High blood pressure

[July Mum]

Hi All
On Monday I went to hospital for my weekly midwife appointment expecting all to be well as it has been for the last 37 weeks, but when the midwife checked my blood pressure she said it was high 150/90, she checked again about 10mins later and it was 150/95. I was taken to have blood and urine tests done (which come back fine showing no protein) and was then put on the machine that monitors babies heartrate and movement and my heart rate. I was then sent home and asked to return on Wednesday.

So Wednesday I go back, they check my blood pressure again 130/60 then later 130/68. They monitor me and baby again, and do urine test again, everything comes back fine and they send me home telling me to come back Friday.

So Friday I go back, blood pressure is 130/85 then 140/90, Doctor tells me I need to go on blood pressure meds and that if the blood pressure cannot be controlled then I would need to be induced early.

I now go back to the hosp. tomorrow to have blood pressure checked again now that im on meds.

So what i am wondering is
1-What causes blood pressure to go up and down like that over the week
2-From all the information I have read from bellybelly members it is best to not be induced and to just go naturally. Is this still the case when high blood pressure is a concern?

Thanks for any advice.
Sorry for the long post, hope it makes sense.

[July Mum]

Oh and I was also wondering whether there is any risk to the baby been on these meds, and whether it is still ok to take RLT and EPO while on the meds.
Thanks again...

[Ngala]

Hi Emma

I am not an expert on this but I have been having problems with my blood pressure since 34 wks. The highest I went is 160/100 and was admitted in to hospital over night for monitoring.

A lot of things can contribute to the high blood pressure, like not resting enough during the weeks and I also found that if I was nervous and thinking too much about my blood pressure, then it would be really high!

I was first told that maybe I would need to be induced early as high blood pressure is not good for me or for my baby. But I was told that they would rather me go naturally unless something really unusual happens.

I am not too sure why they want to put you on blood pressure meds?? I guess every dr or hospital is different...

This is my blood pressure checks over the past few weeks..
34w2d 110/70
34w6d 160/84
35w2d 160/100
35w6d 150/78
37w0d 150/94
37w2d 140/80
38w0d 150/80

At 34 and 35 weeks my high blood pressure was due to a lot of stress . But as you can see, I still have high blood pressure and I am not on any meds or anything like this.

I would ask them questions as to why they think you need to go on meds. Maybe suggest going in to hospital for the day to see if your blood pressure keeps on rising??

[Alan]

Hi Emma
At 140/90 your BP is as high as we want to see it. There are a number of things that can send your BP up including stress, anxiety, excitement. I is common for your BP to be higher when you go for a check up because of the above reasons. Your Dr putting you on meds now is being a little over cautious, personally I would have waited until your next visit and after checking your BP would then consider meds. If your BP does not go any higher than 140/90 and you do not have any protein in your urine there is no need to induce you. The meds will not harm you or your baby

[sportychick]

I think it depends on the doc - I really wish I had Alan around when I was pg with DD!!!! My BP was low through the whole pregnancy at about 115/70 but went up to 135/90 at the 39th week. He told me to go home and pack my bags and go to hospital - there was some protein in the urine and I had had pretty bad swelling in the feet and ankles for a few weeks. When the BP didn't go down despite bedrest in hospital, they put me on meds and I was induced 4 days later (a decision I will question a LOT more strenuously if it happens again). I was on meds for a few days after the birth and then back to normal. I also understand it is quite common to have high BP in the first pregnancy.

HTH Emma and that you can avoid induction and go naturally - above all I think it's important to always ask WHY they are doing a particular test and it any interventions they suggest (like induction) are absolutely necessary - I did not do enough of that the first time around and although the induction may have been necessary, I didn't ask the question and so will never really know!

[July Mum]

Thanks for your replies Veronica, Alan and Sportychick.
Well I had another appointment yesterday and blood pressure is basically the same 140/88 (slightly lower then Friday).
I also questioned why i had been put on the meds so soon and they said that there is more of a risk for bubs and me to not be on meds then there is to be on meds.
No more talk of induction at this stage, I am really hoping I will just go naturally before my due date so I can avoid the whole induction process.
Thanks again

[Lind]

