6/10/11

I started to notice that I'm easily winded. You see it's allergy season and I have asthma. When I first got pregnant the nurse told me that there's a chance my asthma could get better during pregnancy, but there's an equal chance it could get worse or stay the same.

The most important thing is managing asthma through pregnancy. If asthma isn't well controlled during pregnancy it can cause severe bleeding, high blood pressure and toxemia. It can also put my baby at risk of being born too early and at a low birth weight.

Pregnant women always have to be careful of medications they take. Luckily I talked to my allergist at my last appointment (last November) and told him that Josh and I were planning to have a baby so he made sure to give me meds that are safe to use throughout pregnancy. I learned that these medications pose a much lower risk to the baby than not managing symptoms at all. Since most asthma (mine included) are inhaled directly into the lungs it is very unlikely that it could harm the baby. Other types of asthma medications like shots may be a little more dangerous so a doctor may suggest an inhaler instead.

Luckily I don't have severe asthma. In all the years that I've had it (diagnosed in 2002) I've only had two big attacks and got through both without rushing to the emergency room. For a while I was on a daily inhaled steroid, but at my last appointment they took me off of it. I only needed the daily treatment during allergy season anyway. I manage to get by with little use of my rescue inhaler so I'm doing okay.

I'm easily winded, but I haven't had an attack since I got pregnant and I haven't had the tightness in my chest which is an awful feeling. I think I should talk to my allergist again since I haven't seen him since I got pregnant to see if he thinks I should be using my inhaler more often.

Do you or anyone you know have a chronic illness that could/could've put you or your baby at risk?