PUPPS...

No, we are not getting a dog. Can you imagine! I just found something extremely cool and thought I'd share it.

I've had this weird itchy thing over the last week which started on my tummy. I was never worried about obstetric cholestasis because I didn't have itchy palms of my hands or bottom of my feet. So I googled 'itchiness 40 weeks pregnant' (dangerous I know) and a whole page came up with references to PUPPS. So I googled that too! It's often seen in conjunction with itchy, red bumps and larger patches of a hive-like rash on pregnant tummies and this is known as pruritic urticarial papules and plaques of pregnancy (PUPPP) and will affect about 1% of pregnant women (I'm in 1% - wahey!). Anyway, usually it starts around the stretch marks on the stomach and breasts as small red bumps and the will grow to form larger blotches of red bumps. I thought I'd scratched so much it had all blurred into one but then I read that!

The very cool bit...

No one is certain of what may cause PUPP, as it is not associated with other complications such as preeclampsia, hormonal abnormalities or fetal abnormalities

There are however some theories, and we stress that these are just theories:

PUPP Theory Two: One study has shown that male fetal DNA can be found in skin biopsies of the rash. Since 70% of women with PUPPP give birth to boys, a new hypothesis is that male fetal DNA acts as a skin irritant.

I mean, WOW!