WWYD - Midwife with dodgy BP monitor

[lucybrad]

Silly question I know but one that is worrying me.

I have always had a feeling my community midwife has a dodgy BP monitor. My readings were always low. I bought a monitor myself and my reading were always nearer to normal.

Now I am in later pregnancy (36 weeks) and at the last clinic ( tested on a different monitor) i was 120/80. My booking measurement was 110/60. I mentioned to the consultant that this was the highest reading I had had and they sent me for a blood test (which was clear) and asked the community midwife to come and test BP at home. In the mean time I had been using the home monitor and the reading was 126/76. She came this morning with her old monitor and took it at 100/60. I told her I thought her monitor was broken, but she disagreed. After she left I did it with my auto monitor and again the reading was 122/78. I then decided to see my mother in law as she is a retired nurse and she did it on her monitor and it came back as 126/76.

Now i am worried, I know my pressure is not that high, but if her machine is broken how many other mums are being told there pressure isnt high when it is?? She wont accept what I am saying....

[VivaLeBeaver]

I'd have thought that their BP monitors are calibrated every year. But thats not to say they can't develop a fault in that time.

You could write a letter addressed to the community midwife manager asking her to check this specific machine as you have concerns about it. Should be quite easy for them to use that one and another side by side and see if they get different readings.

[me23]

Is she using a maunal one or electronic? ideally manual readings should be used for pregnant women electronic monitors usually result in higher readings than manual.
Also all electronic machines should be specifically calibrated for pregnancy.

[mrsbigw]

Blood pressure changes throughout the day & depends on all sorts of things like are you sitting or standing, have you just sat down or been walking about, drinking a lot of fluids etc. Even rechecking blood pressure repeatedly may alter readings.

Why not explain your concerns to her & she can reassure you?

The differences between your readings are not significant & are within normal ranges anyway which is good news :)

[mrsbigw]

Might seem a bit nosey but can I ask why you bought a monitor yourself when the readings are normal; do you have a medical problem with your blood pressure prior to pregnancy?

Just wondering & of course I will understand if you do not wish to answer but thought there might be something more specific you are looking for?

[VivaLeBeaver]

In pregnancy a reading of 100/60 or 126/76 is significant. A rise of 15 in diastolic from booking BP should be followed up by PIH bloods being taken to rule out pre-eclampsia.

[mrsbigw]

OP is still within normal ranges, she is getting monitored by her MW/ consultant & once she discusses the monitor issue with MW I hope she will be reassured & enjoy the last few weeks of her pg.

Try not to worry lucybrad :)

[lucybrad]

Thanks Viva, thats what I thought. I bought the monitor because I couldnt get a midwife appointment for a while and so thought I should check it myself. My mother had preeclampsia and so I was worried about it following in the family as it can be reported to do. My worry is that my mother in laws manual reading and my electronic reading are virtually the same, while the midwifes is repeatedly low. I have old her but she wont listen to me, I have to go back thursday so I think I will insist she uses a different machine.

[mrsbigw]

Maybe she will have a different machine in clinic than what she takes on home visits.

was just trying to give you a bit of friendly reassurance as you seemed worried.