What the PUPPPS?!

Alrighty, here's the story. Last Friday (April 2nd) My parents, brother Ken and his wife, Heather, their kids, Talia and Katrina, and the MacRae children were going to the temple. So I woke up at about 8:00 am to say bye to everyone. When I got up, I noticed that my stomache was SUPER hot! I went into the kitchen and told my mom that I thought my stomache had a fever! She put a hand on it and thought the same, and so did everyone else. Also, my stretch marks looked BRIGHT pink! I figured the baby had just gone through a massive growth spurt or something and my tummy wasn't handling it very well.

So throughout the day I kept a cold wash cloth on my belly to try to keep the temperature down and my discomfort to a minimum. I then went about my morning doing the things I had planned. I did laundry, cleaned my bedroom (like, really cleaned it! Washed the walls and everything!) and I was wiped by the afternoon. The heat still hadn't gone away by the time everyone got home.

That was my last day living in kitchener! No more driving back and forth between houses like a child in the middle of a divorce! lol

Alas---my stomache got worse. Not only did the marks stay bright pink, but they also began to raise up. The first night it woke me up, I was in absolute pain! It was as if someone had slammed a red hot frying pan on my stomache--just pure, white hot pain. I couldn't sleep in the bed anymore--it was too uncomfortable, and I didn't have easy access to ice cubes or fresh cold water. I even froze some pads so I could cover my stomache during the night.

I tried doing research online about this. "sore stretch marks" "painful stretch marks pregnant" things like that. Everywhere was simply telling me "You may get stretchmarks while pregnant, however, they do not hurt..." I was pretty close a couple of times to emailing these people and chewing them out! lol

Then a few days ago, a friend of mine (Nicole) told me she had read somewhere about PUPPPS, and thought that's what I had! I googled some pictures, and was shocked--they looked just like my belly!! So I did some research s to what PUPPPS is, and self diagnosed myself with it. The next day, Aaron's family had a guy visiting that had been a missionary here many moons ago, and he's a dermatologist! I told him what I thought I had and if he had heard about it, which he had, and gave me some recommendations of what I could do, but he basically said that I just needed the baby to come out so it would go away.

(You can google PUPPPS to get better pictures)

Pruritic urticarial papules and plaques of pregnancy (PUPPP) is a benign dermatosis that usually arises late in the third trimester of a first pregnancy. If you're interested, you can get a brief run down here: http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1123725-overview

My mom found a really helpful website with lots of different things women have tried to ease their suffering: http://www.naomikritzer.com/motherhood/PUPPP.shtml

My symptoms:

Hot belly

Raised stretch marks

Explosion of strech marks :(

Incredible itchiness (but I don't scratch, because when I do, the white hot burning pain returns and it takes a long time to get rid of it)

Bright pink/red stretch marks

Unfortunately, this PUPPPS stuff has also begun on my ankles, and my thighs (on top and inside), making it VERY hard to sleep at night. My nights normally go like this:

Fall asleep: 11:30ish

First wake up: 1:30 (this is usually the most painful wake up call)

Second wake up: 2:30

Third wake up: 4:30 (and I usually stay awake the rest of the night/morning)

I know a lot of people think/say "It's just training for when you have a baby!" And you know what--I don't have my baby yet, but that is crap! lol First, you don't need practise or training for not getting sleep! It's one of those thing you grow into. And, how does this logic make any sense? Do we need pratice before we get married, so we live with the guy for a while first? Well...some do. lol But NO, you don't need to do that. And Secondly, there's a huge difference to being woken up by your child because they need you and you're the only one that help them, and you know that that precious child has been entrusted to you by GOD, and being woken up because you're in pain! Big, big difference. So... there! lol

So far, this is what I've been using to try to help me:

Cold compresses

Arnica cream w/ hypericum

hypericum pills

Apis pills

Tinactin

Hydrocortisone

Diaper rash cream

Cocoa Butter

Dandylion tea

Strawberry tea

Some improvment in appearance has begun on my belly. It's not as bright, and only a few marks are raised now. I can go about the day pretty normally, but nights are still a battle.

As I'm writing this, I think it's starting to spread to under my arms a bit. :( If that happens, I am swearing off clothing! Sorry world!

Anyways, I wanted to blog about this to cause awarness, and so if I complain to you about it you can have a better idea of why I am, since this is a pretty rare pregnancy symptom and not many people have heard of it. WHY DO I GET ALL THE WEIRDO PREGNANCY THINGS?! lol

Keep me in your prayers please! That this baby will come soon, that she'll be healthy, and that my body will be able to cope with all this! :)