I had a mild case of this and thought the itching was just normal. It was funny because I ended up at the hospital on a Wednesday afternoon because I had pains on my right side, under my ribs, I appeared to be in quite a bit of pain over the phone so they said come in and we will check you out. I thought the itching was nothing much and it was DH who mentioned to the midwife who told my OB so I went back the next morning for the blood test. I was 37w and 3 days. The CTG was fine and I went home.

When I went to the OB after the blood test the next day, he said something like we do check these things out. The thing is that I didn't know how serious it was, or even to mention it to him in the first place. Funnily the itching only started after I had been hot and walking around the city on the Friday before, but by the Tuesday I was scratching my arms enough for a friend and her colleague to notice and she said to tell my doctor at my next appointment.

Well, my waters broke on the Friday morning and because I didn't have any contractions for 6 hours but was 2cm dilated I was put on the drip and had her 1hr 45 mins later. I also couldn't feel her moving and my ob described her as 'sleepy'.

When I went back for my 6 week check up I asked my doctor about the blood test results and that was when I found out my liver hadn't been functioning properly, but was only a mild case. The doctor wasn't going to say anything until I asked!!! I did ask him if he would have induced me if I hadn't gone naturally and he said yes.

So, when my colleagues at work told me they were pregnant I told them to tell their doctor if they get itchy because I feel like we worry that we are 'self diagnosing' and I was worried my doctor would laugh, that is why I didn't go to the doctor on the Monday after the itching started, when I really should have. (I did the search on the net on the Saturday and realised I could have it, but still didn't do anything).

We really do need to feel more empowered about the care we receive.