Increased blood pressure - worrying about nothing?

[Davinaaddict]

Hi ladies - could do with some advice please (apologies in advance as this is quite long as I don't want to drip feed). I'm currently 20+6 weeks with DC2 and have been feeling movements for about 4-5 weeks.

So after the rubbish nights sleep I had Wednesday night (just 10.30pm-2.10am - insomnia), I left work at lunch time, came home & stayed on the sofa all afternoon/evening except when DH & DS came home when I put DS to bed. He'd been at MIL's so was all ready for bed when he got home, so it took all of about 10 minutes(so not a huge effort required). Baby was moving around loads whilst I was on the sofa yesterday - pretty much all afternoon which so far has been fairly normal. Very bouncy baby this time round!

So another crap nights sleep last night - more sleep than the previous night, but lots of waking up. I went to bed at about 10 pm as I had a headache, so took some paracetamol before bed. I woke up with headache again this morning, so took some more paracetamol. But this didn't help really & I noticed baby wasn't moving round much at all. So I had a cold drink, relaxed & tried to concentrate on movements etc. There were some but certainly not on the usual scale, so I rang the day unit and went down to be checked over. All the usual tests came back ok, and they got a good strong heart beat from baby. They took some blood for anaemia & thyroid tests and told me to ring next week for the results. Great, I thought, so headed home. I had my lunch & then started to feel crap again, so back to the sofa for another afternoon of rest. I had a look through my notes this afternoon & my BP appears to be high for me (it's normally 110/60 and very consistent). Today it was 125/81. I've done a bit of reading to try to find out what is normal, and it seems the MW's don't worry until it gets to 140/90, which may explain why it wasn't mentioned whilst I was there. So am I freaking out about nothing, given that I still feel crap? Or should I be worried about the increase? Anyone any experience of BP issues?

Most people's blood pressure goes up during pregnancy (although it may dip down early on)

I wouldn't be concerned with the increase you mention - it is only barely above 'normal' (i.e. what is considered normal for most, rather than your own). I'd be really surprised if that increase could make you feel crap.

Meant to add, I'm also 20+6, and have had heaps of headaches in the last week or so.

I googled a bit but just found that in most cases (and in absence of other symptoms) headaches in pregnancy are pretty normal.

Headaches are very common in 2nd trimester. Rest, paracetamol and upping fluids is all you can do. Doctor can prescribe codeine based drugs if they're bad, but they are reluctent to do this as codeine is highly addictive and can make LO a bit drowsey. It's best avoided late 3rd trimester to LOs as bouncey as possible at birth.
HOWEVER, please get headaches checked out as they are one sign of pre-eclampsia, along with flashing lights and increased BP and often protein in urine. If you've been checked out by the MW I'd assume they'd taken this into account OP, so please don't add to your stresses by worrying. BUT if the headaches get worse, then go back to see someone. The stress of them alone isn't worth not seeking help.

Thanks for the responses - will keep an eye on it for now, and see how we get on then. The headache seems to have eased off a bit for now, so hopefully that's a good sign. I'll just take it easy this weekend then - good excuse to let DH do the running around over the next couple of days