High blood pressure

[nasara]

Heya, I am wanting hear other people's experiences with having high blood pressure in pregnancy.

My booking-in BP was 120/75 and 2 weeks ago it went up to 150/90. I have been put on tablets and it has gone down, but yesterday I saw a scaremongering consultant whose attitude was that all pregnancies nowadays are life-threatening - it was all very negative, and the more I think about how she spoke to me, the more furious I become.

I am happy to accept the facts if I really am in danger of something life-threatening happening to me or my baby, but I just feel this has all been handled really poorly.

So I was wondering about others' experiences of having high blood pressure in pregnancy. Did you end up being induced because of it?

(Btw, I am nearly 38 weeks and have no other symptoms of pre-eclampsia).

I had high bp @ the end of both of mine, have you been to stay in for a couple of hours and have it monitored intermittandly to see if its stays high? because sometimes it goes back down again so they calm down. i went in for that with my first ds. if the consultant or peoples attitude in the hosp is stressing you out it will make it appear higher? also sometimes the electric machines give high readings, i remember kept having to tell them to do it with the manual as it made a huge difference.
i was induced with my 1st son, but he was overdue anyway. they did want to do slightly earlier due to the blood pressure but i wasnt sure about it so i went away and waited couple of days, which they werent too happy with they wrote on notes against medical advice etc, but they cant force you.
however if it stays high throughout the whole time they prob will want to induce you, but see how it goes. i cant remember the numbers of what mine were so i dunno how high that is the one you have written.
i did actually end up with pre eclamsia with my 1st son though (well apparently, they told me this after the birth?!) so it can just start with the blood pressure, obviously they are worried about it and monitor it for a reason but would make sure they are checking it over an intervals not just one high bp and they start to panic

i had high bp from about 33 wks and was getting it checked every other day by mw. I had no other symptoms of pre-eclampsia so just had to keep an eye on it. Then at 35+5 had a really high result (150/105) so was sent to assesment unit to be monitored, they put me on 200mg labetolol twice a day and kept me in to monitor the meds affect on me for 1nt.
I was told that women with high bp don't tend to hang about much past 40 wks and go into labour spontaneously quite close to term, however i was induced at 39+3 after a trip to assesment unit due to reduced movements where blood tests showed my pcr was 99 (i think higher than 30 is cause for concern) and they felt i was likely to/had developed pre-eclampsia. Dd1 was born 4 days later by c section.
I was so sure i wouldn't need to be induced - based only on my own feelings - but when it came down to it i just wanted to make sure our baby was perfectly healthy and safe.
Dd1 is now 15 days old and my gp is weaning me off the labetolol. Oh, the only thing i wish i had been told wrt the labetolol was that my lo had to be tested for low blood sugar once she was born and may have been put into scbu as it was likely she would have low blood sugar and low body temp - didn't find this out until i was in labour and it was a bit scary as was warned she may have brain damage!!! She is absolutely fine btw.
Good luck. Happy to answer any q's u might have.
X

Yes, was induced early twice (weeks 37 and 36 respectively). Both dcs were underweight, which was thought to be caused by the blood pressure: that's why they didn't want to wait.

Had a vaginal labour with my first, 37 week pregnancy, but had to have emergency caesarian with 36 wk one, as baby's heartbeat went down suddenly. He caught up very quickly and started putting on weight once he got out of the womb, so I think it was probably the right decision.

I was ok myself, except that I developed pre-eclampsia in the second pregnancy and then had some weird rushes of blood pressure after the caesarian: I was a bit out of it tbh and I know they kept a very close eye on me that first night as my BP was apparently all over the shop. But I recovered quickly, was able to bond well and breastfeed- it wasn't really such a bad experience.

I did speak to another lady whose high BP (several years earlier) had not been picked up: she ended up having eclamptic fits on the delivery table and nearly died. So all in all, I think mine was the more relaxed experience.

There is another thread about this recently. I have had it with my last 2 pregnancies... dd3 I ended up being induced 2 weeks overdue. She was fine and bp righted itself after delivery. dd4 was small when she was born (6lbs) but is still small so who knows .. maybe she was just small or small because of the bp. I fought being induced and hid from the midwvies.

I think the risk is of a stroke when you have high bp but not pre=eclampsia. However my bp was higher than yours and I was on medication which I am still on (6 months later :( )

Has anyone taken readings for you at home? I am only saying that as my bp was up and down with my first - sky high when in hospital and then fine when the mw took it at home. Bp can vary so much due to where you are and how you are feeling, so that high reading doesn't necessarily mean your pressure is that high all the time.

I avoided induction because my bp came down when I was in a calmer environment and resting.

Good luck x

I had high blod pressure from 32 weeks went from 75 at booking in to 105 then regularly in the 90s. I was taken into hospital from 32 weeks and stayed there until DS was induced at 38 weeks when I started to get protein in my water and I think my blood pressure shot up enough to make the midwife gasp (may have been in 120s) I had odema from before the 32 weeks, but it was a very very hot summer.
My blood pressure went straight back down after he was born.

I would say I always had high blood pressure all my life and the 75 from booking was very low for me.

Forgot to say DS is a 6ft tall 15 year old now and has a minor SLD which is probably inherited rather than caused through the pregnancy problems, but is doing brilliantly at school despite this.

Has anyone taken readings for you at home?

Yes. But I also found huge difference in readings depending on who was with me when they were taken.

Turns out I probably have White Coat Syndrome- BP shoots up when I think I'm about to be tested /judged! I'm so suprised at what huge variances there were I'm telling practically anyone who cares to listen.

So...bought a little monitor from the chemists (about 12-20 quid) and once a week sit down and take 3 tests over 10 mins, which I then record in my birth notes. This stops me from worrying about the BP readings others take and any decent midwife or doctor will also be happy. If they weren't, I'd be asking to deal with someone else!

I would certainly reccommend ensuring that your BP was still high in comfort of own home, on your own or with someone you're totally cool with, before agreeing to being induced (if this was the only area of concern, of course!)