My name is Michelle, and my family and I live in Mexico. I am a mamá of two precious boys. I’m a content creator, and im an ICP Care volunteer. I was diagnosed with Cholestasis of Pregnancy during my first pregnancy, which motivated me to become an ICP Care volunteer. Even though the chances of getting ICP again were as high as 90%, I didn’t get the condition during my second pregnancy!

At the beginning of my first pregnancy I had a couple scary moments. I was diagnosed with a subchorionic hematoma that luckily dissolved; but it could have ended in miscarriage. When I was around 20 weeks pregnant in December 2016, I started feeling itchy almost all over my body. I was lucky to have an OBGYN who knew about Intrahepatic Cholestasis of Pregnancy (ICP)! I got my blood work done, and I was diagnosed a week after. She decided to have my blood tested even though I was not itching on my palms nor soles. I was also seen by a Maternal Fetal Medicine specialist. She recommended my OBGYN for me to get Non-Stress Tests twice a week after week 32.

This journey was not easy at all! Having ICP is really worrying as it can end in stillbirth. Also, at the time I was living in the USA, and the fact that I was in a country where I did not have health insurance made all of this harder and stressing. I went almost three weeks without medication after having been diagnosed due to insurance issues.

During the rest of my pregnancy I found a lot of support on the ICP Care Facebook group. It is always good to find people who are there for you to solve your doubts and listen to you. Especially to me it was a life saver, as all my family and friends were in another country during that time.

My bile acid levels went down with the first line medication, Ursodiol; I was still itchy, but I tried to focus on being positive and staying strong for my baby. At 33w5d I went into spontaneous labor and gave birth to my first baby boy, just a day after my fourth NST! We spent 9 days with him in the NICU, and it has definitely been one of the hardest moments my husband and I have gone through.

My second pregnancy was considered high risk because of my ICP diagnosis in my first pregnancy. This time around I was careful with what I ate, I stayed well hydrated, and I took some supplements. I actually followed all the recommendations found on the Healthy Diet tab of our website to a T!

I’m so proud to be a part of the ICP Care team. Being able to help people feel better, solve their doubts, and be there for them is really rewarding. I currently help both in the Spanish group, and the Postnatal support group.

It feels good to give back, and I consider myself lucky to be a part of the ICP Care Team volunteers and the ICP community.