Red Bumps

I have a new pregnancy side effect.  At least I think its due to the little boy.  I'm blaming most odd things on him these days.  He's an easy target.

Yesterday during work I started itching on the inside of my right arm - the opposite side of the elbow.  (Side now, what is this part of your body called?  Is it the inbow?)  Anyway, I didn't think much of it.  I had these little red bumps and my skin got splotchy.  But it went away after a while and didn't bother me too much.

But then, as I was cooking dinner last night (homemade turkey meatballs and pasta - yum), my belly started itching.  Sure enough, about a 3 inch circle of red bumpy blotchy skin had appeared.  This time the rash lasted about an hour and a half and was only relieved by some calamine lotion. 

I was now convinced I either had an allergic reaction to something I'd eaten, or the pregnancy was getting the best of me.

So first I looked at all the food I'd eaten that day.  Nothing odd aside from a glass of Odwalla Superfood which contains wheatgrass and other oddities.  And I had that first thing in the morning - hours before any sign of a rash.

I vaguely remembered a friend who's sister had such bad itching rashes during her pregnancy that it was unbearable.  Mr. Cob told me to calm down and not jump to conclusions.  So I then turned to the internet to find out about pregnancy rashes.  

And I'm now convinced it might be  "Pruritic urticarial papules and plaques of pregnancy (PUPPP), also known as polymorphic eruption of pregnancy, ...the most common rash in pregnant women."  Some more info on PUPPP:  "It normally occurs in first pregnancies during the third trimester with an average onset of 35 weeks.  The rash of PUPPP almost always begins in the stretch marks (striae) of the abdomen. It does not involve the belly button distinguishing it from other common rashes of pregnancy. The rash itself consists of small, red wheals in the stretch marks that grow together to form larger wheals on the abdomen. Sometimes the rash can include small vesicles. Over the next several days, the rash can spread over the thighs, buttocks, breasts, and arms."

Ok, ok, so I'm not 35 weeks...still 14 to go before that point.  And it didn't start on my abdomen - but it traveled there later! 

And today, the rash appeared on my left inbow.  So there's goes your theory of random incidence of hives.  Two days in a row means something is going on.  Then again, I did drink the Superfood this morning, so maybe its an allergy. 

Or maybe its PUPPP. 

I'm not paranoid.  Really.