Hi Emma,
Just read you post and thought my 2c worth may be helpful. my sis was admitted with her DD at 33w, her BP was up and she had protein in her urine = pre-eclamsia. She had such high levels of protein that they eventually induced her and at 33w4d her DD was born via emergency c section.
I'm exactly at 33w4d today and my BP is up and I'm being monitored very closely at the hosp. From my experience so far- as long as they are closely monitoring you and the urine tests keep coming back ok you'll be fine... You're almost there, only a couple of weeks to go!!
hth xx

[chon]

Hi Emma M

I just wanted to let you know, don't concern yourself too much about induction, I can tell by your post your a little nervous of this prospect. I was induced (I had Gestational Diabetes) and it wasn't bad at all, no horror stories or anything like that. We would all like to start naturally but for the safety of the baby or yourself it sometimes doesn't work out that way. Just remember every woman is different when it comes to the birth of their babies.

Go forward into this next step of the journey with a clear mind, don't expect anything just take each moment as it comes.

[July Mum]

Hi Lind and Chon thanks for your advice
Well I was back at hosp again today for another check up, blood pressure still up 140/96 and later 140/90. At this stage there is only a slight trace of protein in my urine which they said is nothing to worry about at the moment.
Chon-you are right about my being nervous at the thought of induction, I dont think they will let me go past my due date with my blood pressure going the way it is, and I dont think I will go early naturally as my baby is not even engaged yet. My biggest fear about being induced is ending up having a c-section, I have read alot of BB members stories and most of them are not positive experiences.
Do they even induce if the baby is not yet engaged?
Its just hard to decide whats best for me and bubs at this point, whether I should be induced or wait...

[sportychick]

I very much doubt that they would induce if the baby is not engaged - the cervix also has to be "cooperative" - sometimes they use a prostoglandin gel to "ripen" the cervix before they manually break your waters and put in the syntosynon (sp?) drip. There is no point bringing on contractions if your cervix is not going to dilate and let the baby out.

I am also looking down the barrel of an induction (again) - my obs is concerned about size and shoulder dystocia, which I have experienced with the birth of DD - he is going to do an internal at my next check up and if the cervix is ready he will most likely suggest early induction. But my baby has been engaged for a while now.

[paradise lost]

If you have armed yourself with the knowledge that will help you get a normal vaginal birth without intervention it will help if you have to be induced. You will know all the risks and possibilities and options at least which is more than many women do.

My BP was utterly wild when i was PG - i'll go get my book....

11wks - 143/84
17+6 - 168/88
21+6 - 162/94 then 160/84 ten minutes later
25+1 - 150/85 then 150/75 " " "
29+1 - 129/85
32+1 - 150/85
33+6 - 144/95 then 142/78 ten minutes later
35+6 - 180/90 then 140/80 " " "
37+6 - 148/84
38+6 - 161/101
39+0 - 150/92
39+1 - 176/100
39+3 - 156/96 then 158/106 ten minutes later
39+6 - 150/86

After that they switched to daycare and i don't have my hospital notes to tell you, all i remember is that if my diastolic rate (2nd number) was below 100 i could still have my homebirth and wouldn't need meds. I DO know though that during labour they took BP and my reading, during a contraction, was 121/72. THat was the only time during my PG i wasn't worrying about those stupid bloody numbers. By the time i was due i was in a RIGHT state over it. I am still angry at the fuss made, since the lower readings were done by a midwife in my house and it was obvious it was the hospital which was stressing me out (that's probably why yours went up the reading after they told you it was too high....grrr!).

I had a normal vaginal birth at home and no problems. DD came at 40+11 and they were not going to induce until 40+14. Please try not to stress.

Bx

[July Mum]

Sportychick- goodluck at your next check-up, you will go into labour naturally before the induction.
Hoobley- I def think that my blood pressure is staying up because I am so worried about it been up, the thought of been admitted early to be monitored, or induced, or caesarian makes it hard to relax. Whenever someone checks my bloodpressure (I have had it checked both at hosp and at home by an aunt who is a nurse) I am worrying about how high it will be which probably makes it higher.
I go back to hosp tomorrow so I think I will be asking for some answers as to what may happen next, I cant keep going along not knowing what their plans for me may be. Im barely getting any sleep of a night just wondering whats going to happen at each check-up.
Thanks for your replies...

[sportychick]

Emma, I'm a firm believer that the more information you have the better. Once you know what could happen and what your choices are, you are so much better prepared to make decisions. Even if the "coulds" never happen, at least you wil lhave thought through all the options in your own time, without having things sprung on you. Good luck tomorrow and I hope you get all the answers you need! Write your questions down and take them with you, because if you're anything like me you will forget half of what you wanted to ask!

