High blood pressure at 19 weeks

[Starberries]

Partner is 19 weeks pregnant and has had to go to the doctor 3 times in the past 2 weeks due to high blood pressure. It has been high each time she's gone, but each time they've tested for protein in urine which is always negative.

She was born at 23 weeks and GP scared us this morning by saying she might be going same way as her mum did with her .

No other signs of pre-eclampsia but very scared. Anyone have any experience of high blood pressure this early?

bump please

bumping for you

i did and had to go on bed rest until it came down (which it did)... often BP goes down initially and then starts to rise about 20 weeks but in some women it keeps going up. They'll monitor her closely but no protein is good sign... look out for any pre-eclampsia symptoms eg swelling/headaches/visual disturbances and seek medical attention if she gets any of them.

i would recommend getting a portable bp monitor... they're not that expensive and helped me calm down about it knowing that i could check at any given time... my favourite past time was doing the bp of anyone that came anywhere near me.

bp went back to normal levels after a few weeks and DD was overdue.

Also ask them to check it the 'old fashioned' way. A nice big cuff and a stethoscope.

My midwife used her little portable machine which reg'd a high reading and although i had no other signs of pre-eclampsia, it was threatening my option of a home birth.

Then one day i saw the GP and she did it with her equipment and by joe it was much much mower and completely normal. She said this was wuite common and silly of the midwife not to have checked it with another piece of apparatus.

Good luck for your GF.

I had high BP reading at a 17 weeks check and midwife panicked. Wanted to send me to hospital but they were so busy allowed me to wait and the see the GP at the surgery. By the time I saw him it had settled. Every reading since then has been normal (now 32 weeks).

I have had problems with high BP readings in the past, and actually had a 24 hour recording done a couple of years ago which was completely normal and my GP diagnosed white coat hypertension (ie get so wound up at doctors it read falsely high). During this pregnancy since the high reading I've made sure I get to the appointment in plenty of time, sat and read a magazine, relaxed whilst waiting and had them do the BP after a little chat. ie so I'm as relaxed as possible.

If they are genuinely high it doesn't have to mean pre-eclampsia, which is not diagnosed until after 20 weeks. It may be essential hypertension which hasn't been found before because she doesn't normally have BP checked so often.

Best she can do is to try to relax and stay calm (easier said than done) and do whatever the profesionals suggest to keep her and baby well even if that is bed rest and pills.

Hmmm... not sure a couple of high blood pressure readings with no other symptoms should lead a GP to start talking about premature labour! I've had the same recently, two readings a week apart and both a bit high, but no other problems. My doctors (saw a different one each week) just said it's quite common in pregnancy, to watch out for symptoms of pre-eclampsia and to make sure I come back for regular check-ups.