I’m currently laying in my bed with tears pouring out of my half swollen shut eyes and an unholy amount of kleenex shoved up my nose. This is an allergic reaction to my dear, beloved cat (that I’ll never rehome and have had since I was 9- so 12 years now). It happens about every time I come home- we’ve been staying with my parents so I can care for my mom- which is every weekend. I’ve been taking prescription allergy medication since I was 9, coincidentally we found out I was allergic to cats immediately after I got my cat, and they work great.

But I can’t take them. Because I’m pregnant. 🙄

It’s been since April of 2017 that I’ve been unable to take my allergy medicine. That’s when we found out I was pregnant with my son, who is now almost 7 months old. After he was born, around 3 months old, we found out I was expecting again, which means I still can’t take my meds.

It was easier when I was pregnant with him, because I could lie in bed and be miserable through these attacks and take enough Benadryl to sedate a baby elephant. Now that there’s a little person dependent on me for mostly everything, all day, that’s out of the question. I can’t even take a standard dose of Benadryl, which is what my Obgyn recommends, because I have a weird reaction to it and it more or less renders me unconscious for 24 hours, which doesn’t work with a child to care for. If I don’t take the full dose, however, it doesn’t do jack diddly.

So mostly, I just want to know how you other mommies with awful, chronic, curse-on-you,-your-family,-and-your-cow allergies handle your attacks while watching your little ones. My husband works at least 6 days a week from 9am-1am, so I HAVE to be functional for our son and his soon to be little sibling.

Thanks in advance for any and all advice! (Unless you tell me to get rid of my cat, because she was my first baby and she’s not goin anywhere, ever. 😅)