The story of Edith
In 2016 my husband and I were expecting our first son, my pregnancy was anything but easy I was constantly in the hospital with miscarriage threats I was put on bed rest. At 24 weeks I became extremely itchy. At first, I thought I was having an allergic reaction to something that I had eaten or touched but after 2 days of intense itching I said enough is enough and I made an apointment with my OB. I explained to her what I was feeling and she told us about ICP, I had no idea what that was she said she had to run some test that would take about a week. As my nurse was drawing my blood she asked “do you have a cat” and I was taken by surprise like why would she ask that. I said yes and she then proceeded say “well there’s no way you have this disease you’re just allergic to your cat you need to get rid of it”. I immediatley became upset because first of all she’s just a nurse she’s not a doctor to be telling me what I have and don’t have. So anyway, I went home that day and began to google ICP, my husband and I became so scared of what came up, nobody wants to find out they have a disease that can kill their baby. The itching continued throughout that week and finally our greatest fears were confirmed I was diagnosed with ICP at 24 weeks. The rest of my pregnancy was hell with the itching and the medication. Nothing seemed to help everytime I didn’t feel my baby move I rushed to the hospital, at this point I basically lived at the hospital. I had to do NST twice a week and have more ultrasounds done than I could count. Finally my Doctor decided to induce me at 37 weeks. My labour was 26 hrs of excrucisting pain with no epidural and in all honesty it is a complete blur. I just remeber my son being put on my chest and getting a sense of relief. Fast forward to now I am currently 30 wks pregnant with our second baby boy and ICP has returned. I’m only a week into itching and I am so frustrated. Itching and chasing around my 2 yeqrr old all day is exauhsting. Luckily ICP came back later in my pregnancy this time and I only have 7 weeks left of itching until we meet our second itchy baby. There is hope mamas, it’s all worth it when we meet our babies.