How much was baby engaged? High BP?

[likelucklove]

I have a couple of questions, my body seems to be freaking out with the impending birth :D

I went to see the midwife yesterday for my 39 week appointment, they've been seeing me every week since 32 weeks because I've got high BP and pre-eclampsia symptoms. They've sent me up to hospital about 5 times for my high blood pressure, but seem insistent that it's not affecting me and are happy to keep me on a midwife. Can I push to be moved to consultant-led care? It's just stressing me every week going up to the hospital and by the time I actually get seen and get it checked (usually an hour later) it has gone down again, but I get home and it's high again!

On top of that, midwife thinks I'm going to go overdue because baby is only 4/5 engaged. How far was baby engaged, if any before you went into labor? Really clutching at straws, have not enjoyed pregnancy one bit and have been back and for hospital 10+ times!

Sorry for the rant, v fed up and I'm not even overdue yet

AFAIK you can self-refer to a consultant, but even if you're under consultant care you're not actually guaranteed to see one (you might not even get to see a doctor, but just a midwife in the hospital)

Have you had a monitor for 24 hours for your BP to get a decent reading rather than when you're to-ing and fro-ing?

DD was engaged at about 38w I think, induced at 42+1. Second (or subsequent) babies often don't engage until labour starts, so I'm not sure how good an indicator engagement is of impending labour.

Thanks for replying.

I've got a home one I bought from Lloyds pharmacy when it began and it is high most of the time. Only when I go to the hospital does it go down so they seem to think me and MW is making it up and they ask me 'why have you been referred here when your BP is fine?' Grrrr, sorry v hormonal woman here!

I think the approach in my hospital is doctor is a lasy resort so what your saying is probably the most applicable. When I went in for a bleed, it took 2 hours for a doctor to examine me, by which time the bleeding had stopped.

This is my first, started engaging at 34 weeks and has 'stuck' there since, but have just read up and if baby is back-to-back that can affect it? Because she definitely is. Hopefully baby engaging will happen when labor starts (which will hopefully be soon!)

Thanks again, you've helped put my mind at ease.

That's good then Mrs, I'm hoping she was wrong about me going over my EDD! Thanks for replying :)

Well my DS was engaged for weeks before he was due, and born 2 days late (DS2 is also engaged and due 5 weeks today). OTOH, a baby can be free when you go into labour and engage then. So your midwife is talking a load of bollocks

For the blood pressure, I wouldnt worry too much about being under consultant care. I was MLC with DS, and my blood pressure went up during labour, so they transferred me during. Easy peasy :)

I'm hoping it's the latter one beyond! That must be so uncomfortable though for you?

I'm ok with being transferred the ward I would need is only 1 floor down anyway! Would just like a hospital to believe me and the community midwives that my BP is high without writing in my notes 'Sent home because BP NOT high'. But glad you had a positive experience :)

Hi likelucklove,
I was monitored for high bp towards the end of my pregnancy and was getting very frustrated as the community midwife and the hospital seemed to have very different ideas about what symptoms and levels of high bp were problamatic.

I found that by looking up the NICE guidelines for pregnancy hypertension it explained what they considered to be low,medium and high risk and what recommended course of action for each of these would be. It helped me understand why paricular decisions were being made.

As for how far the baby is engaged I think each mum and baby are different some engage early and other wait untill labour. DS was never more than 4/5 engaged before labour.

BJR Argh, I know have looked at NICE guidelines and it looks like hospital should be doing more than they are so will take them with me tomorrow and Wednesday. Thanks for telling me about that. Community midwives again aren't the problem, they always seem to be overly cautious, but the hospital seem to have a stick up their arse about stuff like this (apologies to anyone who works in a hospital but my one is like this!)

That's reassuring with the engagement too but have been having irregular contractions all weekend so hopefully she is on her way! Thanks again.

DS was 4/5th the day before I went into labour. They told me I'd probably be late and booked a sweep for the following week - he came out two days later (i.e. 5 days before sweep). He just dropped into place and went for it.