Up to 8 percent of all expecting women suffer from asthma. It's considered one of the most common pre-existing medical conditions that can complicate your pregnancy.
If you have asthma, you may worry about how asthma may affect your baby, and whether it's safe to continue taking your medication. Healthcare providers agree that the risk of taking asthma medication is much less than the risk of poorly controlled asthma.
Helpful Tip: During pregnancy, it's important for you to continue taking your asthma medication. The risk of the untreated asthma far outweighs the risk of medication. Severe asthma attacks can reduce your baby's oxygen supply, and restrict his growth.
Uncontrolled asthma can cause serious health complications during pregnancy – including high blood pressure and preeclampsia in the mother, premature delivery, and delivering a baby that is small for his or her gestational age. When asthma is well controlled, you generally do not have an increased risk of any pregnancy complications.
Unfortunately, the severity of your asthma can't be predicted. About one-third of pregnant women experience no change in the frequency of their asthma, while another one-third have more asthma attacks, and another one-third notice a great improvement in their symptoms. (Common asthma symptoms include shortness of breath, tightness in your chest, a persistent cough, and wheezing.)
Fund Fact: The severity of asthma is similar with every subsequent pregnancy that you have. So if your symptoms get better in your first pregnancy, it's highly likely that you will have improvement in your asthma in future pregnancies.
In general, asthma is generally less severe in your last month of pregnancy. And despite what you may think, labor and delivery won't make your asthma worse. Of the women whose asthma gets worse during pregnancy, they usually notice an increase in their symptoms between 29 weeks and 36 weeks.
During pregnancy, expecting mothers with asthma may have to share their prenatal care between an asthma specialist and an obstetrician (or your preferred pregnancy healthcare provider). As part of your treatment, your lung function and your baby's well-being will be monitored during your regular medical appointments throughout pregnancy.
Because no one can predict how your asthma will affect your pregnancy, you will want to discuss your medical history with your healthcare provider. Some asthma medications are considered safe to take during pregnancy, while others aren't. In general, inhaled asthma medications are recommended during pregnancy.
Pregnancy Week by Week
Pregnancy Explained A to Z
Nutrition and Beauty
Pregnancy Blog
Ask Our Doc - Pregnancy Q & A 
Follow us on FaceBook
Follow us on Twitter
