During pregnancy, the liver can be affected, and it will show in a blood test. The increased bloodwork can cause your body to itch. Often it will start under the hands and feet and can spread throughout the body.

The itching can be very annoying, especially during the night.

Approximately 1-2 percent of pregnant women will experience increased blood levels. The reason why the liver becomes overloaded during pregnancy is unknown.

The liver congestion and itching will disappear after giving birth.

If you have elevated numbers? during pregnancy, your risk of having it in another pregnancy is increased.

How to confirm the diagnose

We will take a blood test to confirm the diagnose.

It is important that you eat 1 hour before the test.

The significance for pregnancy and the baby

Increased bloodwork has no influence on you. However, in rare cases in can pose a risk for the baby and for premature birth. Therefore, we offer frequent check-ups.

What you should pay attention to

Contact us if you feel less movements from the baby.

Pay attention to your baby’s movements and contact us if you feel a different pattern or decreased numbers of movements.

Itching Relief

You can try to relieve the itching in different ways:

• Make sure your skin doesn't get too hot. For example, you can sleep in a cool room with a cool duvet.
• Keep a wet cloth next to the bed to cool your skin during the night.
• Use moisturizer after showering to prevent dry skin.
• Apply zinc ointment or aloe vera gel to the skin. These can be purchased over the counter.
• If necessary, take antihistamine pills. They have a slightly sedative effect, so you may be able to sleep better from the itching. The pills can be purchased over the counter. Remember to tell your doctor that you are pregnant.

Treatment options

Medical treatment

You can receive medical treatment that can reduce itching and normalize liver function tests. The effect will appear after 4-7 days.

There are no side effects for the baby, but you may get mild diarrhea from the medicine.

Through the treatment, we will take a blood test every week, to see the development.

We recommend that you have additional ultrasounds, so that we can assess the size of the baby and the amount of amniotic fluid. In some cases, we also do a CTG recording.

Inducement of labor

Depending on the blood test results, we recommend induced labor between week 37 and 40. Very few pregnant women are induced as early as 6 weeks before their due date (around week 34 of pregnancy).

If you have any questions about induction, you can contact your midwife.