12.31.04

I just knew this pregnancy thing was going a little too well.

So last Friday morning, I noticed that I had a couple of red bumps on my stomach near my bellybutton. Eh, just more pregnancy weirdness. Well, in just a few hours, my entire stomach had broken out in little red blister-like bumps. They itched like CRAZY. By the afternoon, my the bumps had started to merge together to create one massive, red, itchy rash. By that night it had spread to my chest. It was misery.

All I have to say is God bless Al Gore for inventing the internet.

I finally figured out that I have a condition called PUPPPs.

It is the most miserable thing I have ever had to experience physically in my life, no doubt about it. Imagine the absolute worst itching and burning and then imagine that all over your belly. Then imagine it CONSTANTLY feeling that way. It wakes me up in the middle of the night, frantic for something to soothe the itching; it keeps me in a constant state of edginess and irritability. I keep telling everyone that I am fine except for the constant urge to RIP MY SKIN OFF OF MY BODY. Ahem.

The thing about this that pisses me off the most is that I am suddenly NOT enjoying this pregnancy. My previously cute pregnant belly is lumpy and red and has the exact texture of an orange peel. (This (warning: really gross picture) is kind of what I�m talking about here--just imagine the belly a lot smaller and the rash covering a whole lot more area. Ew. Pregnant bellies are gross.) All I can think about is this damned itch. And how lovely that I seem to be one of the rare few who get it this early in the pregnancy.

Starting last week, I�ve tried Ben@dryl (lotion and pills), hydrocortisone cream, Sarna lotion, calamine lotion, and Aveeno oatmeal everything. After reading posts from fellow suffers (again, blessed internet) I started taking herbal supplements and wrote down the name of every �cure� that anyone had ever found even remotely helpful.

Sigh. The only good thing is that it doesn�t hurt the baby. For that I am grateful. And I know that there are worse things that I could be going through. But FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, STOP THE ITCHING!!

I went to my OB/GYN last week. He took one look at the hideousness that is my belly and said, �Um. Well. That�s quite a rash you�ve got there.� I could tell he had no idea what he was dealing with. He gave me a perscription hydrocortisone cream (nice try, but it didn�t phase it) and then when I asked whether I should go see a Dermatologist about it he said, �Yeah, that would be a good idea.� Grr. Don�t doctors ever use the internet??

Fortunately, the Dermatologist took one look, confirmed my diagnosis and prescribed a mild steroid cream.

Marry me, Dr. Dermatologist.

So to make a long story short, in the last week or so the rash spread from my belly to my boobs and even started up my neck last week while we were visiting J�s family for the holidays. It was constant misery. At first, it looked like the cream the dermatologist gave me was working. The rash on my stomach started to dry up. But then a day or two later, a new crop flared up--this time it started to work its way around to my back. I couldn�t figure it out and spent more than a few days holding back frustrated tears.

I racked my brain trying to figure out what it was that I had changed and finally realized that I had stopped taking the Ben@dryl right around the time the rash got worse (relying only on the prescription cream). I started up on the Ben@dryl again, then first thing that Monday, called my OB/GYN and got the okay to take Cl@ritin during the day. It worked.

Even though the rash has shown up mildly on my legs and my arms, I can finally go a full day without slathering myself in calamine lotion and am actually able to think about something other than the rash. I�m still red and will get puffy if I do itch, but the constant agony has subsided. I haven�t even woken myself up itching in my sleep. For me, this is a true Christmas miracle.

Supposedly, the only way to fully be �cured� from this condition is to deliver the baby (and rid my body of the proteins causing the allergic reaction). But fortunately, it looks like I won�t have to spend the next 3 months in a constant hell. And also, the condition rarely reoccurs in later pregnancies.

It is so strange how this just literally showed up overnight. I hadn�t even ever heard of it before. I�m just thankful that I found a way to control it. It's funny just how many crazy things can go wrong with this supposedly "natural" process. Just chalk this up to another of the totally messed up crap that my body has to go through to bring this child into the world. Mercifully, I am once again feeling positive about the pregnancy and have had fun this week with my family.

But I swear, if this kid ever gives me even a moment of grief as a teenager, I will fill his bed full of poison oak leaves faster than you can blink an eye. Heh.

before ~ after