The Homestretch

Just when we thought we had almost made it to term without any unmanageable complications, something else comes up. On Thursday night I hardly slept due to a sudden itch on the soles of my feet. By Friday night, the itch had spread through my whole body --- my arms, legs, hands, neck, back. Throughout my pregnancy I always had an irritating itch on my belly due to dry skin, but on Friday that was the least of my problems.

When Martin came home we looked through my pregnancy books and the internet, and found out that we should go to the doctor immediately to have myself checked for "obstetric cholestasis", a liver & gall bladder problem which can be extremely dangerous for the baby. The doctor at the hospital told us we should wait a few days (since bile acid levels may not be elevated for a week) till my regular appointment on Tuesday (today), and discuss with my regular doctor about doing a blood test to check for liver function and bile acid levels.

After spending all of Monday reading about obstetric cholestasis, Martin and I were pretty nervous by the time we went to bed. We managed to calm each other down and sleep well, and the 5-6 liters of water I drank during the day seemed to help me get through the night without itching too much. (Okay, I woke up every 2 hours --- like clockwork, almost --- to pee and drink some more water, but at least I got more sleep than I did the previous 4 nights.)

At the appointment, we explained my symptoms, and our doctor immediately ordered a blood test and said we could call tomorrow afternoon for the results. When we asked what she was having checked, she said exactly the things that the medical articles mentioned. It somehow made me a lot calmer, seeing that our doctor seemed to know exactly what she was doing, and that we didn't have to bring up all the things we read about the condition. If you read about stories from people who were eventually diagnosed with the disease, you'll find out that a lot of doctors don't seem to know about it or take the itching too lightly. I guess that's why one website tries to arm you with articles from medical journals to take along to show the doctor in case they say something like "oh, itching is very common in pregnancy!"

So, that's the current status. We get the results after 3 p.m. tomorrow afternoon. I don't want to go into the details of what the possible effects of the condition are. You can read about it on the internet if you want. We're just taking comfort in the fact that it's possible it's nothing at all, and that even _if_ the blood tests come back not so good, that we went to the doctor early enough, and that our doctor is pretty good. We'll let you know tomorrow how it goes.