Update

I had my blood work this morning and met with my doctor regarding the situation. (Please read my previous blog if you missed it). The bile acid test takes 7-10 days to get results on. In the meantime, my doctor has started me on the standard medication for ICP. The hope is that it will reduce the bile acid levels in my blood and subsequently help with the itching as well.

I also learned that in mild cases of ICP, they will not let the patient go past 38 weeks. In severe cases of ICP, they will not let the patient go past 36 or 37 weeks. Because the babies lungs often aren't quite mature at this point, I will be given a steroid shot to mature the babies lungs; as well as an amniocentesis to check lung maturity. My doctor said they will hold out on the steroid shot as long as the can, but the latest would be 34 weeks. In the meantime I will have weekly NST's (non-stress tests to monitor the baby's heart rate), and if my bile acid levels come back really high, then I will have bi-weekly NST's. The reason for the early induction is because the later weeks pose a higher risk to the baby. So the doctors have to weigh the risks to decide when to induce.

It really hit me today how close all of this is. I will be 29 weeks tomorrow so we're talking possible steroid shot in just a few more weeks.

Hopefully we will get the test results next week and we will have a definitive answer about whether or not I have ICP.