High Blood Pressure

[OatcakeCravings]

Hi,

Just been at the midwife (am 35+ weeks)and my blood pressure was 150/100 I take it this is bad because she is coming to my house tomorrow morning to take it again. Also have hugely swollen ankles and feet (but been swollen since 16 weeks so not a big deal IMO). Midwife says if BP doesn't go down then I am looking at complete bed rest - in hospital!

Has this happened to anyone else? I am really wishing I'd kept a lid on my weight gain through this pregnancy!

I had the same reading at 36 weeks and because I also had protein in my urine I was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia and hospitalised. Is your urine OK?

your swollen ankles and feet will be contributing to your weight due to fluid retention. Don't berate yourself because of your weight! It's good that your midwife is checking your BP again - it's safest for you and your baby to keep a close eye on it.

artichokes - I don't think that there is any protein in urine but there was something in it - elektrolytes??

Well a lack of protein is a good thing. Means it is probably just pregnancy induced hypertension rather than pre-eclampsia. That is less dangerous and I think there are even some drugs they can prescribe.

I agree with Belgo on the weight gain. I gained 5 stone with DD but I had terrible fluid retention in my legs and hands. 48 hours after the labour the swelling went down and between giving birth and getting rid of the fluid I lost 4 stone in 48 hours!

artichokes - I think I love you!! I've gained 4 stone and have really bad fluid retention and too much amniotic fluid so I'm hoping that at I will lose at least 2.5 stones after giving birth!

I had this almost identically - all fine til 36 weeks when it went up to 150/100. The good news was that it went down again. The bad news was that it went up again. The extremely frustrating news was that it continued to do this like a yo yo.

I was having the midwife out every two days to measure it and every time it went over 90 i had to go to the hospital to be monitored there. I would either be let out at the end of the day or kept in. It was bordering on the ridiculous.

Luckily I gave birth at 39 weeks - DS knew he had pushed things too far and was making mummy rather irate lol.

But on a positive note nothing was really wrong

Artichokes - if you were famous Heat magazine or such would buy that story to put as a misleading headline on their front cover lol

I had the same as you. It is very common. It is not about your weight. I believe it is even more common in first pregnancies.

They will monitor you to check that you are not developing pre-eclampsia and also because high blood pressure can be bad for your health. If need be they will medicate the high blood pressure (I was given drugs for the last 6 weeks of my pregnancy for this reason, after it hit 160/110 and I was admitted to hospital for a night).Although the Drs were keen not to let my pregnancy go on for too long, they let me carry on as long as the drugs were working. I ended up giving birth at 41+5 after going into labour naturally.
They did continue to monitor my bp for a month or so after the birth as it remained high (and I had beta-blockers to bring it down), but all was ok in the end. Like addictedtoharibo, nothing was really wrong, it was just one of those things that sorted itself out.

Try not to worry. It will be fine.