This is how it starts...red, and itchy, REALLY REALLY ITCHY!!! Then it starts looking like this...


...well, this pic doesn't show the detail...but, they get raised into hives and then it starts to spread up my legs and torso and on my neck and arms too...

What you ask? Or maybe WHY? WEll, we are still puzzled...but i will give you the story.

It all started with Baby J's pregnancy. I would have to get in the tub with the hottest water i could stand at least 3x a day, sometimes several more just to get the itching to STOP!!! It would always start with my feet and spread upwords, very quickly too, i mean, within a few minutes. My WHOLE pregnancy, it was miserable! I tried benadryl, benadryl creams, zyrtec, hydrocortizone cream, etc. Where i was prego, we were limited to what i could use. The dr. couldn't figure it out, i wasn't eating anything new that would cause this allergic reaction...

so, we were doing 12 days of Christmas to kids cousins and so i got dressed up in dark clothes with them to walk it down...by the time i got home, i was ripping everything off to hop in the tub, I was itching like CRAZY!!! I took my coat and hat and gloves off and brad said, "stop". Then he just looked at me...my entire neck was covered in hives! Only my neck, the ONLY Area of my that had been exposed to the COLD outside!!! So, i was reacting to the cold!!! I am allergic to COLD weather!

So, we started experimenting, and sure enough, any of my skin exposed to the cold would break out! It was the most odd, annoying thing i think i have experienced with a pregnancy! I figured i would just tough it out for the 9m and all would go back to normal. WRONG!!! It never went away! Of course, it is not as severe or often, but it still happens a few times a week in the winter. Here it is, 5 years later and it is still happening!!! I do not wish this on anyone!!!

And that is the end of my sad story!