Boston - 11/4/15

The last few weeks have been a roller coaster. Toward the middle of my third trimester, I started to get really uncomfortable where my stretch marks were on my stomach. The skin was getting very thin, and I was progressively getting itchier as the days went on. When my whole body started to itch, I mentioned it to my doctor at my 37 week appointment (before that I figured it was just related to my stretch marks) and when he looked at it he told me I had PUPPS (Pruritic Urticarial Papules and Plaques of Pregnancy) - an awful skin condition that isn't super common. Basically you get a nasty rash that is the itchiest thing you could ever imagine and nothing can really help it other than having the baby - I was constantly using gross smelling tar soap in cold showers, having oatmeal baths, and covering itchy spots with Sarna lotion, hydrocortisone cream, hemorrhoid cream, and basically anything categorized as "anti-itch". It was so awful. The same appointment we found that the baby's head was sitting on my right hip - my dr tried to move him and he didn't cooperate. I was aiming to have a VBAC, but with the PUPPS situation and baby's position I began asking my dr about having another c section. A few days later I was literally losing it - I couldn't sleep and every second of the day was spent trying not to itch every inch of my itchy body.  So... I scheduled an appointment to see how soon I could have our baby as I needed to know there was a quick end to the indescribably miserable state I was in. We decided on November 4th - just a couple days shy of 39 weeks.  PUPPS is a medical reason to allow a c section before 39 weeks, and I was SO GRATEFUL!

It was nice to know the awful itching/rash had a quick end in sight, but I was also excited to have another day to get everything ready.

I was HUGE.  Only 1 baby in there...