I was never a dog person...

The past week has been very hectic and exhausting. I've been terrible at updating the blog, but here's the rundown on the events of the last week.

Last weekend I was in charge of an academic conference here at FarmU. The conference was a success with attendees from around the world as well as here locally. There were a few hitches, but all in all, it went off well. On Friday, I started to have a rash on my belly and stretch marks rapidly appeared. By Sunday, my arms and legs were covered in tiny bumps. I itched all over! I did some googling, which suggested that I had a condition called PUPPP. If you google for the images (which I haven't linked to) you will see what I looked like.

After not sleeping, I called the midwife first thing in the morning. She saw me right away, which was a relief. My condition apparently was bad enough to get me a trip to the dermatologist. I left with a definite diagnosis of PUPPP and a prescription cream. She recommended an antihistamine and oatmeal baths as well. On Thursday I went back to the dermatologist (after the rash spread to the tops of my feet, backs of my hands, and the backs of my knees). I wasn't sleeping and I was starting to really scratch a lot. Ice packs at night helped, but made me too cold to be able to sleep. The sleep deprivation was getting to me. The dermatologist recommended that I try light therapy as well - as it's been known to help with psoriasis and eczema. They (the medical field) knows little about this skin condition other than that it's caused by pregnancy. There are no apparent harmful outcomes for either mother or baby from it - other than the severe discomfort of the itching. Thus, it seems that little research has been done on how to treat it. Both my midwife and the dermatologist told me that some women end up being induced early (obviously not this early) because the itching is so unbearable. I couldn't have understood that before - but after this week I completely get how itching could be so traumatic.

So, I got my first session of light therapy as well. As of today, I am feeling dramatically better. I still itch, but it's more like a case of mosquito bites now rather than the ceaseless, unending itching of a few days ago. I'm sleeping through the night (well, except to get up to pee!) and that has improved my mood 100%.

I had my regular appointment with the midwife on Friday and she was happy with the improvement over just one week. The baby is doing fine and moving regularly. Tadpole has even had several cases of the hiccups, which are very funny to feel. Tadpole is head down and hanging out int he right position. On Monday, I'll be 33 weeks. Full term is 38-42 weeks (with 40 weeks being the "due date"). So, we're looking at 7 weeks to go (with a range of 5-9 weeks considered normal). So, we're just working on managing my PUPPP symptoms. It should magically go away once the baby comes.

So, that's the latest baby news around here.