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• Smoking while pregnant: Maternal struggle 

Twenty-year-old Kendra Bay started smoking when she was 16.

While she said "everyone does it" isn't an excuse for smoking, it was her reason for starting. But that's not about to keep her from quitting. Every day her reason to stop smoking grows a little bigger.

Bay is 33 weeks pregnant. She's due to give birth to her daughter, whom she is naming Emilye, on June 2. Bay has quit smoking for several weeks at a time in the past, but ultimately she keeps turning back to her habit. But this time, with the birth of her daughter, Bay said she has all the motivation she needs. By then, the stress of planning her May 4 wedding will also be over.

"Before I got pregnant I would criticize people for still smoking when they were pregnant, but when it's you, it's harder," Bay said. "... It's the thing you need to do, but it's at one of the most stressful times in your life."

Bay isn't alone. In Douglas County 24 percent of women smoke during their pregnancy, according to a birth certificate statistics report.

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