Henry's birth story: Part 1

Henry's birth story really starts on August 14th, his due date. That is the day that I woke up to find itchy red bumps all over my belly. I knew immediately what it meant since my cousin recently had the same thing with her pregnancy, I had PUPPPS, a pregnancy-induced rash that has no known cause or cure.

The day before, I had gone to my 40 week appointment and my midwife told me that I was dilated to a three and one hundred percent effaced, so I had been fairly confident that I would go into labor in the next couple of days. Well, days went by and nothing was happening labor-wise, but my rash was getting worse and spreading with each new day. I was miserable.

By my 41 week appointment the following Monday, the rash had spread all over my whole body. It was on my arms, legs, feet, hands, back, and butt. It was even between my fingers and toes. It was preventing me from sleeping from more than two hours at a time, even with the help of Benadryl. So every two hours I would sit in an ice cold bath with oatmeal and baking soda, lather up with pine tar soap (some people online reported it helping), spray the exceptionally itchy parts with icy hot spray, slather refrigerated calamine lotion all over my body and stand in front of a fan for it to dry, and put anti-itch powder in any skin folds to keep them from rubbing together. Even after all of this, my hands usually were still on fire, and I would lay in bed with them dipped in ice cold water.

I had planned on getting to my appointment that day and begging my midwife to break my water and induce me, but when I got there I just had a strong feeling that I should wait a few more days to see if my body went into labor on its own. I knew I would be laboring without an epidural at a birth center and I was wary of doing anything that might cause complications.

That night was rough. I got no sleep and I was feeling so discouraged that I wasn't going to be able to give birth naturally because I would already be going into it so sleep deprived. Tuesday morning I was hating myself for deciding not to induce the day before because I realized it was just going to keep getting worse and worse. I called my midwife and when she realized how bad my situation was, she agreed to break my water the following morning.

However, by Tuesday night it had become completely unbearable. I laid in bed sobbing uncontrollably because I just couldn't get any relief from the itching anymore, no matter what we tried. My mom was in town for the birth and she was crying too because she couldn't stand to see me the way that I was. Ben was at his wit's end and was ready to just take me to the emergency room. Believe me when I tell you that rash was the worst hell I have ever endured in my life, worse than morning sickness, worse than labor pains, worse than anything. I am scared to death to ever get pregnant again for fear that it will come back.

So I gave in, I called my midwife again, still sobbing, asking if she could just get me a room at the hospital to give me something for the itching so I could get some sleep, and then induce me with pitocin the following morning. I no longer cared about my plans to birth at the birth center. I threw it all out the window. I just wanted some relief and sleep. My midwife agreed and called ahead to the hospital to let them know I was coming. I put on the one dress that I could still wear without it bothering my rash (since at home I just didn't wear clothes because they made the itching worse), and we were on our way.

To be continued...