transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:04] I think my water just broke. I felt like things really intensify. She was right there and she was coming. It was an amazing feeling.

Speaker 2:
[00:13] I'm going to cry just thinking about it. I could feel her head. We heard her cry. We were squeezing hands and she was screaming. I'm Bryn Huntpalmer and you're listening to The Birth Hour. This podcast is designed as a safe place to come together and share childbirth stories. Stick around and join us to hear informative and empowering birth journeys from all over the world. I wanted to talk really quickly about our Know Your Options Online Childbirth Course, which we started in 2017, but we updated regularly and we just made a big change by switching it over to a different platform. It's now hosted on Teachable and you can get access to the Know Your Options Childbirth Course as well as the Beyond the First Latch. If you get the bundle option, you're getting Beyond the First Latch for free. This is a 12-module course taking you from the final weeks of pregnancy through preparing for birth, as well as postpartum and newborn care. Everything is evidence-based and on this new platform, it really makes it a lot easier to take the course on the go. They have an app you can use and you can also get the course in an audio-only format. If you want to just listen in the car to the lessons or maybe re-listen, you've already watched the modules and you want to give them a listen, you can do that and all of the amazing bonus downloads and things like that are still there as well. The link is the same as always, thebirthhour.com/course, and I'm keeping the coupon code active to get $100 off, and that's 100FF. Again, thebirthhour.com/course, we would love to see you in there. We have Zoom calls every first and third Thursday of the month with myself and our childbirth course instructor Stephanie, who is amazing. She is trained in evidence-based childbirth education as well as being a birth and postpartum doula, a lactation counselor, and now a sleep consultant as well. So we would love to see you there, thebirthhour.com/course, coupon code 100FF for $100 off your enrollment. We would also love to welcome you into our listener supporter group via Patreon. That's at patreon.com/birthhour, and by becoming a Patreon supporter, you get access to all of our archived episodes. This podcast launched in 2015, so we have over 800 episodes in the archives that are not in the main podcast feed. So you can get your fill of birth stories, and you'll also get access to our private Facebook group for Patreon members, which is a great place to honestly just to search the past post to get answers to questions, but then of course to ask new questions, find community. It's a really, really great supportive group of people. So I highly recommend joining that. We would love to have you there. We also do monthly Zoom calls with our Patreon supporters, and you get an opportunity to enter your birth story via a different submission form than everyone else uses, and we choose two Patreon members each month to share their birth stories. So that is again at patreon.com/birthhour. Today's episode is a rebroadcast with Nicole Phelps, which was originally recorded in 2019, and she shares her experience with colostasis of pregnancy or ICP. After this episode aired, I actually got multiple emails from people who were made aware of this condition by listening to the podcast and credited her episode for saving their baby's life. So it's a pretty meaningful episode to me, and I wanted to re-air it today. We've had other stories about ICP on this podcast as well, but today we're going to hear Nicole Phelps' story again. Today's episode is in partnership with Air Doctor. I wasn't sleeping very well at night, and it turned out my home's air quality was messing with my sleep quality. Since discovering Air Doctor, both me and my kids are sleeping better, and I've noticed fewer odors and less allergy symptoms, which is a pretty big deal because I live in Austin, Texas, which is known for awful allergies. And I'm not alone. In fact, over 93 percent of Air Doctor customers notice fewer allergy symptoms, including less congestion, stuffy noses, and itchy eyes. Air Doctor's powerful three-stage filtration captures extremely small particles, about 100 times smaller than what typical air purifiers can remove. This includes capturing airborne contaminants that you don't want your family breathing in, like dust, pollen, mold spores, pet dander, wildfire smoke, bacteria, viruses, odors, smoke, ozone, and VOCs. I absolutely love the whisper quiet operation of Air Doctor. It's much quieter than the other air purifiers I've tried. The auto mode feature ensures optimal air 24-7, and the Air Doctor gives a change filter reminder so there's no guesswork. Try the Newsweek Reader's Choice Award Winner for Best Air Purifier Today and enjoy the peace of mind that you and your little ones are breathing cleaner air. Head to airdoctorpro.com and use the promo code BIRTHHOUR to get up to $300 off today. Air Doctor comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee plus a 3-year warranty, which is an $84 value, all for free. Get this exclusive podcast-only offer now at airdoctorpro.com, airdoctorpro.com using promo code BIRTHHOUR. All right, let's hear from Nicole. Hi, Nicole. Welcome to The Birth Hour. Thanks for being here today.

