Only Because You Asked

Cholestasis of pregnancy is actually a liver problem that causes excess bile salts to be deposited into the maternal blood stream. This causes the baby to absorb these excess bile salts potentially affecting the baby's liver function and sometimes causing jaundice or other complications.

If caught early enough the itching caused by the excess bile salts in the maternal blood can be controlled with medication but overall the spillage of these salts can't really be controlled, only monitored. Only about 1 to 2 in 1000 women ever develop Cholestasis of pregnancy. If the bile salts are not too high I will probably just be put on medication to control the itching and re-tested at each appointment to see if the levels are rising. If the doc thinks everything is okay she may still let me try to go more naturally rather than forcing me to have an induction early.

What I am hoping is that the levels are low enough that I can control the itching with medication and avoid the whole induction senario. Today will be the deciding factor. If my GTT comes back high I will also have to do the 3 hour test (sucks hardcore) and if I fail that then I am most likely going to have schedule an induction :( - there would just be too many potential complications between the cholestasis and the gestational diabetes. With any luck my GTT will be fine and the bile salt levels will be low.

I'll know today what the dr is thinking.