Pregnancy and Kartagener's Syndrome

So far I haven't written much about how pregnancy has effected my Kartagener's Syndrome, and really that's because it hasn't effected it much at all, or at least not nearly as much as I thought it would. I experienced shortness of breath and the feeling of needing to take deeper, fuller breaths in the first trimester, actually almost as soon as I became pregnant. But now that I'm in the second trimester, that feeling of breathlessness has gone away. My mother even commented that I no longer sound out of breath on the phone.

Now my lungs seem even better overall than before I became pregnant. My most recent PFT (Pulmonary Function Test) a few weeks ago showed improvement from the last one I had in November, my oxygenation was 100%, and my new Pulmonologist (Dr. A, whom I really like) said that my lungs sound good and I seem to be very healthy. She has some antibiotics in mind in case I do become sick, but for now, she said to just keep doing what I've been doing and focus on prevention. I have had a pretty easy pregnancy so far, but of course that may change as I get further along. As Ziggy gets bigger and my uterus expands higher into my torso, it may exert some pressure on my diaphragm and ultimately my lungs, leading to more difficulty breathing. The humidity here isn't great for my lungs of course, and Dr. W did recommend that I stay inside in air conditioning as much as possible during the summer when it's especially humid. I don't think that will be a problem--I can't stand hot and humid weather, and neither can AC.

Even though generally my lungs are a bigger concern to my health, it's my ears and sinuses that have been giving me more trouble since I became pregnant. Many women develop "rhinitis of pregnancy" due to the swelling of tissue and increase in blood volume, and I definitely have that, although it also hasn't been as bad as I expected it to be. My ears have probably given me the most trouble, mainly because there's not anything I can do once they become blocked. I went to my new ENT here when I first arrived in Little Rock (Dr. H, who is also great--I have been very happy with all of my doctors here so far), and he not only suctioned out my sinuses (which always feel so good afterward), he also decided to put new tubes in my ears since he said that would be the only way to drain the fluid that had accumulated. I've had countless ear tube surgeries as a child, but this was the first time I'd had it done while awake. It was a bit unpleasant but not really that bad--he anesthetized the eardrum locally, made the holes, drained out the fluid, inserted the tubes, and I was good to go. He said to just schedule an appointment asnytime I feel like my ears or sinuses are blocked, and he'll suction them out for me. When I left his office, it was amazing, because I could finally hear for the first time in weeks. I had been walking around half-deaf because my ears were so stopped up with gunk. AC was getting really annoyed because I kept asking "What? What?" to everything he said, and we had to turn the sound way up whenever we watched anything.

Anyway, here's my daily regimen of prevention to keep myself and, by extension, Ziggy going strong throughout the pregnancy:

Exercise 30-60 minutes daily
Vest treatment 30-60 minutes daily (unfortunately at some point I'll probably get too big to continue using The Vest)
1 ampule Pulmozyme nebulized daily during vest treatment
1 ampule 0.9% saline nebulized daily during vest treatment (this will soon be switched to 6% saline per Dr. A's recommendation)
Advair 250/50 1 puff daily a.m.
Advair 100/50 1 puff daily p.m.
ProventilHFA inhaler 1-2 puffs up to 4 times a day as needed for wheezing (used rarely)
Nasonex 1 squirt each nostril twice daily
Astelin 1 squirt each nostril twice daily
Saline sinus rinse 1-2 times daily

Armour Thyroid 45 mg daily
Rainbow Light Just Once Prenatal One Vegan Guard Multivitamin 1 tablet daily (I highly recommend it since it's gentle on the stomach and doesn't cause constipation)
Twinlab Dr. Greene Omega-3 Fish Oil Softgels--1 softgel containing 270 mg EPA and 180 mg DHA twice daily
Twinlab Calcium Citrate with Magnesium and Vitamin D citrus flavored chewable wafers--2-4 wafers daily containing 500-1000 mg Calcium, 250-500 mg Magnesium, and 200-400 IU Vitamin D (they don't upset my stomach like calcium carbonate chews do)