Speaker 1:
[05:26] Thank you so much, Bryn, for having me. I'm really excited to talk.

Speaker 2:
[05:30] Can you tell my listeners a little bit about you and your family before we get into your stories?

Speaker 1:
[05:34] So my name is Nicole Phelps. I'm married to a very famous Olympian named Michael Phelps, or I like to say he's married to me. We have two little boys and a third baby on the way, and I'm looking forward to sharing my birth stories from my two previous pregnancies.

Speaker 2:
[05:51] All right. Well, let's go back to finding out you were pregnant with your first and how that went, and then how your pregnancy went.

Speaker 1:
[05:58] So my first pregnancy was, if you will, a surprise. I was taking birth control and Michael and I were not planning on having a child. We knew 2016 was going to be incredibly busy. I had just walked away from my daytime job, and we were heading into the Olympics and getting married. So a baby was not in the plan.

Speaker 2:
[06:25] Yeah, quite the year.

Speaker 1:
[06:27] So when we found out, of course there was shock, there was no, oh my God, are we going to have this? It was just complete like, okay, we weren't expecting that. There's a detour, but this is awesome, because Michael would have a first born or at least a child at his final Olympics. So as I get choked up right now, it's a really cool story for after the fact.

Speaker 2:
[06:50] Yeah. So that's crazy. You were one of the, what, like 1% that the birth control pill fails for.

Speaker 1:
[06:59] Yeah. You know, I took it because I was taking a low progesterone pill because I can't take estrogen. So, you know, I knew I had a timer. I was taking it exactly when I was supposed to be doing it. Like there was no hiccups in what I was supposed to be doing. Yeah. Boomer decided that he needed to enter our life at that time and it couldn't have been better.

Speaker 2:
[07:21] I bet you guys got some jokes about strong swimmers.

Speaker 1:
[07:25] Yes.

Speaker 2:
[07:28] All right. Well, so a little bit of a surprise, but once you got over the shock, how did your first and second trimester go?

Speaker 1:
[07:36] Well, first trimester was rather difficult. I don't experience really bad morning sickness like my mom did, and actually one of my girlfriends does, but I was still sick. I was nauseous, threw up a few times. I think I survived on like bananas. I think that was my go-to comfort food during those first few weeks. I'll never forget, I think I was 12 weeks, and Michael was training Colorado Springs, so I got on an airplane. The first flight from California to Denver was okay, but the flight from Denver to Colorado Springs was horrible because it just stank and I had never experienced that. So I'll never forget that smell. I'm assuming to be vulgar, human, I think is what I was smelling.

Speaker 2:
[08:25] Airplanes have a unique smell.

Speaker 1:
[08:29] They do. And that was closed quarters and luckily only like 45 minutes. So it was okay, but I made it. And so that was kind of the hard part was just coming out of that. And I swear, I live in a fog. Both pregnancies, I've experienced this. It's like three months later, you come out of fog and you're like, oh, my whole life just passed before me for the last three months. My laundry hasn't been done. I've just kind of been floating along, just trying to figure life out.

Speaker 2:
[08:56] Yeah, very much survival mode in the beginning.

Speaker 1:
[08:58] Yes, and you don't realize it until you come out of it and you're like, oh, okay, that happened again. And then the second trimester was very uneventful. I mean, I was able to do, I loved bar three, so I would go work out three days a week and I was in heaven. I'd lay out in the sun and enjoy life while I was experiencing my first pregnancy.

Speaker 2:
[09:19] And were you guys separated a lot for training and stuff?

