High blood pressure

I had this with my first pregnancy. Mine didn’t occur until I got 40 weeks and got quite bad. Was put on labetalol and was induced. Was in hospital for 5 days as even after delivery my BP was still dangerously high. Finally was able to go home 3 days after baby was born but on BP medication for a few weeks after. Had regular check ups and it went back to normal. I’m pregnant with baby number 2 and having signs of increased BP so have to home monitor twice a day. I’m currently 33+3 x

@Jai have they mentioned early induction to you?

I had high blood pressure from day 1 of pregnancy. Just got more regular checks. But I needed up growing a small baby and we were induced at 37 weeks due to blood pressure and growing small. I wouldn't worry about it if they are checking up regularly and you are on labetalol. I had to carry on with the labetalol until my 6 week check up when they took me off

A similar story to Jai. My BP was checked on the Friday (39) and all OK, then on the Saturday (39+1) it was through the roof, diagnosed early Sunday morning as Hellp syndrome and arrived by c section that afternoon. I got plenty of attention post birth with my BP being the main concern and not discharged until the wednesday. I'm due to see the GP next week to start reducing Labetalol🤞

@Lucy no not yet but I’ve made it very clear with consultants I do not want to risk the same thing happening again and don’t want her to be delivered after 40 weeks. Have been offered stretch and sweeps from 38 and then will go from there x

@Annie what dosage of labetalol are you on?

@Annie they still have wiggle room to up your dosage. They've upped mine to 200mg 3 times a day and the midwife said they can increase that more and/or pair another medication with it. Pre-eclampsia is a worry with you being 2nd trimester still but keep an eye out for the symptoms and call triage if you are worried about anything.

I developed high blood pressure late in my pregnancy and had regular check ups and growth scans. The lebatalol kept it at a reasonable level but I was booked for induction on my due date as soon as they discovered it.

@Kirsty so they let you go to due date. That's good 👍

I developed high BP at 36+4, was put on labetalol 200mg 3x daily and had to go in for BP monitoring and urine checks at the day assessment unit every couple of days. I was admitted for 2 nights at 37+2 for monitoring due to it not settling enough and dosage was increased to 200mg 4x daily. Baby was breech, measuring in the 25th percentile and high BP meant a c-section was booked for 38+4. I had to stay a couple of nights after delivery as BP was still high and they didn’t want to discharge me until it was stable. In the day 5 midwife home visit my BP was super high and I ended up being readmitted for two nights while they tried different medication. Ended up on labetalol 200mg 3x daily and enalapril 7.5mg 1x daily.. had midwives/health visitors calling every day until I reached day 14 post delivery to check my BP (while preeclampsia was still a risk), after this it was managed with the GP and slowly weaned off the meds myself by about 8 weeks post delivery. It was a journey!!

@Katy that sounds like one hell of journey. You poor thing. I'm surprised they let you go until 38+4! I hadn't even thought after postpartum being a problem. Thank you for sharing your story. The doctor has told me to take each appointment as it comes which I can't stand being the control freak that I am 🤣 so I'm trying to learn as much from others as I can. X

My BP has been between 132/136 basically every time Iv had to checked so I feel like I'm heading in this direction. Now 30 weeks. Following as I know nothing about it!

I’m currently 36+3. They told me at 33 weeks that it’s likely they may induce me at 37 weeks. On Monday, they will let me know if they will induce me. I’ve been on 300mg of labetalol twice a day since I was 14 weeks. My BP is fine when I’m at the hospital but high at home for some strange reason!! They’ve given me regular growth scans and now I’m having to go to the day assessment unit twice a week to be monitored. Keep asking for regular scans and appointments to be monitored!

@Jess if your diastolic is that high they should have put you on medication by now! What have they said?

@Tasneem I'm currently getting 2 appointments a week to check BP and urine. I've also had 2 growth scans and another one is booked for 3 weeks time. But I want more clarity on delivery. The doctor has said to take each appointment as it comes but I want to know whether induction is an option and on their radar because I hate going into each appointment not knowing if I'll be there for 20 minutes or 10 hours!

@Lucy I’m a massive control freak too and it really affected me at the time! I felt the excitement of the end of pregnancy was taken away with so many unknowns. I’d just make sure you have your hospital bags packed as in my experience it went quickly from a quick check up to being admitted 🥴 Hopefully it won’t continue for you after delivery, but if it does.. I found it mentally very hard to deal with alongside having a newborn, being back in the hospital and constant BP checks (I have nightmares about the noises the hospital BP machines made 😂) - but it does end and get better and in the grand scheme of things is such a small blip in time!! Also if delivery options are discussed, I found a planned c-section to be a very welcome ‘definite’ when there was a lot else that was unknown and stressful. Don’t get me wrong the recovery is something else.. but the c-section itself was very smooth and relaxed which was just what my blood pressure needed 😂😂 xx

@Lucy I actually went three days over as they didn't have space for me to be induced but they kept a close eye on me the whole time 😊

@Lucy just that they will keep an eye incase it goes over 140 🤷‍♀️

@Lucy oh sorry no I mean that it's around 135 over 80 usually. The second number is fine, it's the first/top number that's a bit close for comfort

@Jess that's a good reading. I really wouldn't worry about that. I have had ones around 138/93 at midwife appointments and they've let me go as long as it starts to reduce. Yesterday it went to 135/91 and they let me go home 👍