Sitting down to write about this was a challenge at first. Things are about to get super personal. You have been warned.

My daughters are very different and my experiences while pregnant with each of them are very different as well. With EJ my entire pregnancy was pretty easy. I DID puff up, that’s for sure, but the whole pregnancy was very normal. When I carried AB, now that’s a different story.

With AB, I found out I was pregnant with her right before Christmas in 2014. It was right before my hubby and I were going to see family for the holiday and I remember thinking about not drinking and wondering if people would notice. Would they start asking if I was pregnant because I wasn’t drinking?! I had JUST found out and didn’t want to share the news yet. Especially after having a miscarriage and losing our last baby, I was nervous. Can you blame me?

Right away, as soon as my body was pregnant, I started noticing changes in my skin. My underarms became irritated. I stopped shaving for a while (sexy huh) and changed out my razors, soap and shaving cream. A small rash started on the inside of my right breast. At first I thought it was the underwire of my bra and well, maybe I needed a new bra. An excuse to go shopping!! As if I needed one. The days went by and the rash started to itch and get larger. I stopped wearing bras with underwire and switched over to sports bras because they were more comfortable and didn’t irritate me as much.

I had an ultrasound at the end of January and there was my little peanut. Growing and according to my amazing OBGYN, healthy as can be. Me, on the other hand, she wasn’t sure what was going on with my body. She suggested that I keep an eye on things and told me to let her know if my symptoms started to get worse.

On February 4th I was 10 weeks along and well, this is when my symptoms started getting worse. A rash started on my arms and legs. My family started wondering if I was contagious. They sure did keep their distance. I scheduled an appointment with my OBGYN again but the itching became so bad that I ended up in Emergency Room late one night before my appointment date had arrived. I was just so miserable and was stressed and worried about the health of my baby. I was in tears because the doctor on staff told me it was PUPPP (pruritic urticarial papules and plaques of pregnancy) but it typically doesn’t show up until third trimester. She also told me it might last the entire pregnancy. I was sent home with a hefty bill and cried the entire car ride home.

At my next follow up appointment, my doctor dismissed the PUPPPs diagnosis given from the ER doctor. She called in the head of dermatology to my appointment along with a colleague in training. I suddenly became a research project with all these people in my room poking and prodding at me. I was in the dermatology department at least once a week for testing and follow ups. The doctors tested me for bed bugs. They took a chunk of skin out of my side, they took pictures of my itchy boobs to place in my file. Not the kind of photo shoot I ever wanted to have. They gave me topical cream after cream after cream, and they patch tested me for allergies. That was awful because if you know me…I can’t typically go a day without a shower! The rash started on my breast, but had spread to cover my entire body minus my face, back and “whooo-ha” Thank goodness for that!

Finally the diagnosis came in. What sounded like “We’re sorry Rachel, you're body is just allergic to your baby”, was actually called Atopic Eruption of Pregnancy (AEP). Something I would never wish on even my worst enemy because it was that miserable at times and completely out of my control.

My husband started sleeping on the couch because I would toss and turn so much from discomfort at night and keep him up. In the morning I’d have scratches so bad that the sheets were bloody. My legs were so raw, black and blue. I found comfort from icing them to numb the pain. Showers actually felt nice but I’d have to keep them short and use body oils to keep my skin from drying out. I tried different bar soaps, changed my detergents, tried everything I could think of to make the itching stop (Calamine lotion, Oatmeal baths, Sarna Anti-itch cream). The Sarna lotion was probably my favorite product out of everything, but would only provide relief for a little while. I found that distracting my mind from thinking about the itch and moving around was the best thing I could do.

Soon after I started my second trimester things got SO MUCH better! My skin cleared up and I started to feel the pregnancy glow. I was loving my body! I felt confident and even sexy. I took bump photos often (something I never did with EJ). I wore a bikini on the 4th of July and was constantly out enjoying the sun in shorts and t-shirts. My body was no longer allergic to the little baby growing inside of me! I was so happy!

When it was time for AB to join this world, she came almost two weeks early. It was almost the weekend and we decided to send big sister off to spend time with my in-laws. Friday, August 21, my water really broke while I was sitting at the kitchen table. My husband was home with me and when we drove to the hospital, I was checked in right away. I decided to get an epidural because I had one with EJ and I thought what the heck…lets make things easy. No need for Pitocan this time, contractions were close together, laboring was peaceful and so stress free compared to baby #1 and around 1:00 am, when it was time to push...less than five minutes this time…she was out.