[July Mum]

Thanks Sportychick...I agree that the more I know now, the better I will cope if worse comes to worst.
And yes I have started a list of questions as I am def like you and forget to ask most of the questions I want to ask.

[Aranah]

I recently was pregnant and had BP problems.

My BP ranged in the last 5 weeks from 140/90 to 160/110, it did not go below 140/90. I had trace to 1+ of protein everytime, but in the last week I was showing 5+, but still the blood tests i had showed no organ damage was happening which is why we kept going.

I was put on monitoring and was supposed to go to daystay every day for 4 hours as really, they cant have an accurate figure from just a once of BP reading, it needs to be done over a period of time every half hour or so as many ladies have their BP go up when visiting a dr. Anyway, due to the hospital being an hour and a half away, I could not go to day stay daily, so I went three times a week. I was hospitialized as well a few times.

At 38-39 weeks they tried to put me on BP medication but I had a reaction to it and then refused to try more. I said if my BP was that bad that I needed medicating when I was heavily pregnant, they could induce me. They also saw that the EDD I chose was the latest one (I was scan dated and chose the latest EDD I was given for the hospital records.) When they looked through my scans, they saw that the more accrate date was sooner.

Anyway they made adate for induction which was 5 days after my edd, and told me a week from that date. It gave me a week to go into natural labour. My edd came around and that night went into labour.

So even tho bp was high and they knew my baby was big, they still were very reluctant to induce before edd because there was no organ damage yet (I had liver and kidney problems with my first pregnancy as I had PE and HELLP and I had to be induced at 36+5). The reason they gave was that more times than not it leads to c-section or a multitude of intervention. This was a major city hospital well known for their maternity services and people travel a long way to use it, it's one of the best around and they are a low intervention hospital I think. It was frustrating to have to be monitored constantly but I was glad I went into natural labour as the risk of intervention is much lower, you don't have to be monitored, usually less painful, etc etc.

So it totally depends on your hospital or your OB which decision they make and how induction happy they are.

I hope it all works out and your bp doesnt go higher and your protein stays down. Best of luck hun.

[Angelfly]

Hi Emma,
Just thought I would add my experiences with high bp. Your readings are very high.
I am now 27 weeks pregnant with my 5th baby and have been on meds from 7 weeks. My reading back then was borderline: 145/90 but, as most women have low bp at that stage, and because of my previous experience, my obs put me on Aldomet.
My son was induced at 37 weeks in December 2004 because of my reading at a routine checkup: 160/100. I had no other symptoms indicating preclampsia but my obgyn said it can progress very quickly and is very dangerous to both mother and baby.
Although I had three previous normal deliveries (the last 15 years before) it took two days before labour became established and my son was delivered. He had breathing difficulties (attributed to either an infection, pneumonia, or immature lungs) and spent a week in NICU. I do believe induction has a place, and that medication most definitely does, but try to ensure your caregiver is not rushing into something that can be helped by complete rest.
Good luck and I am sure all will be fine.
Angela

[July Mum]

Thanks for your responses Tara and Angelfly, its good to hear of other peoples experiences.
Well at my check-up today blood pressure was up again 135/95, and so doctors have decided to induce, I go in for my first lot of gel at 3pm Monday. I am soooo nervous about it all, but at this stage the doctors said its more of a risk to let me go any longer than it is to induce.
If anyone has any positive early induction stories I would love to hear them, I know that induction for most people is usually a negative experience-lots of interventions etc but atm I need some positives to focus on.
Thanks

[chon]

Hi Emma
Have you got a good GP? because a good old chat to him or her can really help. I only suggest this because it seems everyone else is getting your nerves quite high and this is not good for your BP. Let them know how nervous you are getting with all the different options that may happen (induction/C-section) and how you are not sleeping well either.

It was different for me because when I was told I was to go in the next day for induction I was quite excited as I knew I would be meeting my little girl the next day! I did find out all the information about induction from the midwife who did our prenatal classes so I knew what was what but I went into that labour room with a clear head on how MY birthing experience would be, because it was mine and noone elses.

Please take care of yourself and let yourself enjoy this time and the only other advice I can give is that whatever birth process you go through, it is the most powerful and rewarding moment of your life, take it with pride