My sister has severe asthma and was not using her meds when she found out she was pregnant. The baby had a slow groth in utero for one month then they figured out why and she used them and even went on nebulizer to help it better. It is safe and the only side effect you will feel is becasue of the extra blood flow you can become dizzy some ( for some that is) but it does nto harm the baby. I have used mine during all of my pregnancies but this one as I am not in the area I had bad asthma in. It can be very harmful not to take it. BUt I understand the med thing!!! I would nto take anything but that and only when I needed to. Mine is brought on by allergies though.
I am 22 weeks pregnant and I also hate taking any meds during pregnancy. However, my asthma inhaler is a different story, Like Losingmymind said, it is VERY important for the baby to have the proper amount of oxygen. The only inhaler I currently use is my Albuterol and I used it with my first pregnancy too. I did a ton of research and found out it's been around for years and used safely to control asthma during pregnancy. In the US, they don't allow testing of meds on pregnant women so it is hard to have these safe meds actually moved to the safe category. Don't worry about the albuterol, use it so you and your baby can breathe.
I have asthma too, I am currently 11.5 weeks pregnant. Luckily, mine doesn't act up a lot so I only use albueterol every so often if it acts up (I used one puff during this pregnancy it was after a walk outside in the cold my chest felt so tight). My doctor told me it is worse for the baby not to get oxygen. So, to use one puff then the full dose if that doesn't work. The benefit of you breathing outweighs the risk of the medication. Just only use it if you have to. Also, since your asthma sounds a little more severe maybe you can ask your doc for an inhaler that maybe is a category B so you won't feel worried if you have to take it more frequently. I am with you I hate taking medicine even tylenol. I recently had pink eye, and if you don't take the medicine it can spread to your other eye, glands, contagious to others. I had to take the medicine it is a category c also. But, doctors assured me it would be fine and worse not to take the medicine.
I have asthma too, mine is similiar to yours, I don't have "attacks" but I get really short of breath and lotsa time have to take deep breaths. Albuterol IS ok to use if you are referring to the inhaler or nebulizer treatments. I've used them through 4 of my 5 full term pregnancies and had no problems whatsoever and will be using it during this pregnancy as well. My docs have actually encouraged me to use it becuase as the baby gets bigger and presses against your lungs it makes it even harder to breath. It is FAR worse on the fetus to not get the adequate amount of oxygen becuase that can have a very detrimental affect.
oh & one thing i forgot to mention is last night i was having an attack as i went to sleep, and i woke up not breathing and had to gasp for air..that was probably a result of falling asleep short of breath. i just hope it doesn't happen again because i worry my baby isn't getting enough oxygen.