More appointment details

As for my check-up, urine is clear, blood pressure is 110/68, and i'm 2.4 lbs below my starting weight (my overall goal is 15 lbs over starting weight).

Ever since my previous appointment, the nosebleeds have gotten much better! Instead of daily, I get about one nose bleed per week. :) So I never needed to see the ENT. BUT I have a new issue. I woke up Tuesday morning (3 days ago) with a small rash on my belly, just to the right of my belly button. I called my doctor's office and spoke with a nurse who advised me to use calamine lotion and maybe take an aveeno outmeal bath. I tried both but with little relief. I thought that maybe the cause was the cocoa butter stretch mark cream I've been using, so I stopped using that as well. By Wednesday, the rash was much bigger, and MUCH itchier. Almost to the point that it was unbearable! I started taking Benadryl. On Thursday (yesterday), I called the nurse again to ask if I could use "Benadryl Extra Strength Anti-Itch Cream" as recommended by my mom, because the calamine was of NO help. The nurse said she didn't know what was in that so she couldn't recommend it. I then went to my pharmicist, who said it'd be fine. I used it last night and was soooo glad for the relief.

This morning, my doctor took one look at the rash (which is now all over the front of my torso) and quickly diagnosed it as PUPPP - Pruritic Urticarial Papules and Plaques of Pregnany - which is commonly referred to as "the pregnancy rash" and occurs in approximately 1 in 240 pregnant women, typically in first pregnancies during the third trimester with an average onset of 35 weeks (but I'm only 19 weeks). PUPPP is harmless to mother and baby and resolves spontaneously 1-2 weeks after delivery. My doctor says he usually just expects women to deal with it but that's because they have only a few weeks of it, whereas I'm looking at over 20 more weeks of it! So he's referring me to a dermatologist for official diagnosis, who will probably (hopefully) give me a high strength steroid cream to relieve the itching and prevent the spread of the rash. In the meantime, he's given me a prescription for the antihistamine zyrtec and told me to keep using the benadryl anti-itch cream (thanks mom!).

Here's a picture I found on the internet that most looks like my rash.







And here's a really gross picture of what I guess it could end up looking like. *shudder*