I have severe asthma and am struggling with a lot of asthma attacks and sickness each winter. However, I normally have no problem with my oxygen saturation.
We're planning to get pregnant and it would be the most practical to begin trying in the beginning of summer. I am however terrified of hurting the baby in any way and am wondering if anyone has any experience/knowledge of being pregnant whilst having troubles with asthma attacks and sickness? I have read that the main concern is the oxygen - does anyone know this to be correct? Would it be a really bad idea to be pregnant during winter, whilst I'm normally at my worst?
I did talk to a midwife who said that my asthma would not be an issue and that facing winter in my second trimester could be a good idea... (but I'm not sure if this is correct)
I have also googled a lot, but am not feeling too secure about the results.
Best regards,
Sophie
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SophieHG
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Hi. I think it probably varies from person to person. For me, my asthma was the best it has ever been when I was pregnant (21 years ago now) My asthma wasnt as severe as it is now but I still had frequent courses of steroids and was regularly off work with asthma and infections. I only got signed off just before the start of my maternity leave when stress started to affect my asthma. My son was born in November and at that time in my life my asthma was mainly bad from end of Feb through to September. The midwives arranged a meeting with the anaesthetists part way through my pregnancy to discuss my asthma and make a plan in case my asthma played up during giving birth but it was fine. Good luck and hope it goes ok
Thank you very much for the input. I'm glad to hear that you had a good experience being pregnant (in terms of asthma at least) and that you were taken good care of. Thank you!
I understand your thinking. I've had asthma since I was 20 which due to uni, moving around, travels etc was never really well controlled. I then had my daughter at age 27. For me pregnancy actually helped my asthma even to the point of not needing inhalers. The same happened with my second child too. Yey!
It's wise to look at all scenarios though as asthma can deteriorate or improve due to hormones. If your oxygen is usually fine and you're taking your meds properly then you will most likely be fine. I was under a consultant in my second pregnancy as my asthma was awful after having my first child. They looked after me well. I did need antibiotics and steriods early on with my second child but he's absolutely fine.
First kid was Feb baby, second was August tried both times of the year!
My asthma was much better during pregnancy and my GP said it was worth trying to do without steroid inhalers as natural steroid levels are higher during pregnancy. However when I was just over three months pregnant we went away on holiday to a farm in Germany where they had just started combine harvesting so I had an attack as that is my major trigger. I saw a german doctor who gave me theophylline and I was fine and once we were back in the UK I restarted a low dose of steroid inhaler and everything was OK .
Thank you very much for the input, Nancy. I'm glad you were fine and that everything was OK.
Hey,
I had my son almost two years ago. My asthma is severe and I've had multiple ITU admissions over the years. Whilst pregnant, I was fairly well until the last trimester. I ended up in ITU however the obstetrician was excellent and kept a very close eye on the baby. They came to ITU then later to respiratory to let me hear the heartbeat every day.
I had a plan for delivery at 38 weeks to prevent the additional pressure on heart/lungs but went into early delivery at 36 weeks. Was totally fine during labour. I have adrenal insufficiency from steroid use so was given steroids throughout delivery.
If you have had admissions with your asthma then the midwife at your booking appointment might refer you to consultant care and they were really good at discussing my concerns.
Happy to chat more if it would be helpful! All the best!
I have AI, too, so this was helpful to read Hutchins, thank you! My third trimester has been the hardest for my asthma also, I think in part because he's squshing my lungs
I have moderate, controlled asthma although it was severe up to age 16. I’ve had 3 children (now 24, 21 and 17) and my asthma was fine throughout all of my pregnancies and labour. Babies were born in February, March and end of August. With my second baby I had a bad chest infection which exacerbated my asthma about 6 weeks into the pregnancy and my GP prescribed prednisolone tablets for me and said this wouldn’t harm the baby and it was all fine. He’s now my 21 year old and in fact none of my children have inherited my asthma which is great!
At my first booking in appointment at the hospital with my first baby I was told by a junior doctor that I should not be taking my preventative inhaler! I argued with him that he was wrong and actually complained about him to the nurse in charge after my appointment. I spoke to my GP about it and he said that what the junior doctor had said was a lot of nonsense and I was to keep taking my inhaler as normal , which I did of course!
I was booked into the consultant-led labour ward for delivery but when I arrived there in the late stages of labour the midwife said that if my asthma had been fine I could deliver in the midwife led unit if I wanted to (which I did) and all went well, no asthma problems.
Everyone is different of course but I’m sure the medical people will look after you.
Thank you very much for this! I'm so glad that none of your children have inherited your asthma, that must be such a blessing. It's scary that medical professionals can say such things... I'm glad that you did not trust him and asked your GP about it.
