I'm 4 weeks post partum and had a difficult time in the month or so of pregnancy that hasn't fully resolved or been explained and was just wanting to know if any one else had experienced similar so I can try to work out what's been going on. I don't know if some this is just pregnancy, if it all comes together as one problem or have I had bad look and it's a collection of things.
At 32 weeks I developed an awful itch and was diagnosed with obstetric Cholestasis. My bile acids put me in the moderate category and my liver function tests were raised too and my ALTs were getting higher with each blood test. The plan for this was to induce me at 38-39 weeks
At 34+4 I ended up in triage with threatened preterm labour. I was having regular contractions, 1-2 in 10 minutes 20-30 seconds in length. They could see the contractions on the ctg but my cervix was closed on exam and the swap for imminent labour was negative so they said it was an irritable uterus
A few days later I started to get more fatigued and a few days after that I was struggling to stay awake. I had a day sleeping on the sofa hoping a rest day would help to reset but the next day was as bad so I went into triage. My iron levels, iron stores and B12 levels were all comfortably normal and there were no other indicators for the fatigue in my blood tests. At this point I was having at least 4 naps a day and couldn't manage to stay awake for more than 1-2 hours at a time. I had to stop driving and couldn't be left alone with my daughter as I couldn't stay awake.
They were a bit stumped but admitted me for observation at 35 weeks. The only thing that was abnormal was my DDimers so they started me on blood thinners whilst they checked for blood clots on my lungs as I was getting breathless with activity. They ran some scans and found I didn't have any blood clots so stopped the blood thinners.
This took me up to 36 weeks. In the next lots of blood tests I now also had low platelets and there was a note on the results that hemolysis (breakdown of red blood cells) was observed. Although my bile acids were more stable.
I had a phone appointment with my Obstetrician at 36+3 following these blood results and I still couldn't stay awake for any length of time and had to have a babysitter to ensure I had food and drink as I wasn't able to make myself food. I hadn't gained any weight between 29 and 34-5 weeks, I then lost 1kg between then and 36 weeks and was only 5.5kg above my booking weight. My obstetrician was concerned and booked me in to discuss induction with her a week later and she wanted to repeat the blood tests in 2 days time. At this point there were concerned that I wouldn't manage labour.
The repeated blood tests showed that the platelets hadn't dropped further but my bile acids had shot back up and they made the decision to induce me the next day. I had a sweep at 36+6 and I was induced the next day with baby arriving at 37+1.
They repeated blood tests after baby arrived and they were no worse than they were before the induction. They asked the midwives to check my liver tests in 2 weeks time. These showed my liver was improving but now had elevated urates. They spoke to triage and they asked them to repeat them a week later with the same result and triage said it's not their problem anymore and to see my GP. The midwife said it's possibly normal for post pregnancy but they don't usually see it as most people aren't having blood tests.
I had a phone appointment with the GP. who wasn't sure. I asked about the fatigue as I'm still struggling with tiredness and have 1 or 2 naps a day although now can stay awake and am fit to look after my children and drive. I had my post natal check in a couple of weeks with more blood tests. It seems like every time they test my blood something else comes up. Are they just random? Is there something going on? Are there explanations for fatigue that isn't anaemia /B12 related as most drs and stumped as soon as they come back normal. I've not been able to see the obstetrician since I was discharged from the maternity ward and the midwives spoke to different drs each time and they were only looking at each blood result rather than the big picture.
I have a mental health condition so it's been a bit of a battle to not have it all put down to that. When I raised the lack of weight gain with one of the registrar's they asked me if I thought I had an eating disorder and left it at that.
Thanks for getting to the end. I'm just getting quite fed up and could do with some explanation.