But then, I started itching. Bad.
I started itching a few weeks ago at my brother-in-law's mission farewell, but it went away the day after with the help of benadryl and lots of cocoa butter. After that, itching came and went and I tried not to think anything of it--it's normal to itch while pregnant, after all. On Tuesday of this week, I was waking up at night with itching hands and feet (among other things), and it just would not go away no matter what I did. Talk about torture.
This scared me because my mom had this with three of her pregnancies. Ironically, it was the worst with me (I said I was sorry!). We now know that she had obstetric cholestasis, which can be potentially serious. It can be genetic, but we were hoping that I would be lucky and not have it. After all, I didn't get my mom's endometriosis, so surely I would be spared the itchy disease (as I like to call it).
So, I went to my appointment on Thursday, told the midwife about it, and expressed my concerns. She agreed with me, and ordered blood tests to find out. I am very grateful that she took me seriously--I read stories online about women whose health care providers didn't. She also gave me a prescription for Ursodiol.
The results of my liver function test came back last night, and it looks like I may indeed have obstetric cholestasis. I have an appointment on Monday to find out the rest of the results. My midwife told me to be prepared to possibly be induced *gulp* next week.
I really don't want to be induced, but if it's medically necessary, I will do it. Cholestasis is nothing to sneeze at because it could cause harm to the baby the longer I'm pregnant. Experts in cholestasis recommend inducing no later than 37 weeks.
All along, I've been hoping and preparing for an unmedicated birth (yes, I am nuts). I've been told that I can still have that, even with an induction. My doula told me that an induction isn't a death sentence. My mom has reminded me that I come from a long line of strong birthing women on both sides, so that should work in my favor. I certainly hope so!
Even though I'm working through some disappointment and anxiety right now, I am counting my blessings. I'm grateful that my midwives are taking my concerns seriously. I'm grateful for modern medicine that can diagnose and treat these things. I am also grateful that I did my homework in choosing my birth team--I have great midwives, a supportive doula, and Stephan has been wonderful too. I am also very grateful that my little girl is strong and healthy--I went in for a non-stress test yesterday and she tried to punch the sensors off my belly. That's my girl!
Happy thoughts and prayers are welcome right now. I will keep you posted on what happens. We will hopefully know for sure on Monday.
3 comments:
I'm sorry! That's not fun to go through. But - you might be a mom next week! That's crazy! And you go girl for wanting an unmedicated birth. I know a girl in my old ward who was induced and went all natural. I'm going to try and do it when we have kids. More power to you! ;)
Thanks for your sweet comment :)
When you are pregnant, I will send you a list of books and sites for you, so you can prepare yourself.
that's funny cuz earlier in my pregnancy i was plagued by lots of itching. i looked stuff up and began to a tad worried that it may be more than just normal itching. never did my palms or feet itch though...so i figured if that started to happen i'd ask my midwife about it, but dang was i itchy all over. luckily the itching went away! but good luck to you. every labor is different. my labor with audree where i labored at home for nearly 2 days was a lot worse than the pitocin induced labor i had with arya...the difference could have been in the amount of time i labored but that hour of epidural free labor with contractions coming every minute and a half seemed like cake compared to what i went through with audree. good luck, you never know how it will go until you go through it :)
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