Today I am fourteen weeks and one day pregnant with my second child, meaning I am in week 15 of pregnancy. My baby is now the size of an apple, measuring about four inches in length from crown to rump and weighing about two and a half ounces. I have not yet begun to feel any recognizable fetal movement yet, but I did not feel my daughter until week 22 of pregnancy. For the most part, my early pregnancy symptoms have completely eased up. I no longer feel nauseated most of the time, and my appetite is a bit better. However, I am feeling more tired than usual — largely because of my insufferable seasonal allergies during pregnancy.
Because of the colder and snowier than usual winter this past year, pollen levels are expected to be higher than usual. As a suffered of moderate to severe seasonal allergies, I have to agree. My allergy symptoms, my nasal allergy symptoms in particular, have been worse than usual over the past few weeks. My nose is always congested and/or runny. I have been sneezing a lot more than usual, and I find myself using up box after box of tissues as I attempt to remove the mucus from my nasal passageways. To say that I have been uncomfortable because of my seasonal allergies during pregnancy is far from even a small exaggeration.
My favorite allergy medication is Flonase, which effectively prevents all but the worst of my nasal allergy symptoms. Unfortunately, Flonase is a category C drug, and I am unwilling to take the risk of using the medication during pregnancy. I recently tried switching to cromolyn sodium, or Nasalcrom, which is a category B drug, but the allergy medication offers me little relief. The only medicine that helps my allergy symptoms at all is regular old Benadryl, another category B drug. Unfortunately, I can take the systemic medication only at bedtime because Benadryl knocks me out.
In addition to taking Benadryl at night on my worst days, I have also been using a salt water solution and a xylitol nasal spray to clean out my sinuses. The xylitol nasal spray helps clean out my nose without the drying effects of regular saline solution. Again unfortunately, cleaning out my sinuses does not prevent my seasonal allergy symptoms during pregnancy and provides me only with temporary relief. Using a salt water solution also helps clear out excess mucus. Of course, my gag reflex is still heightened, so rinsing with even a mild salt water solution often results in some serious gagging on my part.
Because of my seriously annoying seasonal allergies during pregnancy, I find myself not sleeping very well. In addition to waking up at least twice a night to visit the bathroom, I also find myself waking because of my stuffy and runny nose. Sometimes my symptoms are so bad that I have to stuff some tissue up each nostril to keep from drowning in a pool of boogers. The thought is not pretty, but neither I am after a long night of not sleeping because of my runny nose. Unfortunately, my symptoms will get better only when all the plants in world go dormant again or when my baby is born come October or November and I can resume using my Flonase again. Despite the annoyances from my seasonal allergies during pregnancy, I will admit that dealing with my nasal allergy symptoms will be well worth the battle.
Originally written on May 9, 2014
Image Credits
Heather Pregnant 14 Weeks 2 Days © 2014 James Johnson
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