I am currently 37 weeks pregnant and waking up to pee and having a hard time getting comfortable at night are really not uncommon at this point, but throw uncontrollable itching in there and an already uncomfortable time gets even more fun. About 4 days ago early Sunday morning I woke up for one of my usual night time trips to the toilet and was having a hard time falling back asleep. In my exhausted delirium I realized that my feet were really itchy and I was trying to rub them on the bed or do whatever to relieve them. I got up and found some anti-itch lotion and went back to bed, and after another hour of continued painful itching I thought "maybe this is a pregnancy thing?" Turning to the trusty google I found that there were some things that can result in itching during pregnancy and I decided to call the on call provider from my doctors office to see what they recommended. The groggy doctor said to try Benadryl and that there were some labs we could do tomorrow or Monday to see if it was related to my liver. The Benadryl didn't really relieve the itching but I think it eventually made me drowsy enough I was able to fall asleep.
Sunday morning Jon kept an eye on the boys while I tried to sleep a little more and since the boys and I have had a nasty cough and runny noses I figured we would have them stay home from church. I went and taught sharing time in primary then came back home after church. At this point I was feeling fine: no painful itching in my feet, no weird tingling sensation in my hands like after giving someone a really hard high-five, just tired. I took a nap and during my nap the itching feet thing came back. I called to doctor again because I wasn't sure if I was supposed to do lab work that day or what. There was a different doctor on call at this time and she said the doctor the night before must have been slightly out of it because they couldn't order labs on Sunday and to call back Monday morning and talk to my doctors nurse and have them order the labs for me. I had texted my mom earlier in the day and told her I had this itching that kept me up the night before. She said my cousin had something like that with her recent pregnancy and it was related to her liver and sounded pretty miserable. I texted my cousin and got her insights and recommendations of what helped and what didn't.
That night I went to bed with a bag of ice on my feet at it helped so much! I still woke up to relieve my bladder and refill my ice, but I was able to go back to sleep. Tender mercy!
I called my doctor again Monday morning and talked to the nurse and she ordered the labs for me. She said since I was coming in on Tuesday I could just wait until then to have them done, but I didn't want to wait and figured if I had my blood drawn Monday I could talk to my doctor at my appointment about the results. After dropping Danny off at preschool I stopped by the hospital and had my blood drawn. Again during the day I didn't really have any irritation or discomfort. That night before bed I started itching again, so I got my ice and went to bed. This night wasn't quite as blissful as the previous after refreshing my ice in the middle of the night I couldn't go back to sleep for a bit and I started having some random itching on my legs and arms but not nearly as painful or irritating as on my feet. Eventually I fell asleep and was able to sleep until 8 when Danny woke up. Both boys didn't wake up until after 8, another small miracle!
The boys and I did some normal morning things: had breakfast, tried to clean the kitchen, played, fought, cried, colored a little, read a book with Mikey, etc. After getting lunch for everyone I went to my appointment and Mikey stayed home with the boys (as a side note it has been so nice having Mikey, my brother, living with us especially when I have had doctor appointments or wanted to pick Danny up from preschool without waking Kyle up from his nap). I waited quite a while for my appointment, but as soon as my doctor came in she asked if the nurse had already called me. She hadn't, so my doctor told me she was glad I had the labs done because I did have cholestasis of pregnancy and my levels for that were 57 (you have cholestasis if you are above a 9). We talked a little bit about my symptoms and she said typically you have itching all over and it's not just in your feet. Again so grateful that it wasn't all over and that it wasn't constant. Because I was already 37 weeks along and my levels were so high my doctor thought it would be best to induce me this week. She called the people who schedule those and they were able to get me on the list for the next day.
I came home from my appointment slightly in shock, but feeling surprisingly calm about the whole thing. I went into plan and prepare mode and packed some things for the hospital and talked to family members about who was going to watch the boys and when. Jon came home from work and helped me clean up the house a bit, we had dinner, and the boys watched wall-e and were wild until bed time.
After the boys were in bed I did some more last minute preparation and nesting-type things then Jon and Michael gave me a blessing. I started itching again with new random itches on various parts of my body and decided to go to bed. I slept for a few hours then got up and slept a little more and couldn't sleep, so I started spewing my thoughts of the last few days and here we are.
Hopefully everything goes smoothly in a few hours and we can meet our new healthy baby girl. It has been a crazy few days, but I have been kind of paranoid this whole pregnancy and I think that has helped get the anxiety out of my system because I am very calm now.
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