"Maternity cholestasis"

I had to attend triage at about 14 weeks of my pregnancy for a really bad itch that caused me to scratch my body really badly and make it bleed.

I kept being told I was too early to have cholestasis and basically there was nothing they could do and to take medicine. I did have bloods taken but not ones that checked for cholestasis. I felt I wasn’t being listened to and was wasting peoples time.

I totally understand it was really busy but I really needed help. I couldn’t take much more so I reluctantly phoned triage again and spoke to midwife Tony and she asked me to come in for a check.

When I arrived I was told to take a seat but it was busy. I was really upset and crying in the waiting room and a midwife was walking past me and saw how distressed I was. She took me in to a different room and when I told her my name she said she spoke to me on the phone and told me her name was Tony.

As I explained everything to her she noticed my eyes look slightly yellow. she spoke to a doctor to ask if they could come and see me then done some checks and took bloods. She advised me to wait for my bloods to come back before going home and thank goodness she did as my bloods were all bad and I had to be seen by gastroenterologists team and was admitted to hospital that day.

My mum had arrived to be with me at this point and Tony explained everything she had done. It was a long hall and was very worrying as I had to have many tests and see different consultants. After a lot of investigations I was told I had cholestasis which is rare to develop so early but can happen. I was put on many medications and under a few different consultants as well as close monitoring of my baby which meant I had to go to the high risk clinic and daycare throughout my pregnancy. 

I want to say a big thank you to Tony as I feel if she hadn’t listened to me or invited me in that day I really don’t know what would have happend. What also made me feel more supported was that Tony looked after me in daycare most of the time and when I saw she was on I felt less anxious. I had my gorgeous boy at 33 weeks and he is doing amazing and everyone in labour ward were lovely and supportive especially Jackie and dr Okolo.

I am not wanting to complain about my care as apart from the first part Tony and the staff at high risk clinic (sorry there were so many I saw there), labour ward were fantastic but maybe a bit more training about cholestasis may be required. It can develop early in pregnancy so please don’t rule it out straight away because I am under the time it is recognised in pregnancy.