Speaker 1:
[09:22] Yeah, we were on and off. It varied and he would be at Swim Meet so I would travel when I could or stay back when I needed to. And in the middle of all of it, of course, I was like, we need a house. We can't just be renting here in Arizona. We need somewhere that we call home and we build a little nest for our new family. And so we bought a house in the middle of all of that and moved into a brand new home.

Speaker 2:
[09:49] That nesting instinct is strong. So had you thought much about the type of birth that you wanted at that point?

Speaker 1:
[09:57] So we had hired a doula fully knowing that Michael Bayer may not be there for some of the birth. Maybe none of it, maybe all of it. We had no idea what the timeline was going to look like. We knew he was going to be training in Colorado Springs and I'd be giving birth in Arizona. So we wanted as much support as we could have there in case he couldn't be there. I had somebody that would be leading up to it with me. Then we also had an idea of, okay, my mom will be here, this person will be there. We made things work in case Michael wasn't going to be there for the birth of Boomer.

Speaker 2:
[10:33] It's great that you had a backup plan.

Speaker 1:
[10:37] Yeah, you never know. You can't predict birth. It was one of those things that we just knew as long as we had a doula and we had somebody nearby either my best friend, my mom, my dad, somebody was here, we would make things work and I'd have some kind of support system with me.

Speaker 2:
[10:56] Yeah. Did you have a lot of stress around the idea that he might not make it?

Speaker 1:
[11:02] In all honesty, when I look back on it, I don't think I did and I don't think I did because we knew, as hard as this is to say and as bad as it can sound, Michael's career came first and in order for Michael to go do what he needed to do, that's what takes priority. Yes, I'm pregnant. Yes, I'm carrying his child. Yes, I'm going to give birth. I knew that all of those pieces would fall into place as long as there was no stress on the actual fact that Michael may or not be there with us.

Speaker 2:
[11:34] That's good that you had a peace of mind around it, but I'm guessing that was just your entire mindset around that time. Everything was so focused on the Olympics. Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[11:43] We've been together on and off since 2007. So I saw him go into 2008. We weren't together going into 12, but I knew his mindset and here we are going into the third. I think it was just second nature. We just fell into the groove and that was just one more piece of our puzzle.

Speaker 2:
[11:59] Right. It sounds like you had a plan as far as who was going to be there. Had you thought much about the type of birth? Hospital, out of hospital?

Speaker 1:
[12:09] So in hospital, just given, I didn't want any extra complications because I didn't want to be in our house and have something go wrong and Michael not be here. So I knew we would be in hospital and phenomenal doctor from the day we met her, she was just a godsend, absolutely incredible. Then I knew I wanted to attempt to be as natural as possible, no epidural, nothing in that type. I definitely wanted to do a vaginal birth and that was pretty much it. Like I said, because Boomer surprised us, I didn't have exact expectations written down as to how I wanted my birth plan to go.

Speaker 2:
[12:51] All right. Well, let's get into your final weeks of pregnancy and then the birth story.

Speaker 1:
[12:56] Okay. So I was 36 weeks and on Monday of my 36th week, I got really itchy. My palms, my feet, everything got really itchy. I knew I was going to see the doctor on Tuesday and I was like, this is just really bizarre. Something wasn't right about how itchy I was. So I Googled it and I started reading on it and I was like, oh my gosh, okay, this could be a sign of potentially having a stillborn child. So you read the absolute worst when you Google something or you can read the best. So I was like, all right, I'm not going to assume anything until I go see the doctor. So I went to see her on Tuesday and she was like, okay, well, it's not good that you did that, but yeah, you're right. This is exactly what it is and I am going to take this very seriously, so let's draw blood and chances are we are going to induce you on Friday, which would have put me right at 37 weeks.

Speaker 2:
[13:51] Because the test takes a while to come back.

Speaker 1:
[13:52] Yeah, it takes four to five days.

