Count down
Well, I have survived another week. This one was one of the hardest with the PUPPPS taking over my life. Most of my days (and nights) were spent attempting to alleviate the awful burning itch that would appear anywhere my skin was touching something. Fortunately I found some solace in the babycenter.com community where there were plenty of others (sadly) echoing my sentiments in regards to this awful thing. It can only best be described as one person wrote: 10 times worse than poison ivy, the cause of many sleepless nights, a cause for heading to insanity, a horrible distraction from enjoying a wonderful pregnancy and something that definitely would have a cure now if men became pregnant. I hope no one out there has to ever understand where I'm coming from!It was like one bad cycle: Get up, take a shower, slather on lotion, avoid touching anything which means attempting to stand and distract myself from the itch by attempting to complete the rest of our must do list. Then the back ache would kick in and I'd have to sit down. The itch would kick and and I'd slather what ever else on and repeat the cycle again. I've had several nights of 2-3 hours sleep. The rash is pretty much everywhere except the soles of my feet, the palm of my hands and my face (I guess I should be thankful for that).
Yes, I have tried everything: cortisone cream, prescription steroid cream, Aveeno lotion, sarna lotion, Eucarin cream and spray, oatmeal baths, aloe vera and the one thing that actually helped distract me the most: icy-hot. Word to the wise-do not, I repeat, DO NOT slather the icy-hot on arms and legs after a luke warm shower and expect to lie comfortably in bed. I have never felt so cold in my life (OK at least in CA). I started shivering uncontrollably, teeth chattering and begged Hubby to go get the biggest comforter he could find. It only took about 1/2 hour before it wore off. This coming from a track athlete who used to put it all over my legs at track meets (but then would go warm up with layers of sweats in warm weather). Yes that last part is crucial. But if you want something that will help with the PUPPPS, I highly recommend icy-hot or something similar and to put it on one area at a time, preferably in a warm environment (which for me is 70 or warmer). Oh and one more thing. Don't wait too long in your pregnancy to schedule a pregnancy massage for you and hubby, for fear the dreaded PUPPPs could strike. I decided that asking the masseuse to come out with brillow pads on her hands or letting her take one look at my skin to freak her out wouldn't be a very good idea. Hubby, however enjoyed his much deserved massage.
I did break down last night and took a benadryl and got a bit more sleep and it even seems as if the PUPPPS is starting to wear its course. I've itched less now than I have in the last weeks so I'm hopeful this is a solid trend if I'm lucky (fingers crossed). Thanks to everyone who sent me hang in there e-mails. They are really appreciated and I enjoy hearing from you!
I did manage to get most of the babies room stuff done and changing stations set up and am completing some things on the to do list. Feels good! I'll be posting baby room pictures soon.
For now, since I felt half way decent today, we took more pics of me (don't look too closely at my arms). Yes, my belly is still growing. For some strange reason, I kept thinking that it would stop now that I was done with work. ???? Anyway, here I am:
34 going on 35 weeks pregnant
posted by Andrea @ 8:26 PM
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