BP and heart-rate during labour

[chocolatecatty]

Hiya,

Just wondering how high your BP has to get during labour before the midwives start freaking out? And if/when that happens, what is the result? C-sec?

Also, how low or high does bubs heart rate have to be for it to be classified as 'distressed' and dangerous? And again, what is the result?

I'm wanting to not be monitored much during.....so what is reasonable? 15 min per hour? Less?

Thanks.

[BellyBelly]

You can refuse the EFM altogether - it has a very high inaccuracy rate around 50%. You can have them check you regularly with the doppler etc but they can't take your temperature without your permission - same goes with everything else. Just research/know some facts, and you will feel confident with your choices. Hospitals have policy but they are not laws.

Also when they do monitor you its often just not one reading. They see how the baby's heartrate is reacting to the contractions and how long they take to recover from them.

[kristi14]

Hi,

Yes, i was going to say, sometimes its just a sublte drop after a contraction that can show fetal distress too. This happened with me, i had an irritable uterus and at 35 wks was having 5 min contractions but wasnt in established labour. I was put on the ctg to see how the baby was coping and after every contraction her heart rate would drop, but not dramatically to like 80 or anything, it was just dropping and consistent. They called this slight decelerations and i had to be induced straight away. I was alos prepped for a c/s in case they needed to get her out quickly but i got her out in 1 hr and 4 mins.

[chocolatecatty]

If I refuse monitoring how do I tell if my BP is too high and dangerous? Or do I just pass out?!! That's the only thing I'm worried about....(not passing out, just high BP)

[Angel]

My midwife checked my BP periodically during labour (was induced because of high BP). DH took note of what it was and one of the last readings he wrote down before I refused to let him let go of me (LOL) was something like 140/100. I remember the midwife suggesting to me then that if it got much higher then I might like to consider pain relief to help bring it down.

[chocolatecatty]

So pain relief (any type?) is the recommendation/remedy then? Is this because it would calm you down/take away stress of pain? Does that mean if you have super concentration powers you can decrease it without meds? Hmm, not that I do!

[Tobily]

They like baby's HR to stay between 120-170ish.
During Tobys labour his was dipping to 60/70 with each contraction and his baseline HR dropped to 100 so this was classed as fetal distress. If it starts getting up over 180 that will make them nervous as well.
Blood pressure needs to stay under about 140/90, therabouts.
You probably wouldn't be able to reliably tell yourself if your BP is playing up during labour - you might feel a bit lightheaded or headachy but that could be from a million things when your body is doing all that work.

[Naomi]

When i was in labour with Nick his heartrate dropped to 60BPM, my ob freaked and had me in theatre within 5 minutes, 3 minutes after that he was delivered.

[~Kim~]

My sister managed to get to 300/180 and the m/w didn't freak!:eek: I did though and an epi didn't bring it down either so she had to have a csec before she had a stroke.

A BP cuff during labour isn't that invasive, but the foetal monitoring can be. If you're worried about your BP that only takes a couple of minutes to do and they take it off.

[christy]

I've been told that the hypnobirthing mothers tend to be able to lower their BP's through relaxation & visualisation. Maybe trying relaxing things to help lower first... so bath/shower, rest etc will help your BP maintain at a reasonable level.

Pain relief is usually the first option the midwives will go for or encourage to bring down your BP. I had an epidural last labour & my BP went down to 80/50 which was dangerously low.