Speaker 2:
[13:55] That's really scary. Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[13:58] You're like, okay, I'm just going to sit on pins and needles. So that was Tuesday. Wednesday, I went and took my bar class. I went to dinner with my dad and some old friends. That night, I texted my dual and I was like, hey, I'm really crampy. I don't know what's up. Not sure what's going on. She said, we'll take a bath, see if it goes away. I took a bath and it didn't go away. For whatever reason, my instincts just kicked in, and I pretty much was in and out of the shower all night long. Prior to Michael going to bed, I texted him and said, hey, just want to let you know, keep your phone on, really loud. I might be in labor, but I don't know.

Speaker 2:
[14:38] That's a fun text to get before bed.

Speaker 1:
[14:40] Right. Yeah, exactly. Then Thursday morning, I was in touch with my dual and then I finally called my doctor, and she's like, okay, well, time your contractions, see where you're at. They were close enough to where she was like, okay, I'll be at the hospital. I think it was like 8 AM. I'll be at the hospital, meet me there. In the meantime, I called Michael and he didn't answer. At that time, he had two different phones, but I called both phones. Neither one picked up. Then we have another, we call our roommate, she lives with us. I called her knowing that they would be somewhere near each other. She was in the cafeteria and she ran the phone to him in his room and was like, Nicole needs to talk to you. I told him, I was like, I don't know what's going on. I'm going to the hospital, could be having a baby today, you need to get your butt home. He had to figure out his end and I just knew I was going to the hospital to see what was going on. When I got there, I believe I was already four centimeters dilated and enough to be checked into the hospital to continue on that journey.

Speaker 2:
[15:46] Wow. I'm so interested now to hear whether A, he made it, and then how the birth went.

Speaker 1:
[15:54] I, for whatever reason, I labored all day long. He got in, I think around 130, and my water still hadn't broke, so my doctor was like, hey, you probably held on to this for Michael. I believe she helped break my water. In the meantime, Michael said, why is this taking so long? I could have played around the golf and then come to you.

Speaker 2:
[16:18] Nice.

Speaker 1:
[16:19] Yes. I finally had Boomer at 7:21 PM, and I pushed for 21 minutes, and he was here on this earth with us.

Speaker 2:
[16:32] You just skipped over so much labor there.

Speaker 1:
[16:35] How did it go?

Speaker 2:
[16:36] How was the doula?

Speaker 1:
[16:37] I did. You're right. Check me in.

Speaker 2:
[16:41] I mean, 21 minutes of pushing is awesome, but there had to be more to that.

Speaker 1:
[16:45] You're so right. I was in and out of the tub with my doula. I can't remember at what point, but at a certain point, I chose to have an epidural because Boomer was pushing on my spine. I was in so much pain, I couldn't come down. Every time I have a contraction, I would just remain at that peak feeling of pain. I finally was like, okay, I need an epidural because I can't even relax. They finally, they came in and gave me the epidural. I remember getting a little bit of sleep before actually going into that pushing phase.

Speaker 2:
[17:21] Then pushing went so fast, which is- Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[17:25] Michael likes to say that the doctor said something to you. He was just on the edge and he's like, all of a sudden I saw you grab your knees and all of a sudden the baby was here. I was like, I meant business.

Speaker 2:
[17:40] Amazing. Then how was recovery and postpartum?

Speaker 1:
[17:45] Recovery was difficult. It hurt so bad. So I definitely did tear and she did not stitch me. So everything else was just healing on its own. That was difficult. I personally have not heard a lot on that recovery piece of not being able to sit down and I'd cover my pads and witch hazel and freeze them. I lived on ice pads for probably two or three weeks straight just because that was the only thing that gave me relief down there.

Speaker 2:
[18:14] Yeah. Those padsicles.

Speaker 1:
[18:16] Yes. Literally, that's the one thing I always tell my girlfriends. I'm like, this sounds crazy, but just do this. I promise you'll appreciate it. I bought a medical-sized box of ice pads that I used in my second pregnancy too.

Speaker 2:
[18:31] Yeah. How long did it take for that to heal to where it was comfortable?

Speaker 1:
[18:36] I would say probably three weeks.

Speaker 2:
[18:39] Yeah. That sounds like my first.

Speaker 1:
[18:40] Yeah. Nothing. My mom's like, what about sitting on a doughnut? I was like, no, that puts pressure where it shouldn't be.

