On our annual camping trip to the Ochlochnee River, it seems that I came in contact with poison ivy while “squatting” in the brush. I was 9 months pregnant at the time and mistakenly thought the rash was somehow “pregnancy related”. Two weeks later during childbirth I begged not for pain relievers but for “itch relievers”. I was on fire as it had spread from my knees on up the inside of my thighs! The dermatologist said it was the first time he had ever treated such a thing during childbirth. What a way to welcome my baby girl to the world!!!”

(Editor’s note: the photo is not from our storyteller; it is a stock photo. But many women have written me that they would much rather go through childbirth again than through their bout with poison ivy. This woman did both at once.)