Itchy, itchy hands and feet...

I haven't blogged much about this pregnancy. I hope Baby #2 doesn't feel slighted by this. Life is just crazier the second time around, as many of you know. Anyway, I am almost 31 weeks pregnant now - getting to the large stage. The last two nights I've woken up with seriously itchy hands and feet, and just generally itchy all over. It's been better during the day, but it gets worse at night. So, I googled "itch and pregnancy" last night, and I was surprised to see that there is an actual condition during pregnancy called cholestasis of pregnancy. Basically, the bile duct gets blocked and bile salts accumulate in the blood, making a pregnant woman very, very itchy. It's typically the hands and feet, and happens more at night. It made me kind of nervous how much this sounded like me, so I made an appointment to see my OB doctor today. When I told her my symptoms, she said it sounded like a textbook case of cholestasis. Awesome. So... I had a blood test today and they monitored the baby for about a half hour today. He's still doing great, so that's good. I'll find out hopefully in less than a week if I have cholestasis, but in the meantime my doctor put me on medication in case I do have it. Basically, the biggest complication of cholestasis is that it can cause premature labor or stillbirth after 37 weeks if it's untreated. If I have cholestasis, I'll have to continue to take the medicine and be induced early. And as of right now I have to go back to the doctor twice a week so they can monitor the baby. So... it's been a lot to process today. I can feel my hands and feet starting to get itchy all over again, which makes me think it's pretty likely the test will come back positive. I hope the medication will start to work soon!