Anyone know anything about blood pressure readings?? sorry - am bit clueless!

[BarbieLovesKen]

Just had a visit to my GP. Didnt get to ask him as I looked at my little card thing after I left.

He asked me was I smoking when he took my blood pressure, which I thought was odd, and I said no.

at 10 weeks my BP was 107 over 59

at 11+6 it was 108 over 58

and today at 17+6 its 129 over 68

Its obviously not bad as he would have said but its just that the numbers dont mean anything to me and to the untrained eye like myself, it appeared to have increased a nice bit.

I also have white blood cells in urine so it has to be sent off to lab - dont think thats anything to worry about?

I got told off about my weight gain so I'm quite upset and feeling yuck today.

Thanks a million if anyone could help x

Hi BarbieLovesKen I'm 18wks. We must be due around the same time.

I think your blood pressure is quite low, but it has gone up. Is that what the gp is worried about that it has gone up each time? Mine's 120/80 which is more than you but it has stayed the same (so far).

Hoping someone with more medical knowledge comes on here to help you.

Not sure about the white cells in urine, but they might be related as higher BP can force things to be filtred into the urine that normally wouldn't be filtered out, IYSWIM.

But, your BP is certainly not overly high (perfect is 120 over 80) as high BP is classed as 140/90 or more. But in certain conditions like diabetes, 130 is classed as high, because tighter control is needed. This might be the same in pregnancy (I'm not sure) - i.e. they might start looking into it at an earlier stage if you are pregnant rather than waiting til you reach 140, because high BP can be indicative of pre-eclampsia.

I guess the fact that it has increased in the last few weeks from a previously stable, healthy level, is what made him comment. He might have been trying to establish if there was an obvious reason for the increase.

Are you seeing your MW or GP again soon? They will no doubt measure it each time. It might have dropped again next time, might have just been a blip, but the will be pretty hot on it if they think it is too high because it is one thing they monitor very closely in pregnancy, due to the pre-eclampsia link.

Hope that helps a little - bit vague, but I would say just ask next time you see the MW/GP and they will tell you whether they are concerned or not.

SOrry, just to clarify, I don't think an isolated increase like this is anything to worry about, but your GP will have noted it in case it continues to increase as your pregnancy progresses. Don't think it is a dangerous level now, but if it goes up again, they would probably want to monitor you more closely.

HTH

Your current BP sounds about average.

Bottom number should be below 80; top number below 130 I think. It is not regarded as "high" until it gets to 140-150+

WBCs in your urine could be indicative of a urine infection - which I suspect is what it has been sent tot ehlab for.

Your blood pressure can be different on different days too - I had to self test this morning, and was in a bit of a rush - came out higher than usual, and I realised my pulse was high too. Made myself sit calmly for a minute or so, and then did a few more tests, and it was back to normal for me (which is about 100/58 - am 35 weeks). It's good that your GP pays attention to a raise like that, as they should be watching out for raised bp in pregnancy, but it's still not technically "high" - just high for you. When are you next seeing a MW?

BP sounds fine, if it continued to rise and the bottom number was 20 over your baseline (59 so rising to 79 in your case) the mw may have some concerns but not at the moment, it is well within the normal range.
White cells in urine may indicate a urinary tract infection (UTI) which can be very common in pregnancy and can become a problem if untreated. Or it may be nothing at all, they should contact you with the results. What was your BMI at booking and how much have you gained? If you were overweight to begin with, depending on how high your BMI was the aim is to gain only a small amount of weight or none at all. But I agree, it is a very sensitive subject.

Thank you all so much for your replies. I really appreciate it.

Roomfor2 and Habbibu - am seeing my GP again in 4 weeks (its every 4 weeks here) and seeing Consultant in 6-7 weeks. Thats not too long is it?

Reikizen - thanks a million for that - at least I've something to gauge it by. my BMI was 24.2 ish when I got pregnant and I've but on about 8-9kgs so far...

Wow, I wouldn't be at all worried about that! In our trust we treat women with a BMI of 30 at booking as 'high risk' so you are well below that! Don't fret about it, sometimes you do put on weight early on as the only food you can face are sometimes not the most healthy or you are starving because you are growing a human being. I suspect it will even out, the usual healthy eating rules apply in pregnancy as I'm sure you already know so just make sure you eat your 5 a day and limit the sweet things. Sounds easy doesn't it??

It's also quite common to have low blood pressure in the first trimester (your initital readings are pretty low) for hormonal reasons - one of the reasons why people feel so rubbish. It's entirely possible that your BP is just normalising now that you are in the middle bit. It's still a perfectly OK reading.

And I agree with Reikizen about the weight gain. Think your GP might be a bit of a panic monger actually. Most mws don't weigh after booking these days.

I got weighed at 34 weeks with dd - mw sucked her teeth and looked concerned, which had me in tears - bear in mind I was still in size 10 maternity tops! - came out and bumped into consultant. I wailed "I'm HUUUGGEE" - he looked at my chart, said "you're big because you're having a big baby. Go home and put your feet up". Thank the stars for that man - he was right, too! Am going to refuse to get weighed any more in this pg - am 35 weeks now.

Your BP can even vary on the weather.
I can remember having my checked a few years ago on a hot day, and the nurse said it was a bit low. She said it was likely to be the heat as it dilates your vessels. Never had a low reading since.

I'm nearly 23 weeks and have gained just under a stone. No one has said I've put on too much, and I can't say I've noticed any part of me getting wider (apart from the bump of course!).

How weird - in four pregnancies I have never been weighed. Wonder what the NICE guidelines say?