think she is in need of the support this program provides. The fact that she is willing to try again and wants us to be a part of this important decision is a wonderful testimony as to how beneficial this program truly is.
A patient came in for her follow-up session and stated that she had smoked her last cigarette earlier that morning and was not going to go back to them. She is pregnant with twins and has 2 other children; the children and her husband, who is a nonsmoker, were her biggest motivation to quit.
I finally managed to contact a mom I had been trying to reach since November. She is adamant about trying to quit smoking and even before enrollment has cut her smoking in half, having gone from smoking 10 cigarettes per day to five. The enrollment was an easy decision for her after learning that I could share some pointers and tips on dealing with the cravings associated with smoking, which seemed to be her biggest obstacle. The fact that she had already cut back on her own, as well as having now enrolled, is a testimony that she truly does want to do what is best for the baby! That, my friends, is a true success story!
A lady enrolled in GIFTS about one month before she was due to deliver. She decided that she would not be able to quit before the baby was born, and would concentrate more on quitting after delivery. At the time, her husband was not at all interested in quitting smoking. She delivered a beautiful baby boy and called her GIFTS Supporter to get some information on NRT. She was sent information in the mail about the different options. About a week later, she came by the GIFTS Supporter’s office and said that both her and her husband had decided that they wanted to quit on their own, without the help of NRT. She said they each were only smoking 1 cigarette per day, and they were ready to give smoking up completely. They both set a quit date and they are now almost a smoke free family!
Imagine being nineteen and just finishing high school. Now add onto that you have been married for just a short time. Then you find out you are expecting your first child. Not only are you and your spouse excited but also the in-laws. The only problem is that you smoke as well as your spouse and in-laws. Your current housing situation is such that you are living with the in-laws. Once the home pregnancy test is positive, you have decided to quit. That was Saturday. On Monday, you go the local health department to get the official word that you are pregnant. While there the GIFTS supporter just so happens to be in that health department on that day. You and your spouse talk to the supporter about your smoking. It is then that you realize just how important your decision was to quit smoking. You make the commitment right there to remain smoke free. Your spouse also makes the commitment to try to become smoke free. In the meantime, the in-laws come looking for you and find you talking to the GIFTS Supporter. The supporter decides it is now or never to get the point across about Second Hand Smoke. The Supporter gives her talk about the importance of not smoking around the young woman. Not only that the spouse tells his parents that they need to try to quit. The supporter tells the spouse and his parents about an upcoming Cooper-Clayton class that will be sponsored by the ASAP board, health department and the UK extension office. Stay tuned to see how this story turns out…
A mom who had previously refused the program, even in so much as to do the assessments, came back in and spoke with me (GIFTS Supporter) again. This time she is of a different mindset, wants to become smoke free and has enrolled in the program. Since two months have elapsed from the initial visit, she has gone from smoking 30 cigarettes per day to smoking only 5. While she is still striving to quit smoking altogether, I congratulate her on this tremendous accomplishment!!
There was young girl that came into the health department and had a positive pregnancy test. She was very overwhelmed and did not want to enroll in GIFTS that day. She said that she would be coming back in a couple of weeks for her WIC and that I could enroll her then. I gave her a few handouts for her to take home with her and told her I would see her when she came back. She came back into the health department a couple of weeks later. She was very excited and said that she had quit smoking the day after I initially saw her. She said that when she got home from the health department that day she read the handouts that I had given her. She said that she had seen people smoke her whole life and had never thought about the consequences of smoking. She said that she never knew how she could be harming her body and now even her baby.
I had a mom with 3 daughters to have her first son January 9. Unfortunately, he has asthma, and in an effort to make sure he doesn’t have complications, the mom quit smoking altogether. She stated that he (the new baby) was a lot more important than any cigarette. I just spoke with her today and she is remaining quit, having gone from smoking a half pack per day. Quite the devoted mom! Great job!
One mother decided she was going to finish her last pack of cigs rather than set a quit date. SHE called the next week and stated she had been smoke-free for two days.
Two girls, roommates, signed up for our program together. One said she had only smoked one cigarette, which made her sick, so she hasn’t smoked since and the other girl had gone from smoking 10 per day to smoking only 3 per day. She is utilizing several techniques we discussed in order to stay busy and keep her mind off smoking. I am so tickled as both of them sounded so positive and happy! They are a great source of support for one another and I will be checking back with them to let them know I am in their corner and cheering them on!
Just imagine that your grandparents say to you it is Ok to smoke this cigarette. You are only seven at the time. So you start smoking at the tender age of seven. Flash forward to the age of twenty. You find yourself pregnant and addicted to nicotine. The doctor tells you that cigarette smoking can harm your unborn baby. Now what do you do? When you go to the local health department for a checkup with the nurse practitioner she tells you about this wonderful new program called GIFTS. The GIFTS Supporter talks to
you about your smoking. She shows you a picture of a cigarette and the ingredients. You can’t believe that you have been putting some of those chemicals in your body. Why some of those same chemicals are used to make meth. That is the last thing you want to put into your body much less expose your unborn child too. The GIFTS Supporter offers to help you through the smoking cessation progress by just being there for you. She will call you, see you in the clinic or even come to your home if you need her. She even has a 1-800-QUIT NOW number that you can call. This Quit line will even call you to check on you. This is just what you need. You set a quit day for two weeks later but the more you think about what you are doing to your unborn baby the more you want to quit. So you quit within three days. It is hard at first. You have the usual withdrawals: irritability, depression, and cravings. But the withdrawals are worth it….you will have a healthy, happy baby. You will remain smoke free for the rest of your life just because you want to be able to breathe free as well as your child to breathe free.
I enrolled a lady who had just found out she was pregnant. She was very excited because she had no children but had experienced miscarriages in the past. I went over all of the information with her and she was very concerned. She expressed that she had never been told any of this information before. She said that the doctors and nurses had always just told her “don’t smoke” but had never told her why. Within three days of our first visit she had quit smoking. She was able to quit cold turkey and has not smoked since.
Cindy (not her real name) is 20 years old, has a young child and is pregnant with her second. She is single and has just moved from another state to live in an apartment with her mother. After talking with her for a few minutes, she confirmed that she would like to quit smoking, but knew she could never do that because she was so stressed and had zero willpower. She was not aware that smoking increases the chance of miscarriage, premature birth or a stillbirth. She did not know that smoking increases the chances of cancer or heart disease. The more we talked, the more interested she became. She started asking questions. She stated she still was not interested in signing up for “Gifts”. We talked for a few more minutes. She seemed interested in “smoking triggers” and the water bottle. I shared the chart with the 4,000 chemicals. I gave her the handout “what’s in a cigarette”. Cindy started to change her attitude. She did not agree to quit smoking, but agreed to think about a quit date. She indicated she was interested in quitting. She signed up on the “Gifts” program. Cindy told me that she would like to have a healthy family.
While working in one county, I missed a patient in another county. When I returned, I called the patient I had missed and left a message on her machine. Within an hour of calling her I received a call back from her. She wanted to set up an appointment to come in and see me the following week. She showed up a few minutes early for her appointment, eager to talk with me about becoming smoke free. We talked for an hour, making a quit plan and setting a quit date. She had already decreased the amount of cigarettes she smoked daily by a half a pack, but she decided during the visit that she would continue cutting back and would quit within two weeks. This girl was very concerned about her baby’s health and showed great promise for quitting. Her husband is also enrolling in Cooper Clayton classes with UK.