Call the Midwife star Helen George has opened up about the 'painful' pregnancy disorder she suffered after it was featured on the show.
The latest series of the BBC One hit drama came to an end on Sunday night.
It was an intense episode for fans as they awaited to see whether Dr Turner and Sister Julienne made it out of the horror train crash alive.
But viewers also saw a teen who had given birth to a stillborn before it was confirmed she had a potentially serious liver disorder where the symptoms settled after the birth.
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Following the episode, Helen, who plays glamorous and outgoing nurse Trixie Franklin in Call The Midwife, shared her own experience of cholestasis of pregnancy.
Intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP) is a potentially serious liver disorder that can develop in pregnancy and affects around one in 140 pregnant women in the UK.
The actress said she had endured months of anxiety in the run-up to the birth of her second child, Lark, and that spreading the word about the condition was "really important" to her.
"In 2017 when I gave birth to our daughter Wren, I was diagnosed with this condition," she wrote on Instagram alongside a silhouette image of herself while pregnant.
"I knew there was a high chance that I would suffer again with my second pregnancy, but I was under the most incredible specialists/doctors/midwives/health worker at Guys and St Thomas’s.
"So I felt safe."
The condition stops the proper flow of bile acids from the liver to the gut to help with the digestion of food, causing a harmful build up in the body instead.
One of the symptoms of ICP is itching and it can cause premature births, both of which George said she experienced.
Helen, 39, said she had tried "everything" to stop the itching, but to no avail which she found "infuriating."
"I have to say this pregnancy was so uncomfortable and painful. I thought the second would be easier but it really wasn’t," she said.
The TV star had to undergo an emergency caesarean section but to her relief, her daughter was born healthy and is doing "so well".
"I was lucky, but more so, well looked after. ICP support were there every step of the way to help me with whatever questions I had," she said.
"Please, if you are worried you may have cholestasis in pregnancy or have been diagnosed and need any advice, do reach out to them.
"Spreading the word about this sometimes fatal condition is really important to me. I was over the moon that Call the Midwife tackled the subject last night."
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