Speaker 2:
[18:47] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[18:48] It was hard to find a relief from that on top of nursing, on top of everything else, your body is still getting out and you're just feeling things out. Michael wasn't around. He was around for maybe a week and then he came back for, let's see, that was Mother's Day, and then I think he was gone for three weeks, and then he was around for a little bit of Father's Day, and then he was gone again. He was in and out, but it wasn't like he could do very much. I remember Boomer crying at night and me being so stressed out about Michael needing his sleep that I was trying to figure out what I should do, whether I remain in our room or if I leave the room or I tell Michael leave the room. Not only was I trying to wade the waters with a newborn baby, but I was also trying to make sure that Michael got the rest he needed to do what he was going to do.

Speaker 2:
[19:46] That's a lot of pressure on you. That postpartum fog.

Speaker 1:
[19:50] Yeah. Now that I'm talking to you about it, I don't think I've ever really sought to think about it, to recognize how much stress that could add to coming out of pregnancy and trying to figure that out with your firstborn.

Speaker 2:
[20:06] Yeah. Going back to the ICP real quick, did that test come back after he had already been born?

Speaker 1:
[20:13] Literally, as he was born, somebody brought in lab results to her, and I came back positive for ICP, and so we would have induced Friday. I had Boomer on Thursday, and we would have induced the next day.

Speaker 2:
[20:26] He knew when it was time to come. Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[20:29] He was like, I'm getting out of here.

Speaker 2:
[20:34] All right. Well, is there anything else you want to share from his story before we talk about how that played into your next story?

Speaker 1:
[20:40] The only thing that I'll say with Boomer and just kind of just life experience. I think mothers get so scared and caught up in it being their first born and needing to do things exactly the right way and being fearful of just living your life, that you don't enjoy that first born. And with Boomer, I had to, I had no choice because at two months old, we were in Omaha, Nebraska for Olympic trials. At three months old, we were traveling to Rio for the Olympics. And then I think he was six months old, we got married and then we took him to China. So, wow, yeah, if I can offer anything, it's just, you know, take your baby, as hard as it can be, they will adapt with you. And I will admit nursing was probably the greatest thing in the world because I could just pull out my boob wherever I needed to and feed him. Eventually, I did have to supplement because we were traveling so much and I couldn't sustain him. I mean, he was eating every hour. He was a machine. So that became a little bit difficult.

Speaker 2:
[21:46] Like dad.

Speaker 1:
[21:47] Yeah, exactly. But that's my one thing with Boomer that I learned is just, if you make them adapt to your world as much as you have to adapt to their world, I think it helps them in many ways too. And it opens you up to being open to experiences.

Speaker 2:
[22:08] Yeah, I love that. So how old did he end up being at the Olympics?

Speaker 1:
[22:12] Boomer was three months old.

Speaker 2:
[22:14] Okay. I bet you have some fantastic pictures. We do.

Speaker 1:
[22:20] I was actually looking at him last night because we're trying to do a project right now. And it's crazy to look back and he's still the same kid. You just don't realize it.

Speaker 2:
[22:33] Okay. Well, let's get into your next story. So getting that result back that you had been positive for ICP, did you talk to your doctor about what a future pregnancy would look like?

Speaker 1:
[22:43] So we spoke about it. And as you learn about ICP and you hear different schools of thought, some will say you probably shouldn't have another kid because chances are you'll have this again. You know, and they kind of give you that doom and gloom outlook on a second pregnancy. And my doctor never went there. She was very positive about it. And she just said, hey, OK, you know, it is what it is. When you hit 30 weeks, we'll start testing for it and we'll take it as it comes if you have it, if you don't, because there's no knowing whether or not you will have it.

Speaker 2:
[23:17] Right. And it almost seems better to know to test, you know, to where it's not like something like it is something you can test for, which is nice.

