Hives...

No, not the swarming, buzzing, full of bees kind...And not the cute, 60's hairdo kind either.  Just straight-up, itchy, splotchy, nasty-looking hives!  That's what I've been dealing with for the past 3 days, and it's really no fun.  Here are some views of what I looked like one day one:

Mr. C and I had been in Iowa for our band rehearsals for the September 10th "hometown show" we're doing at the Fairfield Arts and Convention Center in our hometown of Fairfield, Iowa (the same exact stage Mr. C and I got married on three years ago come October 18th).  So, yes, there's been a lot of stress in my life - my sister, W, who is in the band with me and our other sister, M, had a grand mal seizure just hours before our first rehearsal last week (the 15th).  Needless to say, it's hard to work on performing when one of the pivotal members of the group is stressed out, anxious, dead tired, and sore as hell from having a grand mal seizure.  We managed to get in three rehearsals while up there, but it's been a long road.

I have no clue if the stress of the past week and a half finally got to me or if I am allergic to something I unwittingly encountered while there, but on our way home to Missouri, I noticed that I was itching all over my body - everywhere!  I also started feeling super nauseated and had some *ahem* "loose stools" (gross, I know!).  I chalked it up to the fact that I was/am still taking the Chinese herbs for PCOS (I only have ONE WEEK left!  Can you believe it?!) and started my progesterone support cream on 4DPO.

By the time we actually got to our house, I was covered  my back looked terrible; because I had just kept scratching at the itchy splotches all day.  I started doing some research about hives...at first I thought maybe I had a food allergy that was acting up, but I hadn't eaten anything unusual at all.  It could have been the stress, but honestly, I didn't really feel all that much stress.  In fact, the next day I was so calm I felt I could fall asleep at any moment all throughout the day.  Then, I saw a link far down on the page of Go-gle that said "pregnancy hives".

Could it be?

But I doubt it.  I ovulated on CD19 (finally!), but with the Chinese herbs I'm on I'm not expecting too much this cycle.  Still, it would make sense.  There's really no other reason for these hives to keep popping up.  Plus, my mom had pregnancy hives way back when; so........maybe?

I hate things like this that get my hopes up.  HATE IT.  Because the past 2 1/2 years have only ever made me a fool for having so much hope and reading so much into things.  It's 7 DPO today, and I took a HPT - negative, of course, but that's what worries me too.  If it truly is pregnancy hives, wouldn't I be pregnant enough to get a +HPT?  That's why I'm leaning to the "negative" category.

I decided after today's -HPT that I would wait like a good girl, as I have these past several cycles, until 14DPO or beyond to test again.  If I make it that far without spotting/AF showing up, then it's probably safe to assume something's up, if AF does show up, no harm/no foul...it's nothing that I haven't had to deal with before.

Next month will officially be our last month of TTC.  The adoption begins in October, and we will celebrate 3 years of marriage.  Wow, time flies, it truly does.  It's so hard to imagine not TTC anymore...not taking my temperature every morning.  Not monitoring every little twitch and tingle my body feels...I have no clue how I'll actually feel when that moment gets here, but right now it's pretty surreal.

*mandie*