Continued high blood pressure/preeclampsia risk?

[BlinkAndMiss]

Has anyone else continued to have high BP after they've given birth and if so, how long did it last? I've been monitored for high BP for the last 2 months of my pregnancy, I was never medicated because I was borderline but because of this I am being monitored by the community midwives who are otherwise happy with how things are going. I've always been told it would return to normal after I gave birth but this hasn't happened. It was always healthy before this so not something I've ever really thought about.

The midwife I had today has upset me quite a lot because she said that my BP would be "an area of weakness" for the rest of my life. She said that I needed to make myself live a healthier lifestyle and get my weight down because otherwise my BP would be dangerous. Now, don't get me wrong, I can see that I do need to be healthy but I'm feeling so vulnerable right now because I'm worried about the risks of high BP and she's made me feel like it's my own fault. I have been eating healthily, I haven't gained above the recommended weight gain for my start weight and she has never met me before. She has no idea of my lifestyle before I had my baby and I feel so judged now.

I know I have baby weight to lose but it's only been a week. My swelling is terrible at the moment so being on my feet for too long is very painful. I also have stitches and mastitis to cope with at the moment, and I thought exercise etc wasn't recommended until 6 weeks pp? She's made me feel like I've brought this on myself, no one else has suggested this to me and if they had I'd have done everything I could to make necessary changes. I just found the last few weeks of preganacy so hard that all exercise went out of the window.

Has anyone else had this? Does anyone know if bringing my blood pressure down is actually more in my control than I realize? I am feeling absolutely awful at the moment and this has just added to it.

They made me feel it was my fault too, lots of "you need to relax", "rest", "stay calm". It's bullsh!t. While yes your bp is somewhat within your control in normal life in that if you get very stressed it goes up your normal resting bp isn't really within your control. If you are at/get to a healthy weight through good diet and exercise for your height and shape and it's still high then that is not your fault and not in your control. I had P-E, my bp went up to 193/111, and I was told to relax and stay calm, I gave myself a panic attack trying to mentally bring my bp down one night, when it really wasn't in my control or remotely possible. 8 weeks after baby was born my bp was back to normal.

It's awful that they make out like it's somehow our fault! I can completely relate to the panic attack feeling over it, I seem to spend so long trying to stay "calm" but it's almost impossible with a newborn, toddler and a host of other postnatal issues, I just end up panicking about why I can't relax.

Thanks for your reply, it's good to know your BP improved after a few weeks without a magic fix. My swelling has reduced so
I'm hoping that's a good sign. I'm going to try and forget about my BP and trust that if it's something to worry about my body will tell me through other symptoms - it's not like I can stop it anyway, I can only act quickly to fix it if it happens. I'm bring really healthy lately too, I'm desperate to get back to normal.

I had preeclampsia, I was on BP meds (labetalol) for three months after having my baby. During that period I was weaned off the medication and my BP returned to normal after a few weeks or so without medication.

I had a BP monitor at home so I took my own records to show the nurse at the gp surgery.

BP is such a difficult thing to get a handle on. If you are stressed it goes up, if you have just walked to the nurses appointment it goes up. If you are talking when they do it, it goes up. Also each medical practitioner seems to have a different idea of what's an acceptable BP!

I had a lot of water retention/swelling of my face, legs etc because my kidneys couldn't hack it anymore, but that gradually disappeared after a few months.

Its sad that the midwife made you feel it's your fault, It isn't and she probably didn't mean it that way. There's still plenty of time for your BP to gp back to normal.

Same thing happened to me and 10 days after the birth I was readmitted with BP 220/120 it was really scary and that was despite being on two kinds of BP pills Labetalol and Amlodepine. I'm now off the labetalol was gradually weaned off starting 3 weeks after the birth. Take care it's a tough old time going through PE and things do settle down eventually. X

Just to update - I was monitored for a few weeks and my BP eventually came down on it's own accord after 8 weeks. It was the week I started gentle exercise and generally feeling a bit more normal and the nurse has just said I should be checked in a few months to make sure it's returned to normal (my normal before pregnancy rather than the textbook number for 'safe'). After my BP started to go down it seemed easier to lose the weight - it just seemed to stick before but it's going in the right direction now.

I know it is resolved now but if you have more children don't take crap like that!
I have high bp at end of pregnancy and, for other reasons, was kept in post delivery. My bp shot up 5 days after birth. This is actually pre eclampsia, although rare it can occur after birth. If you have any more make sure someone comes to read your bp at least once a day post birth for 10 days, really insist on it. As your bp stayed high post delivery this time I would advise writing in to any future birth plan that you expect to be monitored.
Glad you're ok now