Claire Carter from Lancashire, England was allergic to being pregnant. I'm not joking! She suffered from an extremely rare condition called Intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP) which is a liver disorder few pregnant women develop when their bodies can't function properly with all those pregnancy hormones. The condition is very serious because affects the bile function of the liver which can cause premature and still births.
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Claire was extremely happy when she discovered she was expecting but never imagined that she would be very ill throughout her entire pregnancy. She couldn't eat anything and was constantly vomiting. Her midwife thought that she was suffering from morning sickness and was sure it would pass after the first trimester. She was wrong. Her symptoms didn't improve. On the contrary, they got worse. Claire remembers that at about twenty weeks she started having a rash and was feeling uncontrollably itchy.
The itchiness was so intense, Claire used knives and forks to relieve the discomfort, often making her skin bleed. Poor woman! Finally, when she was thirty weeks pregnant she decided to go to the hospital and she was diagnosed with the disorder. Doctors monitored her closely because they noticed the baby wasn't growing at a normal rate. Four weeks later she was induced and gave birth to a tiny but healthy four pounds, eight ounces baby girl named Phoebe. Soon after she gave birth, the itchiness and symptoms disappeared. Wow! Isn't that weird? She was truly having an allergic reaction to her pregnancy.
As mothers, we tend to forget our bad experiences and Claire became pregnant again. The second time around the symptoms started earlier and they were more intense. Because ICP affects the flow of the bile, Claire said she vomited about a hundred times. With her second pregnancy, she took medication when she was twenty five weeks along, to ease her itchiness. She was induced at thirty three weeks pregnant. Her little Penny was small but in good health and Claire has her two little angels now. She said the girls were worth every discomfort and pain she went through and she knows she is lucky that they are alive.
Image via Corbis
