Protein in urine, now high blood pressure? Preeclampsia?

[Shahhhh]

Hi!

So I'm 29 weeks pregnant. The other day I went into hospital for reduced movement, they were happy after checking babies heartbeat and I was good to go home however the urine sample they took had traces of protein (I did a urine sample on NYE as we had a scan and it was clear, so whatever it is must have just been starting to brew)

I got a call back regarding the protein today to say it was negative and as my blood pressure was 122/75 they were happy for now but I was advised to keep an eye on my BP. I've just done 3 readings at home and all have come up as over 150/99 for each one which is very high for me as I've never ever had issues with high BP.

Does anyone have any advice? I'm going to wait an hour and redo it to see if there's a difference but I'm in 2 minds if I should ring maternity unit or not? I have a midwife appointment on 23rd, shall I just wait for that?

Thanks in advance!

Ring them. You're relatively early in pregnancy to be developing pre eclampsia, but that make it even more important to diagnose and treat it promptly, to try to prolong the pregnancy for the baby's sake. Definitely do not wait until the 23rd. Hopefully this is just a dodgy home monitor, but those numbers aren't great.

Please seek advice as I went into hospital with the same readings at 26 weeks and had ds at 32 weeks. He was absolutely fine and is now a strapping man over 6ft 😊

Thanks both! I feel fine (usual pregnancy complaints but nothing untoward...)

Could preeclampsia come on THAT quickly? As in, everything was fine NYE and now suddenly I have protein in urine and BP is higher? Seems mad it could happen that quickly

It can, but you’re also stressing. That won’t be helping. You should be checked over.

It can come on very quickly. Sometimes, scarily, the first sign is the woman having a seizure. Much better to pick it up before that point!

What machine are you taking your blood pressure on, is it one supplied by your obstetric team? If not it shouldn’t be used in pregnancy as shop bought machines are not reliable.

A trace of protein on urinalysis is common, could be simply from contamination. Sounds like they sent it off and it has come under the threshold for a PCR so that is reassuring and would not indicate preeclampsia currently.

I would call triage with your BP readings and they will most likely invite you in to assess for themselves.

Thanks for all the replies :)

I wouldn't say I'm stressing, I'm just looking for guidance as I don't want to waste the MU's time if it's unnecessary to do so as I was just told today that the urine sample came back as negative which is obviously good. This is my first pregnancy so I'm learning a lot as I go and have been super lucky in terms of how smooth it has been health wise! Just want to make sure I'm doing the right thing. I'll give the MU a call and see what they suggest! Thank you

I would call triage with your readings and see what they say. I had very similar readings in my pregnancy and was put on a low dosage of blood pressure medication to help lower it- it wasnt preeclampsia.

I do have a history of blood pressure problems but honestly would never have known if I hadn’t been tested as I felt completely fine!

You can develop gestational hypertension in pregnancy which is high blood pressure without protein etc so the BP alone with those readings would need acting upon regardless of whether you have protein present or not.

Yes, pre-eclampsia really can come on very quickly and definitely at your gestation too, albeit not that often.

They can do a simple blood test that can predict if you are likely to develop pre-eclampsia in the next fortnight.

Do you have any swelling or headaches? These are things to watch out for. I'd ring the midwife unit and see what they say.

the urine sample was negative 7 days ago. PET can develop over hours. It may be that this BP is just a dodgy machine but that's unlikely if you've been using it throughout and it's gone up significantly today, and 'dodgy machine' is a diagnosis of exclusion. When you go in (tonight) it's perhaps worth taking your own BP machine with you so you can compare how closely it reads to the maternity unit machine.

This is the BP machine I have - borrowed it from my MIL who does have BP issues so not sure if she got it from her GP or bought it.

I have had some headaches but no swelling, to be honest just put it down to needing more water so just drank more. No swelling though!

Calling maternity unit now just to seek advice. Thanks everyone!

I had high bp of diastolic 105 at 32 weeks? Also odema but no protein. Went into hospital then , Bp stayed in the 90s and ended up staying until 38 weeks and started to get protein and diastolic went to over 120. I was induced then. Ds is now 29 and healthy.

Shop bought BP machines are fine. My nurse at GPs has the same Omron as mine and most patients today are expected to take BP on their own machine.

I'd call your maternity unit for advice,.op. I had high BP in my first pregnancy from 16 weeks and it was controlled with meds and I got regular check ups (not in the UK). It was still at the higher end throughout but we managed to get to 37 weeks before it got serious (protein in wee, and a very high blood pressure).
So don't panic but I'd give them a call :)

Adding that I also took my BP at home, same three times every day.

That’s not actually correct. Most trusts will advise pregnant women not to use their own BP machines and will have schemes where they provide women with trust owned machines that are calibrated for use with pregnant women if deemed high risk for BP issues.

The parameters of a normal BP are smaller for pregnant women than ‘normal’.

Hi OP, don't panic but definitely call the assessment unit and let them know. Do you have any swelling?

I had PE in my last pregnancy and the first symptoms (swelling to my hands and feet) started around 28/29 weeks. Between 29 and 36 weeks I had lots of appointments, episodes of reduced movements etc and kept getting traces of protein in my urine. I ordered dip sticks off amazon so I could keep an eye at home and it would fluctuate between + and +++.
My BP was repeatedly high but then I'd get checked out at hospital, relax for an hour and get checked again and it had always come down on the second check so i'd be sent home.
By 36 weeks, my swelling was increasing and I then started to get visual disturbances which saw me end up in A&E one Sunday evening - they referred me back to the assessment unit.

Finally at 37 weeks, looking like shrek with an awful headache, I went in again for reduced movements and this time my BP refused to come down and protein was ++++. It was only at this point that I was diagnosed with PE and admitted on the spot.

I had a week of steroid injections then had DD1 at 38 weeks. She was small for gestation but absolutely fine and is now a healthy 4.5 year old.

I was absolutely told not to use my machine bought from Lloyds Pharmacy and the hospital lent me a machine suitable for use in pregnancy.

My pregnancy hypertension in my first pregnancy came on within 3 days of all being fine (although at a later gestation than you). In my second pregnancy, high BP started creeping up earlier and then preeclampsia only diagnosed a couple of days before I delivered.

Well done on phoning triage. Hope you don't have a long wait! I was able to use medication for my high BP, along with monitoring every couple of days, to control things for another 4 weeks. So you may have time and in the meantime, you'll have lots of discussions with the midwives and consultants about what the plan will be.

Yes it can, mine did, practically over night.

Update:

BP was 149/92 when I got here, so still a little high. I had protein and leukocytes in my urine so they've sent them off for testing. After 2 hours of BP being taken every 15 mins and 45 mins of listening to babies heart beat, they're confident it's leaning more toward an infection rather than preeclampsia which is good. Will just be a round of antibiotics if that's the case so all good :) do have a growth scan and another BP check booked for this weekend just to check. Thanks for all of your replies!

So glad you got checked x

I had this on and off constantly from about 28 weeks. It never developed into pre eclampsia luckily, but every midwife appointment I had I was then sent straight to hospital. I'd be monitored for a few hours then sent home. It was frustrating but always best to be safe than sorry!

Good you got in checked.

If you take BP at home - remember that it is meant to be resting BP (I know GPs don't often do this). But when I was pregnant with DD1 I developed unstable blood pressure at 35 weeks so it would be high at the the community midwife appointment - so she would send me to the specialist assessment unit 30 miles away where they made me lie down on a bed for 15-20 minutes ... and then we were back in the normal range again.

Although I did develop pre-eclampsia a few weeks later