gestational hypertension

mattandlora

Well, I officially have gestational hypertension. I've never had high BP before. I did during the last 1-2 weeks of my last pregnancy, but it kicked in much earlier this time. I don't have protein in the urine or any symptoms of preeclampsia. But I'm supposed to reduce stress and stay off my feet as much as possible. Right. I work full-time and have a toddler at home. It's going to be a long 10 weeks. I hope to make it another 5 weeks at least.

KateLouise

Ugh, that sounds reasonably unachievable.

Is DH around in the evenings/mornings and able to take some of that strain?

Do you have a job that allows some/more desk work?

I hope it's not causing you too much stress, and that baby can stay in there as long as possible!

cneiding

with my 4th child my BP went up during when I had about 6 weeks left.  It was odd because I never had bp problems before in pregnancy and I never did again either!  It never went super duper high just high enough to need to be watched.  I started weekly appointments then.  I never got protein in my urine and did the 24 hour catch thing a couple times during that span.  I rested more often and tried to nap when I could but I had 3 children including a 2 year old who happened to be my most active child ever.  He ended up being my largest baby, although I have had others that were a few ounces within his weight.  I thought maybe it was just his enormous size taxing my body...but who knows! (he was 11 lbs even). I went a week post due and then was induced but not really because of my BP there were other reasons but thats another long story.  My BP never really got worse or better during that whole time span. 

Does yours drop when you do lay down and rest?  Mine always did and I guess that was a really good sign. 

I hope your experience is like mine in that it really didn't do any harm and never really progressed into a big deal.

I hope

NeonNoon

Hang in there.  You'll get through this.  

mattandlora

@KateLouise - DH has been a tremendous help and there's not much more I could ask him to do. He's already doing stuff all waking hours. I work as a physician. Other than charting, there isn't much downtime. I got taken off work due to BP at 38ish weeks last time, then begged to be induced at 39 weeks because I was so bored. However, this time the high BP kicked in much earlier.

@cneiding - My first high reading was at my 24 week check. I started monitoring it at home / work and slowly watched it creep up. The hardest part for me is that a lot of symptoms of preeclampsia are things I had before the pregnancy, or developed on day 1 of the pregnancy. I had migraines before the pregnancy. I had asthma before the pregnancy. I get severe heartburn all through my pregnancies. So when the symptoms I'm supposed to watch for include headaches, difficulty breathing, and abdominal pain...right.

@neonnoon - Yep, we definitely have to make some changes ASAP with the extended family situation.

mdogan29

Hey @mattandlora - I'm right there with you (no toddler though!)!  Except they called mine Unexplained Gestational Hypertension, b/c I've also had good bloodwork and no protein in the urine or anything, so not sure what's causing it. I guess mine has been considered high since about week 29, but I also noticed it creeping up since right about the end of the second trimester. I've also been having shortness of breath and rapid heartbeat as well, but OB thought that was from position of baby. I keep asking them if I'm going to have to go on bed rest and they told me to watch for swelling & headaches as well -- I had a terrible headache a few weeks ago, but went away with Tylenol. After reading your comments, I will definitely relax even more than before, I do not want him coming early! Thank you for sharing!   I hope you're able to get some help with your toddler!!

mattandlora

@mdogan - Mine sounds the same as yours!