A: Your asthma should be treated in the same way regardless of the trimester of pregnancy. The inhalers available today have made asthma a manageable lung problem. In my residency, we had many hospital admissions for asthma in the later summer/early fall; today, it is rare to admit a patient to the hospital with asthma symptoms.

For those of you who worry about the small quantity of steroids in some of the inhalers, DON'T! It is an inconsequential amount and does not harm the baby at all. It helps to remember that your baby needs you to breath easily, providing him or her with much needed oxygen.

The asthma medication, Brethine, has an interesting place in obstetrics. It was an old treatment for asthma but was noted to relax the uterus and reduce the number of contractions. In fact, it is commonly used in maternity units around the country to treat preterm labor.