Saturday, July 5, 2008

Pregnancy Itch

In more exciting news of my pregnancy, I have developed a horrible itch. It started out on my stomach with the addition of lovely stretch marks on my lower belly. The stretch marks got red and redder and the doctor noticed in my last visit and prescribed Cortaid (over the counter) topical cream. He asked if the rash was anywhere else, and I said no. Well over the past 2 days the itching has reached my feet, lower legs, and hands. It's worse at night.

After some online research I've found that it can be either of two things - First, it can be a benign pregnancy rash that is really annoying but not harmful and usually goes away after delivery. The acronym for this is called PUPP and it can be treated by experimenting with over the counter medications (cortaid, calamine, aloe, etc).

Second, it could be that I have a liver disfunction, which means that the bile ducts are not working correctly and all the toxins are collecting in my body, resulting in the wonderful itch. This is not good news if diagnosed, because it means pre-term labor and potential harm for baby (often times these ladies are induced into labor to prevent possible harm to baby). I would need to get a blood test to check for this. Being that it is 4th of July weekend I'll have to call the doctor on Monday to see if I should get the test done.

So we'll see which one it is...Obviously I hope it's the first benign rash and that this baby can be carried to full term. Sigh. Just another worry for me, and another darn symptom (I swear I am the textbook example of a pregnant woman...I have gotten every single symptom a pregnant woman could possibly get, except for constipation...knock on wood). I get the BabyCenter weekly news bulletin that outlines changes in the body week by week. Any symptom they mention that "might" be occuring is spot on - I am on schedule for every single symptom! This week they mentioned itching, and of course it started on me too.

The itching is apparently very common in ladies having boys and who gain a good amount of weight during pregnancy. Yup that's me.

My feet are slightly swollen and ugly looking...Makes me sad because the one part of my body that I've always liked are my feet, they've always been skinny! I think my hands are swollen too due to the fact that my wedding ring (once loose) is too tight to wear.

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