Mom-To-Be Makes Shocking Discovery After Suffering Terrible Rash in Third Trimester

When Summer Bostock was pregnant with her firstborn son, she woke up one morning in her third [...]

By Libby Birk

summer-bostock
(Photo: PA Real Life)

When Summer Bostock was pregnant with her firstborn son, she woke up one morning in her third trimester with "heaps of stretch marks."

"I just thought it was normal — but pretty unfair," she told the Daily Mail.

Soon, the stretch marks turned into a raised, itchy and painful rash — and it spread all over her arms, legs and back. Bostock's doctors and experts agreed that it was a severe case of polymorphic eruption in pregnancy (PEP).

"It was so, so itchy," Bostock said. "I was in agony."

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(Photo: PA Real Life)

"I can't even tell you just how many doctors I saw to try and find something that would work," she told CafeMom.

No matter how many experts she saw, no cream or ointment could relieve her uncomfortable rash. At 37 weeks, the painful condition, also called pruritic urticarial papules and plaques of pregnancy (PUPPP) became so severe that it required hospitalization.

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"By this point, I couldn't even have showers, because the touch of the water against my skin was too much," she said. "I would vomit, the itching was so intense, and at night I couldn't sleep."

Four days later, she gave birth to her son, Izaiah, who's now 5 years old — and her symptoms cleared immediately.

"As soon as he arrived, the rash started to clear," she said. "By the next day, it had virtually gone."

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(Photo: PA Real Life)

Doctors and experts say PUPPP sometimes occurs in first pregnancies or in pregnancies with multiple gestations. And although there's no known cause of it, experts agree that excessive stretching of the skin leads to inflammation.

"This is why PUPPP most commonly occurs during first pregnancies or multiple gestation pregnancies," Lauren Ploch, MD, told Parents. Familial associations have also been reported, so you may be at risk if other women in your family have developed PUPPP in the past."

Five years later, Bostock has had two more children, and didn't experience PUPPP in either pregnancy, but she's still speaking out to help other moms who might be experiencing PEP.

"I love that spreading my story is actually helping mums know what they have or even did have," she told CafeMom. "To just put a name to it and know you're not crazy helps!"

"Don't be scared to go get other opinions!" she says. "Research, find out what's going on with your body. You know your body best!"

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