How Your Actions Affect Your Baby's Development Dealing with Maternal Asthma Asthma is a respiratory illness characterized by an increased responsiveness or sensitivity to stimulation of the trachea and the bronchi, both important to breathing. Problems with asthma are manifested by difficulty breathing, shortness of breath, coughing and wheezing. Asthma comes and goes, with acute worsening of symptoms interspersed with symptom-free periods. It is equally common in other countries. Pregnancy does not seem to cause any consistent, predictable problem with asthma.
Some pregnant women appear to get better during pregnancy, while others remain about the same.
A few get worse. Most pregnant women with asthma can have a safe pregnancy, labor and delivery. If a woman has severe asthma attacks when she isn't pregnant, she may have severe attacks during pregnancy. In general, the treatment plan used before pregnancy will probably continue to be helpful. This includes medications prescribed for asthma before or during pregnancy.