I just woke up with extreme itching head to toe waiting for the on call doctor to call me back. This is the first sign for me of this condition (which hopefully I don't have..) but I've read it can be very harmful to the baby, so I want to get checked out ASAP! I can't sleep (I'm 38w 4d)
I started itching at the beginning of the month. Hands and feet mostly, but other places too, and peaking at night. They sent me for blood work, which revealed high bile acids. They put me on a medication to help soak up and flush the excess bile acids in my blood, and have moved up my scheduled delivery date by a week. Still a bit itchy, but so far, so good.
I've had it in 3 pregnancies. Each baby was delivered in the 37th week (which is highly recommended with cholestasis). 2 were induced and 1 came on his own just before the induction. I was put on medication to manage my bile salts for the second and third pregnancies and had NSTs 3 times a week because they caught it sooner. My babies were all okay and didn't need any time in the NICU. I had an extra 24 hrs for observation post delivery to make sure my liver started to settle down with each. With my first they even ultrasound my liver post delivery to make sure my liver was okay and that there weren't any other issues. The itching was gone within a couple days after each baby was born and I noticed a significant decrease of the itch even within the first few hrs of giving birth.
So.. I called my doctor last night and they said to come into L&D because of my sever itching. (38w 3d) they did blood work but said they wouldn't have results until Monday!! I put up a little bit of a fight because if it came back positive it is very dangerous to the baby and can lead to a still birth. (We were planning an induction at 39w anyway so being this close I wanted to decrease the risk of cholestasis and induce sooner rather than later) so my doctor called to consult with a specialist and said that there's no other reason I should be experiencing head to toe itching without a rash. So they were able to "clinically diagnose" it without the actual blood results. Long story short they agreed an induction today was a good idea for baby's safety.. So we're meeting our little love today!
Thanks all. Makes me feel a little better about being induced at 37 weeks. I am worried about the baby's lungs being underdeveloped. I am 36 weeks, and I get the test back tomorrow, Monday hopefully. This is my 4th child, and I had PUPP before with my second child and it was torture but not harmful to either of us. They removed my gallbladder shortly after his birth. Now they say because of my symptoms I have Cholestasis. I have seen the specialist, been getting NST& ultrasound every week and so far they say all looks normal but they really want to induce me. I hate being induced and wanted to have at least one child without induction... but its never in the cards for me. i guess better safe than sorry
Sarahplruiz
member
Re: Cholestasis