During pregnancy, there are many factors that can affect the fetus and/or the mother. It is important, as a healthcare provider, to incorporate health promotion into obstetrics care. My patient, JW, is on her third pregnancy, and is around 8 weeks and 3 days pregnant. Previously, she endured a spontaneous abortion in 2008. In 2015, at 36 weeks gestation, she went under an emergency cesarean section due to oligohydramnios, which means deficient amniotic fluid. The baby was born weighing 4 pounds and 9 ounces, so this complication was likely caused by intrauterine growth restriction of the fetus due to maternal smoking of cigarettes. She is currently still smoking and admittedly will be throughout this pregnancy, but she stated she will be cutting down on how often she smokes. JW noted smoking one pack a day, but when she found out she was pregnant, she has slowly cut down to four cigarettes a day. JW is 5 5and weighed 226 pounds before pregnancy with a body mass index of
38. Currently, she weighs 223 pounds, making her body mass index 37, and she lost three pounds since conception. She is considered obesity class II, putting her at a higher risk during pregnancy. JW is unemployed, engages in a sedentary lifestyle, and admits to an unhealthy diet. Her diet did not consist of enough vitamins and nutrients before pregnancy, and now she has been nauseated since her last menstrual period. She has had to spread out small meals throughout the day to fill up and decrease nausea. Although this pregnancy was not planned, so very little preparation care was performed, she seems excited about this experience. A lot of education is needed to ensure a successful and, hopefully, healthy pregnancy for both JW and her baby. The purpose of this paper is to apply health teaching and knowledge to help to create a healthy outcome during pregnancy for both the mother and the baby. In this case, two big risk factors JW have are obesity and smoking cigarettes.