Judi
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She helped me – my midwife. She asked me questions: if I smoked, if I’d like to try to stop. She said it’s not good for me and baby. I said I knew that and, yes, I’d like to try.
I didn’t want to smoke, but because I had smoked for ten years I didn’t think I could stop. So I was happy she asked me these questions. Then she helped me make an appointment for Smokechange.
Carly came to see me very quickly, only a few days later. She asked me some questions and let me try the chewing gum. The questions were about how you think about smoking. What’s good or not. That helped me to decide what I wanted to do, that I had to stop right now.
Even though I thought that I couldn’t stop, I tried. Carly came to visit me every week at the start. I was smoking maybe ten a day. We made a plan together: take one month to cut down by half and the next month to stop.
When you get started its not very hard. I was surprised for myself. In the first week when I thought ‘I want to smoke’ I would chew the gum. When I did chew the gum I still wanted to smoke, but when I did smoke, I didn’t want all of it. I threw it away. I cut down by half in the first week. Then the next week I stopped all of them.
I couldn’t believe I did that! I did better than the plan. After two weeks I didn’t need the gum or smokes. It took two weeks to stop smoking then two weeks to stop thinking about it.
It feels different now, very good. Everything does. Now I don’t cough in the morning. The cough is all gone. You smoke, but you’re not really happy. My body didn’t feel well. In my heart I knew smoking was not good, but I didn’t stop. I feel so good now. I can be close to my baby. I’m so happy I stopped smoking. It’s good for me and for my baby girl.
Other people like it, too. Because I don’t smoke, I don’t smell. And I save money. Forty dollars a week is two thousand dollars a year, that’s a lot. I can buy clothes or something for my baby with that.
Thinking that my baby is important helps. If I smoke my baby smokes. Maybe if it was just for myself, I wouldn’t want to stop. But what’s good for me is good for my baby.
Also, because people came to help me, I had to do something. I liked Carly. She was very kind, friendly. I liked to see her. I didn’t want to disappoint her because she helped me. If she wasn’t coming then maybe I wouldn’t stop. Carly kept in touch with me even after I stopped smoking.
People helping is important. If my midwife hadn’t made the call to Smokechange, I wouldn’t have made the call and I wouldn’t have stopped. Why not? Because you’re scared and you don’t believe you can do it.
In Chinese culture it’s the same thinking: smokefree is very important for everyone. It doesn’t matter who you are you have to stop. It’s not good for anyone.
Judi's Closing Words
I know you can do it - become smokefree. If you are like me, you may think its going to be hard and then you get a surprise. If you don’t open up, people can’t help you. Once I made the decision, it got easier. If you love your baby you’ll never go back to smoking.
