Hypertension before falling pregnant? Preeclampsia risk is scaring me

[Noodles22]

I had a consultation with an obgyn this morning even though I’m only 4-5 weeks but I was referred early due to my medication and risk.
She said I’m high risk as I have a BMI of 40 and have high blood pressure. She said there’s a much higher risk of developing preeclampsia, having growth issues and having to deliver early. Has anybody had high blood pressure before pregnancy and gone on to have a normal and healthy pregnancy? Or maybe can anyone share their stories of preeclampsia, whether positive or negative. Feel like I want to understand what I could end up facing. I am also in my mid thirties so I am anxious about having a difficult pregnancy and the baby having problems 😞Thanks in advance

Sorry you’ve been so scared by this - she’s right that there’s a higher risk but plenty of women in your situation get through pregnancy just fine, so don’t panic. Presume she talked to you about aspirin, calcium, growth scans, keeping an eye on blood pressure?
There are lots of medications for blood pressure that are totally safe in pregnancy - don’t be worried about that. Often you’ll find your blood pressure drops a bit in second trimester anyway but then likely to rise and need meds sometime after 20-24 weeks.
If you google “risk factors for pre eclampsia” you can find tables that show something called RR (relative risk) for each risk factor. Off the top of my head, preexisting hypertension is about 2-3x the risk of preeclampsia, high BMi about 2x, first baby about 2x. The chance of pre eclampsia if no risk factors is something like 5% - and you have more than one risk factor - you might get up to something like 20-30% risk. Still more likely to not get it. Aspirin and calcium will help to reduce that risk for you.
In addition - most of pre eclampsia happens close to full term and is easily managed by delivery of the baby. It’s much more rare to have severe and early onset pre eclampsia or severe growth restriction leading to very early delivery.
Most importantly - your risk factors are recognised, you’ll have a good management plan including keeping an eye on things - so try to keep excited about your pregnancy rather than being too nervous! X

@TenThousandSpoons0

Sorry you’ve been so scared by this - she’s right that there’s a higher risk but plenty of women in your situation get through pregnancy just fine, so don’t panic. Presume she talked to you about aspirin, calcium, growth scans, keeping an eye on blood pressure? There are lots of medications for blood pressure that are totally safe in pregnancy - don’t be worried about that. Often you’ll find your blood pressure drops a bit in second trimester anyway but then likely to rise and need meds sometime after 20-24 weeks. If you google “risk factors for pre eclampsia” you can find tables that show something called RR (relative risk) for each risk factor. Off the top of my head, preexisting hypertension is about 2-3x the risk of preeclampsia, high BMi about 2x, first baby about 2x. The chance of pre eclampsia if no risk factors is something like 5% - and you have more than one risk factor - you might get up to something like 20-30% risk. Still more likely to not get it. Aspirin and calcium will help to reduce that risk for you. In addition - most of pre eclampsia happens close to full term and is easily managed by delivery of the baby. It’s much more rare to have severe and early onset pre eclampsia or severe growth restriction leading to very early delivery. Most importantly - your risk factors are recognised, you’ll have a good management plan including keeping an eye on things - so try to keep excited about your pregnancy rather than being too nervous! X

Wow thank you so much! What an amazing message 😍. I only joined yesterday and am blown away by the knowledge and support of the ladies here. That really put my mind at rest thank you, I asked the obgyn to give me an idea of risk percentage but she wouldn’t so I was thinking it would be HIGH. But that’s so reassuring thank you. I don’t really want to google too much because I can easily freak myself out but I’m glad I asked here. Yes she told me to take 150mg aspirin a day and to take various supplements which she is sending out in a letter. I’m so grateful for your reply and your reassurance thank you x

Glad it helped :)
To be fair I am taking an educated guess at the % risk for you, could be less or could be a little more. in some ways talking about risk can be very difficult because for an individual it’s all or nothing (= either you will get it or you won’t!). That might be why she didn’t want to put a number on it because sometimes it’s unhelpful. But I think when feeling v anxious it’s nice to have some perspective at least!
Hope everything goes well for you.

I ended up with pre eclampsia at the very end of my pregnancy (got diagnosed day before my due date, baby arrives 5am on due date). From my experience i found the doctors to be very quick and set up a plan within an hour of being diagnosed. I was told it is very common and very easily treatable whatever the stage of pregnancy. Be prepared for plenty of bp checks if it is pre eclampsia and extra monitoring. It's easy for me to say because i didn't have it for long even though im sure my bp was very high from 36 weeks, it is easily managed and your medical team will talk you through everything. Take in every bit of information they give you and try and avoid looking on google as a lot of it isn't backed up by the science. Good luck

I had pre-existing slightly high blood pressure. I wasn't overweight. I did develop pre-eclampsia but it was fine, they just upped my meds a lot. I did feel awful for much of the third trimester but my kidneys didn't Like pregnancy and I had a very late diagnosis of gestational diabetes so it was probably that. My baby was breech so I had a c-section at 39 weeks. I was in hospital for 5 days after until they could get my bp under control. Although, they had decreased my dose of meds to lower than I had before even getting pregnant so it's unsurprising it took so long!

I have a history of high blood pressure when not pregnant. I don’t have a high BMI and have had it all through my early 20s, it’s just up and down. Anyway, having my last baby my blood pressure spiked at about 33 weeks so my bp medication was increased to keep it under control. I had to go into hospital twice a week to have it monitored and went for growth scans every 2 weeks as well as Doppler Scans to check blood flow through the placenta. I was kept a very close eye on and delivered a healthy baby at 39 weeks. I was induced so I wouldn’t go over my due date to be on the safe side. My consultant diagnosed me with mild pre eclampsia in the end but it was able to be controlled and with all the monitoring of my baby I felt In very good hands.

Good luck