Surely they’d have mentioned preeclampsia right?

[Latenightanxiety]

So I had a hospital appointment yesterday. 34+5.
I had protein in my urine and my lower blood pressure reading was high. They seemed concerned but nothing about further treatment/rest/even mentioning the word preeclampsia……
my sister has since worried me saying she was diagnosed with it with only one symptom! So I’m fretting 😰

You have every right to call back and question it. Also go to your midwife too about it if you're worried. Fingers crossed all is well your end and it's not preeclampsia 🙏🙏🙏

Ring and check. It's ok to ask questions.

In the meantime, read up on symptoms and get advice if anything changes.

It depends on how high the bp was and how much protein. You may be below the threshold.

Any other symptoms or if you start to feel unwell phone maternity triage immediately.

Thanks all. Yeah I guess it could be in the higher side without meeting the threshold for ore eclampsia. It was checked just a week ago too and all was ok so 🤞

i probably should phone back but god our maternity is chaos. I feel like I’d not get through to anyone who could actually help! It’s starting to really knock my confidence about birth in general which isn’t too far away now

Can you remember the BP reading or how much protein there was in your urine?

I thought they said the bottom number was 78 but google says that’s ok and not sure about the protein they never said 😬

In my trust we class high as 140/100 so 78 is very normal. I wouldn't worry OP. You can show small amounts of protein if your sample is contaminated with discharge for example.

If the bottom number was 78 I wouldn't spend another moment worrying about pre eclampsia.

I eas hospitalised with pre eclampsia with DC2. The threshold for admittance was 140/95 iirc. I attended the maternity assessment unit a couple of times over a week before they made the decision to admit and my BP skyrocketed from there. 78 sounds fine, but if you’re worried can you attend your hospital’s maternity assessment unit over the course of a week to get a broader picture?

78 diastolic (bottom number) is a perfectly normal blood pressure. 120/80 is generally considered 'perfect'.

I basically diagnosed myself with pre-eclampsia 🤣
I kept having high BP readings but then I would be left in a chair for an hour or so totally relaxed and when they checked again it would have gone down.
I had markers for protein in my urine as well but low levels so they just said we will keep an eye on it.

This went on for weeks, my feet and legs were swelling up, my face was really puffy, i had awful headaches, visual disturbances etc. I knew it was pre eclampsia as my best friend had it in her pregnancy so I knew the symptoms , I actually ordered some sticks from amazon to check my urine myself everyday and if it was high, I would go to the hospital. This time also crossed over with repeated episodes of reduced movements as well so I was in hospital a fair bit.

Eventually, my BP readings stopped fluctuating and stayed high and the protein in my urine kept increasing. I did get diagnosed with pre eclampsia and was admitted into hospital there and then. Also had my section brought forward a week.

My baby was born healthy, if not a bit smaller than expected.

Would it put your mind at rest if you went to buy a blood pressure monitor? Just to keep an eye on it?

I would follow that up I was admitted at 37 weeks and induced at 38 weeks as I had protein , high blood pressure and pitting edema . I'm pretty sure my GP said you needed so many symptoms for it to be considered preeclampsia can't remember if it was 2 out of 3 maybe my baby brain is gone but I wouldn't ignore it ask them are they monitoring it and what your levels of protein were ?

Omg my husband had one for heart issues! Great idea thank you!

Thank you for sharing!im wondering whether my readings were just the lower ends of both as someone said above. I’m at the midwife Wednesday so she will obviously check both too

Found it on my pregnancy notes. Doesn’t say how much protein in urine but my blood pressure readings were

130 mmHg/98 mmHg
122 mmHg/92 mmHg

To me the bottom number being higher than 80 is a problem that's what my Gp said but I suppose you need to know how much protein was in urine to put it altogether but definitely don't let go because even if you don't technically have preeclampsia now this minute you could be developing it.

Keep an eye on your other symptoms OP. Headaches and visual disturbances is a common one, and the extreme swelling of course!

OK, I would be following those numbers up. Even without protein in urine, you can have pregnancy high blood pressure (also known as gestational hypertension). Mine started at 36w, I was medicated, even with medication it kept getting higher and higher, finally stabilised but then it turned into preeclampsia at 39w. It took two different types of BP meds and 10 tablets a day to stabilise mine in the end. Also not all home BP monitors are recognised for pregnant women - my hospital wouldn't accept the numbers from my one but lent me one of theirs to use instead.

Thanks so much all! I’ve had a lot less intense appointments since where everything has seemed fine and not at all dramatic like before.