There are a lot of good posts on this topic in the archives that were helpful to me--just search the terms "pregnancy" and "pregnant"
During pregnancy, about 1/3 of women find their asthma gets better, 1/3 find it stays the same, and 1/3 find it worsens. I have severe asthma (it has worsened significantly in the past decade) and I'm in my third trimester now. My asthma has been mostly controlled although nine months is a long time so I have had a few flares due to exposures to allergens that were beyond my control. The third trimester has been hard as I've been allergic (I can't pinpoint to what) and he's crushing my lungs a bit which leads to some natural shortness of breath that most pregnant women experience--it's just more unpleasant when you're an asthmatic on top of it!
I am taking Symbicort, Spiriva inhalers and Zyrtec daily and I take Xolair monthly. I had to do two short courses of prednisone (a lower dose than normal--30 mg for 5 days each time) for flare-ups and I take hydrocortisone daily for my adrenal insufficiency. It's important to see your pulmonologist regularly during pregnancy; I've seen mind monthly (the past appointment was via video due to the lockdown).
On the whole, the position of doctors (and the NHS) is that it's much better to continue on whatever regimen of asthma meds will keep you controlled than to go off any of them and risk having uncontrolled asthma during pregnancy which can trigger things like preeclampsia.
It would be a good idea to keep talking all of this over with your doctors and the specialists on the helplines as they have plenty of experience with asthma in pregnant women--it's one of the most common chronic conditions obstetricians and midwives see. It's good that you talked to the one midwife already but definitely helpful to get several opinions for your own education and peace of mind.
Thank you very much Hilary, I will make sure to look up the other posts. And thank you very much for your great input, it is very useful and much appreciated! I can imagine that having your lungs crushed must be quite unpleasant
My problem, however, seems a bit unique, as I'm wondering if I should try to avoid being pregnant during winter even though it will make things more practically difficult for me. (In other words: If it's selfish to wait a couple of months just to please my imagination of a wedding without being pregnant - when I could end up hurting my child).
I think a big part of deciding to have kids is taking a leap of faith. You have no idea how long it'll take you to get pregnant, what your pregnancy will be like, or what triggers you might encounter during the 40 weeks that may set off your asthma regardless of whether or not it's during winter. I'd keep talking it over with your partner and doctors but planning for when you'll get pregnant is next to impossible. I have one friend who got pregnant the first time she tried with all her kids (!?), friends who tried for a year or more before getting pregnant, friends who needed IVF, and on and on--as I'm sure you've encountered in your friend circles too! I myself got pregnant after 3 months of trying which surprised me, I had thought it was going to take longer.
I was also pregnant when I got covid this past April which was not something I'd ever have planned for (I think many women who've gotten pregnant or given birth during the pandemic have felt that way!) but life has a way of throwing us curveballs we can't anticipate!
So my point is that you can only plan so much and the bigger questions will be what medications you'll take during pregnancy, what your plan will be if you have a flare-up, who your care team will be, how you can control variables as much as possible in your house, office, and life to avoid triggers etc.
Thank you very much, hilary! That was beautifully written and I truly appreciate that you're taking the time to reply to me and give such great input.
I have some indications that we may be able to plan the pregnancy to some extent (my mother could plan it down to the month and I got pregnant while on birth control (but miscarried)), so I would like to at least try for a healthy pregnancy, even though I understand that it may very well not be as I plan. I'm just so scared of deliberately delaying and ending up hurting the baby due to the pregnancy ending in my "sick months" (when I could have tried to avoid it, at least).
I hope that you and the baby recovered well from covid, btw!
It sounds like you are already being a good future mom worrying about all of this in advance. When you are pregnant feel free to come back to this thread or message me and I'll be happy to share in more detail how I handled my asthma with my different doctors, in my different trimesters, during times of stress (we moved across the country last month) etc. Take good care and good luck!
Hi SophieHG, thanks for bringing this up. I too am in the same boat. My husband and I have been trying for a baby for over 2 and a half years with no joy. Each month during Lockdown (as I have to shield) has been heartbreaking when Aunt Irma (my name for period) visits. My question is, has anyone experienced trouble getting pregnant and how you would go about getting fertility tests done for both you and your partner? My asthma has been it's worst this year with now over 17 admissions to hospital. I've been diagnosed for 2 years. I could have been diagnosed way before then in Nov 2017, but as it was the week of my wedding the A&E doctor put it off as stress. I've always wanted to be a mum, and with 14 years of experience working with little ones I'm sure I'm prepared enough for all the dirty nappies etc.. (Laughs) But I am scared at the same time. Is this normal? Am I being paranoid?
Thanks everyone for your comments above, I have found them most useful to read and I am glad people have been in the same boat so I don't have to feel alone.
I'm very glad that you found the comments to be helpful as well! And thank you so much for the input. I can imagine that it must be heartbreaking, have you gotten any help or assistance? Also: Asthma sucks and I'm so sorry that it has been that bad for you. We're in the same boat there, no doubt
I'm sure that you'll become a great mom when you get pregnant and I have my fingers crossed for you! I also hope someone with a little more experience can answer you.
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And thank you so much for the input. I can imagine that it must be heartbreaking, have you gotten any help or assistance? Also: Asthma sucks and I'm so sorry that it has been that bad for you. We're in the same boat there, no doubt 
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