Oh My Goodness

Oh my goodness…

Yesterday (Friday), was a long day… to say the least but…

First a replay of Wednesday:

The doctor appointment was quick and to the point. My doctor got called in for an emergency cesarean section in the morning, so a nurse practitioner substituted for him. She was nice, much better than the other substitute I saw two weeks ago. Good news is that my three hour glucose test came back negative, which means that I do not have gestational diabetes. This was quite a relief for JT and I. As requested, the nurse also checked my ears, nose, throat and breathing. Everything checked out fine there as well. My problems started of as sinus related, but hormones probably contributed to the lack of taste buds and sense of smell she said.

Throughout the appointment, I was mentally and physically drained… and the hot and humid weather only contributed to my agony. So in short, I stayed home the rest of the day. In addition to the heat bothering me, my belly also continued to itch and now even my thighs were itching.

Thursday:

I almost fainted at the bus stop, while waiting in the heat. It is just not good to be pregnant in the summertime in a hot city. Thankfully, as my vision blurred, the bus came down the street and picked me up. As soon as I stepped on to the cooled off bus, relief set in quickly. That was a scary moment though.

All day long, customers aggravated me on the phone nonstop. I had severe itching on my belly and thigh, but not quite as bad as the previous day. That night, the itch was no longer just an itch, it began to look like a severe rash on my thighs. The rash spread up my belly and on my butt as well. I was literally going insane, my temper was sky high and the itch would not go away, no matter what I put on it. JT was concerned that I may have had an allergic reaction to the cornstarch and baby oil gel that I rubbed on it the previous night. I was not thoroughly convinced; however, I did not rule out the possibility. After I had another itching attack, I took a long hot shower to relieve what was no longer just an itch… it turned into something quite painful, emotionally and physically.

Of course not even the shower was going to go just right for me… the sliding doors came off track and one of the thingamajiggas fell off. bang So now my shower door is all off track. Anyway, once I got the shower going, the hot water (but not too hot for the babies) felt quite relieving to my every inch of my body. I really wanted to stay in there all night. On the flip side, I didn’t want to prune up, so I reluctantly got out after about thirty minutes. For another thirty minutes, I laid on the bed and rub down in Palmer’s Cocoa and Shea Butter. Temporary Relief.

Friday

…Felt like a Monday on the phones at work… customers were acting stupid as can be, and this made the day go by really slow. At about 4pm-ish, my right thigh starts itching. All I had with me was Eucerin creme. I put some of that out there, but thirty minutes later my lower right leg started itching. After about five minutes of pure insanity… I began to get worried when I pulled my pants leg up and saw that the rash had now spread to my lower leg. :cry: I decided to call the doctor then I realized that the office was close, which meant I had to use the emergency exchange number. The exchange is set up fairly nice. An operator takes my name, the name of my doctor and the reason for the call, then has an on duty OB/GYN at my hospital call me back within an hour. Fortunately, I have never had to wait longer than fifteen minutes *knocks on wood* The on duty doctor called me back, I described my symptoms and he simply stated, “I want you to come into the fifth floor evaluation room in the hospital.”

Damnit, damnit, damnit… I kept saying this to myself, hell I may have even said it aloud. The news can’t be good at all when the doctor tells you to come in. I already knew the situation wasn’t going to be pretty. If they can diagnose the condition and prescribe a medicine over the phone based on the symptoms I tell them, then it’s all good. If they call you in.

Luckily, JT was already headed downtown and after searching for a manager to tell them I was leaving early, we dashed to the hospital. We got there about 6pm and then we waited… and waited… and waited… and waited… :roll: Meanwhile, I’m itching like crazy and looking like a fiend as I scratched my legs through my pants. At almost 8pm, they called me into the Labor and Delivery evaluation room (this is the equivalent of the emergency room for pregnant women). With the help of JT, I changed into the gown, laid down on the bed and waited some more…

Eventually someone came over to strap me down to the monitor. One heart rate monitor for each baby and a contraction monitor. She took my blood pressure (which was normal) and asked a bunch of questions. Later on, a resident came in… when I heard her name was Dr. Chan, I immediately thought of ‘ER.’ Dr. Chan asked me some more questions, then took a look at my rash. She identified the rare pregnancy rash as Pruritic Urticarial Papules and Plaques of Pregnancy, PUPPP for short. Leave it to me, to end up with a rare pregnancy condition *sigh*

Because I’m getting sleepy, I’ll spare the complete details of the complete five hours after this point. Short version, I started having contractions, the resident was like umm, she gave me a pill to calm the babies down, pill didn’t work, so they had to put an IV in me, a nurse stuck me twice, once in each hand… that didn’t work, she went and got the expert sticker, she only took one stick to get the IV going. I was nervous as hell. Dr. Chan felt that my cervix remained closed, which was actually good news. The bed (can you even call those shits a bed though?) was extremely uncomfortable. At about 1am, the contractions had decreased and Dr. Chan said I could go home.

Came in for a rash, ended up staying because of contractions.

There is really no cure for PUPPP other than giving birth. To relieve the itch, Dr. Chan said I could take Benedryll pills and rub Cortizone cream on the areas. Here I am today, still itching like crazy and wondering how I’m going to get through these next few weeks.