Okay, nobody prepared me for what I went through last evening.
Out of nowhere, I developed the worst case of hives I have ever had in my entire life! It started out as a random itchiness throughout the my torso, so being the Einstein that I am, I decided to take a lukewarm shower and then moisturize, thinking that my skin was simply dry. Boy was I in for a surprise!
Shortly after my shower, my entire torso turned an angry shade of red (picture the worst sunburn you have ever had...), and then I started getting welts - the worst of them on the sides of my body beside my tummy and my breasts. My back was all blotchy with welts as well, and the rash was quickly making its way up my neck and behind my ears. Needless to say, it was not pretty. I drove over to the local walk-in medicentre, but was frustrated to discover a sign that said "Due to a shortage of physicians, we are closed at 4:00 p.m. today". Ack! I zipped home, then made a phone call to a nurse at Healthlink.
She asked a ton of questions ("Is the baby still moving? Have you had any abdominal pains? Have you vomited? Is there any bleeding?"), but by the end of it, even she was stumped about what had brought this on! She made a referral for me to go to the "after hours clinic" for the next morning, and gave me some coping strategies to ease the itch in the meantime. I ended up lying in a lukewarm baking soda bath, with my dearest husband bathing me tenderly with a washcloth. I'm sure that I looked a fright!! By after the bath, the welts began to go away...and by morning, they were all gone. Weird.
My research on Dr. Google tells me that I either a) had an allergic reaction to something I had eaten, or b) had "PUPPP - Pruritic Uticarial Papules and Plaques of Pregnancy". Apparently, PUPPP is a common rash amongst pregnant women, and whilst its cause is unknown, it is most common in the third trimester of first pregnancies (average onset, 35 weeks!) and interestingly is more common amongst women who go on to deliver baby boys! Quite honestly, though, I don't think that I had PUPPP, because it's supposed to last on average up to 6 weeks - and my rash went away overnight. But boy, was it ever freaky!
In other news...
DH and I went to our first pre-natal class last week, led by what could be the cheeriest woman I have ever met! It was interesting to watch DH's reaction to things that were being shared...he has so much less experience with infants than I do that I think this course will benefit him the most. We didn't see "the video" - which, according to the instructor, was NOT edited for television (that will be this week's class). I am bracing myself for the horror. Can I tell you a secret? I am scared to have my husband see me in the labouring stage...the moaning and grunting and shrieking....I'm pretty sure it'll freak him out. Can others relate?
35 weeks as of today. Wow. We don't have much more time before our little Dim Sum is delivered. I can't wait to hold him and look into his eyes...
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