Taking Charge of Your Asthma During Pregnancy
Pregnancy is a wonderful time for most women. It is also a time that tends to be filled with concern and worry for that new life that you are wholly responsible for. If you suffer from asthma, your concern for your unborn baby might be even higher. After all, if you experience an asthma attack where your oxygen intake is lowered, how will that reduction of oxygen affect your child?
Your concerns are justified, since asthma during pregnancy can provide additional risk for you and your baby. The good news is that asthma can usually be effectively controlled during your pregnancy, greatly increasing the probability that you will carry your baby for a healthy nine-month term.
Asthma Medication During Pregnancy
Most expectant mothers worry about any and all medications that they must take during pregnancy. If you have daily medicines that you take to control your asthma, you might be tempted to stop using them for fear of harming your baby. Most of the time, your fear is unfounded. Many medications that are used to treat asthma are safe to use during pregnancy.
A much greater risk would be to go off of your medication and suffer from severe asthma attacks as a result during your pregnancy. Still, you should talk to your doctor about the medications that you are taking. The best time to do this is before you get pregnant, but this is not always a possible scenario. The most important thing to remember is that you should not stop current prescriptions or begin new therapies until you have checked with your doctor as to the safety and effectiveness of each medication.
How Asthma Affects Women During Pregnancy
It is hard to predict how asthma might affect your pregnancy. The odds are split fairly even. For about a third of expectant moms, asthma symptoms became worse during pregnancy. Another third found an improvement in asthma symptoms and the rest saw no real difference. If your asthma was mild before your pregnancy began, the odds are in your favor for having a healthy pregnancy with few asthma problems throughout.
If you do find that your asthma seems to be harder to control during your pregnancy, you will probably experience the most severe symptoms during the last trimester. The good news is that asthma attacks during labor and delivery are rare, and most asthma symptoms will return to normal within about three months of the birth of your baby.