A mum who erupted in agonising blisters all over body was shocked to discover she was 'allergic' to her own baby.
Fiona Hooker first noticed itchy red areas on her stomach at 31 weeks pregnant, which she says felt like 'nettle stings' and which got progressively worse.
After suffering through the remainder of her pregnancy covered in 'unbearable red itchy plaques' on her skin, the 32-year-old says the rashes 'exploded' into incredibly painful blisters once she gave birth.
READ MORE: Wayne Rooney breaks silence on marriage and binge drinking
The pain left her unable to hold her new born baby.
Doctors diagnosed her with the rare autoimmune pregnancy condition Pemphigoid Gestationis - and said a reaction to a gene in her son's DNA probably caused her immune system to attack her own skin.
The hypnobirthing teacher has now shared shocking photos of her rash-covered stomach and blistered limbs to raise awareness of the rare condition, which only affects one in 50,000 women.
Fiona, from Basingstoke, Hampshire, said: "I got a few tiny, really itchy marks around my belly button that felt like nettle stings.
"I went to the doctors after a few days because it was getting more and more itchy and unbearable.
"They gave me some steroid creams which didn't really touch it and it was getting bigger - my belly was covered in red, itchy plaques.
"It was the third GP I went to see that said it looked like the condition Pemphigoid Gestationis and he referred me to a dermatologist who gave me the strongest steroid cream you can get.
"It was like I was allergic to my own baby."
By 35 weeks, Fiona attended A&E because she couldn't bear the discomfort any longer, and was given four days of oral steroids which helped calm the rashes down.
But two days before she was due to give birth, it started to get unbearable again.
And 24 hours after she'd given birth to her son Barney, now seven months old, Fiona said the condition 'exploded' and turned into blisters.
"If I scratched it, it felt good and temporarily took the itch away but obviously I was removing the blisters and skin so then I was left with raw, really painful skin and the blisters just came back on top of that," she said.
"It hurt a lot to even hold my son so I wasn't really able to enjoy the newborn stage because of it."
Fiona says doctors suspect the reaction was triggered by a gene in her son's DNA since she didn't suffer from the condition in her first pregnancy with three-year-old daughter Phoebe.
"The pregnancy from 31 to 35 weeks was quite hard because my stomach was on fire and obviously I was quite big and had a toddler as well," Fiona said.
"When I was in labour I didn't feel a thing, I looked horrendous but it wasn't itchy at all.
"But the postpartum bit when it exploded into blisters on my tummy, chest, arms and legs - everywhere you would hold a baby - that was quite difficult.
"When I was diagnosed I was shocked because it's so rare - I was hoping they'd got it wrong and it was something else.
"But when it started blistering we knew it was that because that's what differentiates it from other pregnancy rashes."
The mum-of-two says the itchy plaques, blisters and scarring from the extreme reaction have finally subsided, although she still occasionally has to use steroid creams and may suffer minor flare-ups for the rest of her life.
Knowing sufferers of the condition are likely to develop it again in further pregnancies, the hypnobirthing teacher and her husband Warren Hooker, 35, have decided to not have any more children.
She now hopes to raise awareness of the rare pregnancy condition, admitting that she hadn't heard of it until researching her symptoms online and being diagnosed herself.
Fiona said: "Because I'm quite recently off the steroids, every now and again I get a bit itchy and have to use a bit of steroid cream, so I think my body is still getting over it.
"A lot of people have to have immunosuppressive therapies to get off the steroids and get the condition under control so I'm quite lucky.
"Once it's triggered it's made worse by certain hormones - oestrogen mainly - so each menstrual cycle I may get a little flare but not enough to need any steroids.
"So I may have some symptoms of it forever but not as bad as before.
"It's put me off being pregnant again especially because the research says it will come on earlier and worse and I don't think I could do that again even with steroids."