Speaker 1:
[23:26] It is something you can test for, but it's also so rare that most doctors don't recognize the symptoms of it. And I think that's the scariest thing. And why I personally would want to bring awareness to it is because my doctor and I were talking and she, when she was in residency, actually saw the negative outcome of ICP because a doctor didn't recognize the symptoms in his patient.

Speaker 2:
[23:49] Yeah. Yeah. I've had people email me that have heard other stories of ICP on this podcast and that's what made them kind of bring it to their attention because like you said, you can also Google itchiness in pregnancy and get, oh, it's totally normal. Your skin's stretching hormones or whatever. Yeah. So that's a really good point.

Speaker 1:
[24:08] Yeah. And it's, you know, I mean, there's other symptoms they're not as likely like, you know, biol color, urine color, I think coloring and like yellow coloring in your eyes or skin. But those aren't symptoms that we look for every day. And you can also assume that you're having them and you're not. So it's, it's definitely a hard condition to catch unless you're adamant about telling your provider that you need to be tested.

Speaker 2:
[24:32] Right. So knowing all that, how did your, was your pregnancy pretty similar as it was with Boomer?

Speaker 1:
[24:39] Yeah. So my second pregnancy, I think I got sicker. So I was like, oh, this is a girl. Sounds more, or it seems more high maintenance than Boomer was. But that was not the case. Same story though. Still my three month fog, sick. I survived on mac and cheese because that was all I could stomach.

Speaker 2:
[24:59] Oh my gosh, that's my first time I started to eat too. Love it.

Speaker 1:
[25:05] Yeah, I loved mac and cheese. Then at 30 weeks, we tested and that test came back positive. Once that test came back positive, everything changed and went from a really easy pregnancy, went in when you were supposed to, to having to go see the doctor twice a week, every week. And so we do fetal heart monitoring and do a blood draw. And then at the end of the week, I would go in and we'd read the lab results.

Speaker 2:
[25:32] You're just watching to see if the levels get higher?

Speaker 1:
[25:34] Yeah, so you're checking your levels and making sure that there are no changes. So, and then also ICP can cause fetal distress. So in watching the heart rate, just making sure that he was doing okay in there.

Speaker 2:
[25:50] So you're doing those non-stress tests once a week? And so at what point, or did it come up at a certain point that it was time to deliver? Or did you guys just set a date?

Speaker 1:
[26:01] We set a date at 37 weeks. So right when I hit 37 is when I would go in and I would be induced. And the reason you pick 37 weeks is for whatever reason, after 37 weeks, you increase the chances of having a stillborn. Yeah. Wow.

Speaker 2:
[26:22] Did you experience the itchiness again?

Speaker 1:
[26:24] I had the itchiness and she actually put me on Ursubdial. So it's a medication to just kind of alleviate those symptoms as well as bring down the bile acids.

Speaker 2:
[26:36] So did you start feeling the itchiness around 36 weeks again or sooner this time?

Speaker 1:
[26:41] I felt it sooner, but I believe it was probably about 30 weeks when we tested. But because we tested and I already knew what I had, I knew the symptom of the itchiness, so I did everything I could not to pay attention to it because it can get bad. Like she's actually had patients that she's like my patients, palms are bleeding because they itch them so bad and it can be super, super itchy for patients. I fortunately did not have that.

Speaker 2:
[27:11] Yeah, I've heard that as well. So did you have a doula again or how did you plan the birth?

Speaker 1:
[27:18] I did. I had my same doula and Michael was around for this one. So in many regards, he called this one his first pregnancy because he actually was around for all of it. Then even in the hospital with my doula, she was great and we fully knew that I needed to be induced. So the night that I was going into the hospital, I checked in at like 12 AM. So that night before I got a massage and we did everything we could to induce me. So that I wasn't just having to rely on the chemical induction.

Speaker 2:
[27:51] Right. Did any of that work or no?

Speaker 1:
[27:55] When I went in, I was three centimeters. So maybe, I don't know.

Speaker 2:
[27:58] Yes, encouraging.

