I stare at myself sleepily in the bathroom mirror, wincing
in anticipation of what I’m about to do. I examine my shoulders, hoping to see something
that would give purpose to the insane itch that roused me from sleep. I sigh,
disappointed, no dry skin, no rash, just the bright red marks left on my pasty
white shoulders from the 20 minutes of clawing away at them to relieve an invisible itch
without leaving my warm bed. I soak two facecloths in ice cold water and slap
them on my, now burning, scratch marks. The cold shocks me completely awake and
any hope of keeping a toe in dreamland is dashed. But for a glorious instant, relief
rushes over me.
The itching started off innocent enough. I simply chalked it
up to a normal pregnancy discomfort. It wasn’t there all the time, so I didn’t
think much of it. But as the weeks progressed, I started to notice that it wasn’t
random, the itching was got worse at night and it ranged from a mild scratch to
“oh my god can I please just rip my shoulder skin right off”.
At 32 weeks I mentioned it to my OB, who sent me over to the
lab to do bloodwork for a rare, liver condition that sometimes develops in
pregnancy, Intrahepatic Cholestasis of Pregnancy (ICP). Neither of us were
overly convinced it was ICP because while itchiness tended to be worse at night
(one of the hallmarks) it happened on and off throughout the day and, more
importantly it didn’t present on the soles of my feet or palms of my hands (the
most common locations).
However, if this pregnancy is any indication, I should
really buy a lottery ticket because when the results came back, I was diagnosed
with ICP; a condition affecting only 1 in 1000 pregnant ladies. ICP annnnnnnd Gestational
Diabetes (GD), insane itching without the option of stress-eating? I hit the
jackpot, lucky me.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with ICP, here’s an
infographic that breaks it down.
Image from ICP Care |
While I was anticipating a bit more time to get the house in
order, I’m also excited for this itching (and the diabetes) to be gone! The
next few weeks will be a whirlwind of appointments, organizing schedules,
copious amounts of online shopping for baby gear I’ve put off buying and
perhaps even delivering a baby. I’m scared and excited and relieved all at
once, and while only 1 in 1000 of you will have the unfortunate chance to
experience ICP, I think that that cluster of feelings is one most expectant parents can
relate to!