Cold Relief in Late Pregnancy

I’m three weeks into a cold, 36 weeks pregnant. Most likely, I have a sinus infection. I’ve been to see my midwives, my chiropractor, and my PCP (whom I saw twice). Everyone agrees that I am a miserable, congested person, but nobody feels it’s appropriate to prescribe me antibiotics given my late stage of pregnancy and the fact that the baby seems to be doing fine, despite my feeling short of breath. And miserable.

Sidenote: I feel a little frustrated by this medical advice, given how quick medical people are to pump laboring mothers full of epidural, pitocin, and antibiotics to treat Group B Strep…

Anyway, my medical team suggested I try a saline rinse, so I was squirting salty water up my nose a few times a day. I don’t feel like that was very helpful.

Next up came dark honey. Not grocery store honey, mind you. I don’t usually buy that anyway, because we have such wonderful local honey at our farmers markets here. I was instructed to buy fancy (actually, local) honey, as dark as possible, and drink tablespoonfuls of it. My doctor said mixing it into my tea wouldn’t do as good a job–I’m supposed to drink spoonfuls of it straight up.

Just looking at the spoon of honey was giving me a pregnant-lady aversion, so I’ve been stirring it into my red raspberry leaf tea and hoping for the best.

Today, day 21 of the cold, I reached a new level of grouchiness and inability to deal with my symptoms. I finally went to the store and bought a neti pot.

Have you ever used a neti pot? Look at the image in this blog post. See the happy woman pouring water through her nostrils, like it’s pleasant? There was a similarly-happy looking person on the instructions for my neti pot. Let me tell you, I do not look like that using my neti pot.

By the time I had my face lined up and my saline solution all mixed according to instructions, I already hated this product. And then I tipped the neti pot into my nostril. Oh! The things that poured out of my nose. So many things.

They didn’t just drop out beautifully like in that image. Oh no. I sputtered and gagged and cursed and stomped my feet, because it sort of burns to pour salty water into your sinus cavities. It’s been about 5 minutes and I can still breathe through my nose, so this is an improvement. If the relief continues, I’ll consider it a success. But I will still always find the process gross and cumbersome!

Did you experience a cold during your pregnancy? Leave us a comment to share remedies that brought you relief. 

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