Speaker 1:
[28:01] I wasn't zero. So very encouraging that maybe Beckett knew that it was his time to come. But they did, I think I ended up with two doses of Cytotec. Then I want to say, so I checked in at 12.15. Hang on, I have this exactly documented. So at 12.15, I checked in 130, it was three centimeters. That's when they finally actually checked me. 2 AM, I had my first dose of Cytotec. 6 AM, there was no change. So they gave me a second dose. At 8.20, I was four to five centimeters. That's when my doctor did a membrane sweep, which is insanely painful. I don't know if you've had that done.

Speaker 2:
[28:44] I've had it done a couple of times and it wasn't painful for me. I feel like it just depends on the person because I've heard both.

Speaker 1:
[28:52] And then at 10 AM, that's when I was five to six. And at 12.30, she came in and broke my water. And shortly thereafter, I want to say like 20 minutes. I'm sorry, at 1.03, I started pushing and 12 minutes later, Beckett was in my arm.

Speaker 2:
[29:08] So once she broke your water, you went like straight to 10 centimeters.

Speaker 1:
[29:11] Yes, I was done. It was time for the baby.

Speaker 2:
[29:15] And did you have an epidural again?

Speaker 1:
[29:17] I did. I had an epidural in the middle of all of that. And my doula and I went back and forth because again, I wanted to be as natural as possible. But once I started kind of researching, having Cytotec and being induced, I was like, I can't put myself under more stress and this isn't my body putting me into labor. This is a chemical putting me into labor and absolutely nothing wrong with it. But I wasn't sure if my body could handle that stress on its own.

Speaker 2:
[29:49] Right. And you had had a good experience with an epidural where pushing wasn't an issue.

Speaker 1:
[29:54] Yes.

Speaker 2:
[29:55] Yes.

Speaker 1:
[29:56] All of the above.

Speaker 2:
[29:57] Right. So Beckett flew right out, it sounds like.

Speaker 1:
[30:02] He did. He was like, I'm here.

Speaker 2:
[30:04] And did you have an easier recovery this time?

Speaker 1:
[30:07] I did. My recovery was so much more simple. I think I only used ice pads probably a couple of days and there was really no issue whatsoever. I know I didn't tear this time, which probably helped with a lot of that pain.

Speaker 2:
[30:21] Yeah, that makes a huge difference. Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[30:24] And you know, Michael was around, I had my support, so maybe that made a difference too.

Speaker 2:
[30:29] Even with a toddler. Exactly.

Speaker 1:
[30:32] Yeah, still chasing Boomer. But yeah, it was easy. I mean, as easy as it could be given, I guess the stress and the first pregnancy, I didn't have that stress because I had no knowledge that I had ICP in the second pregnancy, I think leading up to it, I had a little bit more worry and concern because I knew what could go wrong instead of just ignorance is bliss in my first.

Speaker 2:
[30:59] Right. So now that you're on number three, how are you doing?

Speaker 1:
[31:04] I'm good. I'm out of my fog. I'm over being sick. I was nauseous 24-7 with this one. Thankfully, no vomiting, which I'm beyond thankful for, but the nausea was horrible.

Speaker 2:
[31:15] Sometimes you just wish you could throw up, you're so nauseous.

Speaker 1:
[31:19] I kept saying that to my mom and she's like, no, because my mom was hospitalized with, she has two kids and she was hospitalized with both of us because she was so sick. She's like, no, you don't want that. I'm like, yes, I do. It would relieve me. But yeah, moving into this pregnancy, we will start testing again at 30 weeks and there's no knowing. I've even teased my doctor. I'm like, oh, my palms are already itchy. She's like, that's all in your head. It doesn't happen yet. There's worry and there's concern of what could go wrong, but I've also birthed two beautiful little boys. With the help of my doctor, making sure that everything is okay.

Speaker 2:
[32:01] It's so nice too that you've had this continuity with the same doctor, same duma.

Speaker 1:
[32:05] Yes, I agree. I'm very thankful for having such an amazing doctor because I have girlfriends that have had horrible experiences with their doctors without having any conditions.

Speaker 2:
[32:17] Yeah. I'm sure you've heard some on this podcast.

Speaker 1:
[32:20] Yes. It can go both ways, right? So I'm thankful for that.

