Illness and pregnancy

[BlinkAndMiss]

I'm 34 weeks pregnant and have been signed off for 2 weeks due to high blood pressure. Some of the conditions at work changed the previous week which added to the pressure put on my department, it will settle down but as I was already exhausted it seemed to affect me. I ended up being sent to hospital with hypertension and have been off since. Since I've been off my blood pressure has settled and being able to rest is keeping it down.

My issue is that on my sick note it says 'hypertension in pregnancy' but my understanding is that once I get to within 4 weeks of my due date my maternity leave can be automatically started whether I agree or not. My blood pressure is fine when I'm not at work, would I be correct to argue that my hypertension is not actually because of pregnancy but because of the nature of my work and that had I not been preganant then I could still possibly be off with the same issue? I'm reluctant to start my maternity leave early because work made changes to my workload and the organisation of my day.

I need a bit of perspective, I had planned to work until the last possible day and had done a lot of preparation to make sure that my responsibilities were fulfilled and that I could work at a steady pace. Since my blood pressure is ok when I'm not at work, surely this is hypertension and not because of pregnancy alone?

TIA

If you weren't pregnant you'd be unlikely to be signed off work with hypertension. Treatment for non- pregnant people is a long-term thing, diet, stress relief, medication etc. So 2 weeks off wouldn't cure it.
High BP in pregnancy can effect the baby and rest is the first line of treatment. My sister had to rest with her feet up for the last 2 months of her pregnancy because her BP went up if she tried to do anything.

I think you're going to have a hard time convincing your employer that you would have ended up in hospital for hypertension and then signed off with it had you not been pregnant.