STAR REVEALS PREGNANCY LED TO LIVER COMPLICATION
KATHERINE Jenkins has spoken out about how she battled a serious liver condition during her pregnancy. World famous singer Katherine gave birth to her son Xander in April 2018.
Now the 39-year-old mum has revealed she was diagnosed with a liver condition which affects around one in 140 pregnant women in the UK.
According to The Sun, she said: “With my second pregnancy there was a little bit of a complication. I got a thing called cholestasis. I had itchy skin and at first I thought it was just stretching.
“Eventually I had a blood test and I found that my liver wasn’t working properly, which can have really serious effects.”
The Neath-born singer was eventually told she had cholestasis, which means bile flow is disrupted.
She said: “I had literally never heard of the condition before.”
The NHS said that itching is common during pregnancy, but it can be a symptom of cholestasis.
Symptoms typically start from around 30 weeks of pregnancy, but it’s possible to develop the condition as early as eight weeks.
When she featured on the Happy
Mum, Happy Baby podcast she spoke of how the condition was deceptive.
“I had literally never heard of the condition before and I didn’t realise it was serious and I think it’s something that people should talk about more,” she said.
Now she is encouraging more expectant mothers who suffer with itchy skin to “go get a blood test”.
During a chat with the podcast’s host, Giovanna Fletcher, 34, she also discussed the death of her father Selwyn, who died following a battle with cancer when she was only 15.
The singer spoke of how her biggest fear would be not being able to say goodbye to her children Aaliyah, four, Xander, one, as well as her husband, Andrew Levitas.