Sickly or Sick?

If there is one very counter-intuitive but natural aspect of pregnancy it is constantly feeling like I'm sick. Be it nausea (because there is no morning in morning sickness) or a perpetual head cold, I feel lousy most of the time. At first, I thought it was something wrong with me, but then I did some reading (can you tell I wind up doing this a lot?).
The first component is the massive amount of energy and resources that the growing baby takes from your body. This depletes your immune system and can leave you vulnerable. But even if your immune system is in tip top condition, you could still feel sickly. BabyCenter.com reports 20 to 30 percent of pregnant women have congestion without having allergies or a viral infection like the common cold. This condition is called rhinitis of pregnancy. It can start as early as your second month (which is about when it started for me, too).
That doesn't mean I've been without illness though. My team was recently subjected to the debate plague. Some had more severe cases than others, but I figured I'd go to WKU Health Services to be sure. Problem is, the doctors at WKU Health Services are mildly retarded. First they didn't believe I was pregnant. Then they didn't believe I was sick. Then they tried to argue with me about the circumstances surrounding the pregnancy. Then I heard the doctor asking a nurse what she though a pregnant woman should be prescribed, because she couldn't remember what was or was not ok.
Obviously, I didn't fill the prescription. The funniest part of it was my last OB visit. It was several weeks after my mishap at WKU Health Services. Turns out that my blood work from the OB visit before that, which was a week or so before WKU Health Services, indicated I had a strep infection. Meaning that I'd had strep for a month, and the imbeciles at WKU Health Services had messed it up. GAHHHH!
Moral of the story- always, always, always be safe rather than sorry. Err on the side of caution. If you're feeling under the weather, it could be rhinitis, but if it's not, it could have some serious implications for you and the baby. If you don't trust your initial doctor's opinion, get a second one. There is simply no reason to take a risk you don't need.