My PUPPPs Story: Baby #1

I think there's no better way to start this blog than by sharing my PUPPPs experience with the other suffering mommas out there. It's an all-consuming rash. It takes over your life. I found I couldn't even stir a pot of food for dinner without squirming with the intense need to scratch. The comments of well-meaning friends and relatives can be hard to hear. "Have you tried...?" "Oh, I had hives one times. I know how you feel..." Yes, I've tried it all, and no, I don't think you quite understand. 

Amazingly, though PUPPPs is considered rather rare (1 in 160 pregnancies, see this link about PUPPPs prevalence), I've personally known 2 other women with it. In them, I feel I have true empathy. My husband is also particularly allergic to poison oak. Some of his bad bouts with that nasty plant oil seem to approach similar levels of misery. He is full of empathy and support. 

Here's my story. I'll go one baby at a time...

Baby #1 (in 2008)

I had a textbook normal pregnancy up until around 36 weeks. I began to develop an itchy purple-reddish patch on my upper abdomen. I thought maybe it was fungal. I showed it to my midwife, who was perplexed but not concerned. I tried a couple over the counter creams and natural yeast remedies. No luck. In fact, it was spreading. 

I still had no idea what PUPPPs was. I was getting itchier. When my husband and I went on a babymoon, I had my first sleepless night. I was amazed that the itching kept me awake. I'm glad I didn't know what was around the bend. 

Here I am at 36 weeks, just beginning to wonder why I could barely hold still for the picture without scratching.

Within a week or two, the rash was nearly everywhere. All over my torso, legs, arms, neck, in my hair, on my ears, and in all the unmentionable places. Red. Puffy. Scaly in places. And INTENSLY itchy. It often felt like bugs were crawling on me. I was starting to feel crazy. 

I called my midwife, desperate. She said it was probably PUPPPs, but wanted to run tests to see if it was cholestasis of pregnancy (Learn more about cholestasis here.). PUPPPs is harmless to mom and baby (except for mom's suffering), but cholestasis has been known to cause stillbirth. So, to the hospital we went. We spent a day on the OB unit, getting bloodwork and monitoring. The consulting OB wanted to induce immediately. It would "cure the itch immediately" and would be playing it safe in case it was cholestasis. At this point, I was close to 39 weeks. My husband and I decided to wait for the bloodwork. We didn't want to be pressured into induction without some time to think. The bloodwork came back negative. PUPPPs it was. 

By this time, I had searched the internet for treatments and tried a few of the natural remedies. Oatmeal bathes. Epsom salt baths. Sarna cream. Those didn't even touch it. Then the not-so-natural...Benadryl cream. Cortisone cream. Nope. I made another desperate call to the midwife. She wasn't sure what to do at this point. I remember that she consulted a few doctors at this point. Then, she hesitantly prescribed a heavy duty version of Benadryl to help me sleep and prednisone to calm the rash. Ugh. Prednisone. I am a nurse. I know about that nasty drug. I was very concerned about taking it but truly couldn't imagine another day with PUPPPs. 

Two days later, I had my first precious baby girl. 

Everyone was right. The itch didn't bother me one bit in labor. Ha! It did return after, but it was lessening. I did not continue the prednisone. After about a month, it was gone. I was sure my skin would be permanently scarred. I repeatedly scratched til I bled. Many of my maternity clothes were stained with blood. But my skin healed so well that you couldn't tell what it had been through. It had been quite the experience. I never wanted to do it again. But all the statistics told me it was mostly a first baby thing. We were excited about having a large family, so I kept my mind open to more children. 

That was my most classic experience with PUPPPs. It fit the standard pattern of first time pregnancy, third trimester sufferers. The only thing that didn't match the statistics was that I had a girl. In some studies, roughly 70% of sufferers have boys. (See this link about PUPPPs statistics.) 

In my next post about my story, I'll tell about baby number 2. PUPPPs hit at 22 weeks that time!