'Itching condition killed my babies'

'Itching condition killed my babies'

By Caroline Ryan
BBC News Online health staff

Jenny Chambers, with her baby Olivia who was stillborn

One in 200 pregnant women are affected by a condition which can cause their babies to be premature or stillborn.

Obstetric cholestasis is a liver disease first indicated by severe itching, but many women and their doctors do not realise anything is amiss because mild itching is common amongst pregnant women.

Here, Jenny Chambers tells how she lost two babies before she was diagnosed with the condition. She now campaigns to raise awareness of obstetric cholestasis.

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Sixteen years ago Jenny Chambers went into hospital in labour with her first child.

"I'd had a normal pregnancy, there had been no real problems. I was reassured everything was absolutely normal. I was 37 weeks pregnant.

"But two hours later, the staff were having to break the news to me that my baby had died.

"Twenty-four hours later, I delivered our daughter Victoria.

When you have lost a baby you never lose the fear it could happen again

Jenny Chambers

"That day, I went home to a house with a nursery, and no baby to put in it."

A year later, Jenny became pregnant again.

"It was the same as before. I had some itching."

She had moved to a different hospital for her treatment, because she could not face giving birth in the hospital where she had lost her first baby.

Jenny wanted to be induced because she feared she would lose this baby, and at 38 weeks, the hospital agreed, and she gave birth to baby Alexander.

"I went home with him to get on with life. He wasn't going to replace Victoria, but he was a reason to go on.

Carpet burns

"Two years later, I was pregnant again.

"The itching was much more noticeable, much more severe.

"It was so severe that I would scratch my legs until they bled.

"I would give myself carpet burns because that was preferable.

"I would put my hands into the fridge and keep them there because being very cold calmed them.

"I repeatedly asked the hospital if I could be delivered by 38 weeks. When you have lost a baby, you never lose the fear it could happen again.

"But everything was normal - apart from the itching. Blood tests were carried out - everything was normal."

Jenny kept asking doctors to induce her. At 39 weeks, they finally agreed. But before the procedure could take place, she went into labour.

At the hospital, staff performed a routine check of the baby's heart rate.

"I wanted to listen to my baby's heart. But I realised I wasn't actually going to listen my baby." Jenny's baby had died.

"Two hours later, I delivered Olivia, and I think at that point I truly thought I wouldn't pick up the pieces again."

"The blood tests performed were not normal, despite staff saying that they were."

Drug hope

Following the loss of her second baby, Jenny was seen by a new consultant who diagnosed that she had obstetric cholestasis.

She was told she should have had her baby before 38 weeks, when the risk of harm to the baby increases.

She became pregnant again, but this time she was given drugs to control the cholestasis.

At 35 weeks, she was induced, and gave birth to a healthy baby, Timothy.

Since then, she has worked to help women affected by obstetric cholestasis and with researchers attempting to find ways of treating the condition.

Researchers at the Institute of Reproductive and Developmental Biology, funded by the charity Action Research, are investigating whether medication could help babies in the womb, as well as mothers with the condition.

Babies could inherit the condition from their mothers, resulting in the abnormal transport of bile acids across the placenta.

It is believed babies could be put at risk because the bile acids affect their heart.

Jenny Chambers added: "There are times when I wish things could be different.

"But I have been able to make a difference."

For advice and information on obstetric cholestasis, call Jenny's helpline on 0121 353 0699, or email her at [e-mail].