Today I was diagnosed with Intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy aka ICP aka obstetric cholestatis. ICP is a liver disorder that occurs during pregnancy, where basically the flow of bile becomes too slow throughout the body and bile acids build up, causing INSANE ITCHING on the palms and soles of the feet (primarily).

This can be scary for the baby if left undiagnosed, but usually doesn't manifest itself until the third trimester (hello 29 weeks). I didn't start showing any symptoms until this past Saturday night (Feb 11th). My cousin had just recently been diagnosed and told me about the condition, the itchy hands/feet, etc.. Well, later that night, I developed itchy hands and feet. I thought it was all in my head and that I had developed symptoms because my cousin had talked to me about ICP earlier that day..

Well, three days later, and lots of lost sleep due to itching, I called the doctor's office and asked to be tested. Two days later, the results were in, and I had ICP. Some of the risks of this condition going undiagnosed are too scary for me to even talk about, but because of them I will be induced around the 37 week mark, which puts baby girl coming around April 10th!

I won't lie, I cried and cried about this. My completely normal, low-risk pregnancy flipped into a high-risk pregnancy in what seemed to be the blink of an eye. I felt like I had betrayed our baby in some way, like my body wasn't capable of doing the one thing I felt like it should do best.

I think at this point I'm mostly passed grieving and to the coping stage now - but I can't over think things or I want to cry again. I'm mostly just glad we caught this quickly and that we can effectively treat the condition to ensure that our baby comes healthy.

Overall, we're trying to focus on the positives! While it's not ideal, we're so excited that we get to meet our baby girl earlier than expected.