Speaker 2:
[32:26] For people who don't know, can you tell us a little bit about what ICP is?

Speaker 1:
[32:31] Yes. I'm going to try and pronounce it.

Speaker 2:
[32:33] It's so hard.

Speaker 1:
[32:34] I know. It's intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy. What it actually does is impairs the release of your digestive fluid also known as bile from the liver cells. When that bile builds up in the liver, it impairs your liver function, and that flow can actually go into your bloodstream and cross your placenta, and that's when it becomes very dangerous for the baby.

Speaker 2:
[32:58] It's a very complicated thing to take in, but it just comes down to basically testing those levels, looking out for the signs, and then inducing labor before it gets too serious.

Speaker 1:
[33:10] Yeah, very much so, and it's, I mean, it can be very scary when you think about it, but I have two healthy babies that didn't have issue. So also during the process, not only was I going twice a week, and then I would be induced at 37 weeks. They put me on their sedial, but they also gave me an injection for a steroid for Beckett's lungs, because sometimes when they're early, they can have trouble breathing right when they come out. So they wanted to make sure everything was in his favor.

Speaker 2:
[33:44] How far along were you when they gave you that?

Speaker 1:
[33:47] I believe that was right before I was induced. So I think I was 36 weeks. It might have been like one at 35 weeks and one at 36 weeks.

Speaker 2:
[33:55] Okay. So you mentioned that the doctor said it would be all in your head if you felt itching now. Is there evidence that it doesn't start until what, the third trimester or 30 weeks?

Speaker 1:
[34:07] So because you're at 30 weeks is usually when your hormone levels are going the craziest, so they say, that's when the normal flow of the bile is affected.

Speaker 2:
[34:20] Okay. Well, do you have any favorite resources or anything like that to direct people to, especially that are experiencing ICP?

Speaker 1:
[34:28] So I personally am huge on reading the government sites because I know that that's what my doctor would refer to. There is a support group. So there's two different sites and for some reason, I'm not finding the other one. So this one's called icpsupport.org and it's just great. It's stories and just research too and case studies and lets you learn about what it is or what can cause ICP. I'm sorry, there's not really a cause, but how you can fight it.

Speaker 2:
[35:00] Right. And managing the symptoms and stuff like that.

Speaker 1:
[35:03] Yeah, exactly. The other one that I like is icpcare.org. That was actually the first community, if you will, that I found on ICP and where I did a lot of my research when I was still pregnant with Beckett. I appreciate the amount of awareness that they're getting out there.

Speaker 2:
[35:22] Yeah. Well, thank you so much for sharing your stories with us and I'm super excited to see baby number three arrive. Where can people find you to follow along with your story and Michael's?

Speaker 1:
[35:34] I would say the best spot is Instagram. My handle is MrsMRS.NicoleMPhelps, and that's pretty much where we do all of our updating. Both my kids have Instagrams as well and so does my husband. But again, you can find all of them on my Instagram or you can follow me on Twitter at mrsnicolephelps.com, or not.com, sorry, on Twitter at MrsNicole Phelps.

Speaker 2:
[36:02] All right. Perfect. Well, I'll put those on the show notes page as well, though I'm sure they would pop right up if people search them on Instagram.

Speaker 1:
[36:07] Possibly.

Speaker 2:
[36:10] Thank you again so much for sharing with us.

Speaker 1:
[36:12] Of course Bryn, thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate you allowing me to be on.

Speaker 2:
[36:17] Thank you so much again to Nicole for sharing her stories with us and to Airdoctor for sponsoring this episode. Remember, you can use the coupon code birthhour at airdoctorpro.com to get up to $300 off your purchase. If you want more information from today's episode, you can head over to thebirthhour.com and search for Nicole Phelps' name in the search bar to find her show notes page. Thanks so much for listening. If you enjoyed today's show, head to thebirthhour.com and click become a member to pledge your support. As a thank you, you'll get an invitation to join our private Facebook group and access to exclusive episodes. Your vote of confidence and support means the world to me.