Essay On Teratogens

Most women who are pregnant sometimes don’t even know they are pregnant until they are around four to twelve weeks pregnant. In this amount of time the baby is exposed to whatever the mother is exposed to. Whether it is a virus, chemical, or a drug. These things can cause a teratogen, which is a factor that produces a birth defect. In this paper, we are going to talk about two kinds of teratogens that could cause a birth defect. Cocaine and alcohol are very dangerous to any human being while they are pregnant. Cocaine is a white powdery substance that is made from a coca plant. It can be snorted, injected, or smoked. People can easily get addicted to this drug since it provides happiness and a butt load of energy. The faster this drug gets into the bloodstream, the powerful the high is. A pregnant woman who is using this drug continuously while she is pregnant can lead to high blood pressure, which can cause heart failure, bleeding in the brain, and fluid in the lungs. Cocaine can also cause the mother to go into pre-term labor causing the baby not to be fully developed and can cause death. Addicted mothers that are still using this drug while they are pregnant, don’t even realize how harmful it is to their baby. Cocaine can cause changes in the placenta that …show more content…
The babies that are able to make it while their mother is high as a kite are at risk of low birth weight, per-term labor, lack of oxygen. These babies’ usually end up in the intensive care unit (ICU) when they are born, so they are given the treatment that they need to survive. Department of Family Services (DFS) also steps in and the baby does not get to go home to their mother and is put in foster care or sent to another family member due to the use by cocaine of the mother and/or father. Once the parents are stable enough and are drug free then there are steps that DFS and the parents have to fallow before the baby can be back with their