Anyone's blood pressure drop after delivery and/or anesthesia?

pinkcallalily · May 2011

Sorry, this is long and kind of random, but I'm just trying to figure things out.

After my egg retrieval, my blood pressure was a bit low and I took a little bit to wake up. It wasn't bad, but my bp was around 90/60 and instead of waking up quickly it took me about an hour to really know what was going on. No one seemed concerned and I didn't bother asking about it because I was too focused on whether or not I would get pregnant.

After I delivered my son, my blood pressure dropped to around 60/30 and they eventually gave me ephedrine to bring it back up. I had an epidural and they gave me lidocaine before sewing me up because I had such a bad tear, so I don't know if either of those could have caused it or if it was just a side effect of giving birth. It didn't drop immediately after, but probably 30 - 60 minutes (don't have my records in front of me so I'm not sure). My OB was already gone by the time any of this happened so it was just the nurses and eventually an anesthesiologist (that seemed really mad she wasn't called earlier according to my husband). I have about an hour or two after he was born that I don't really remember anything so the information I have is from my copy of the hospital chart and my husband. I was a bit concerned this time, but I didn't bother asking in the hospital because I was too focused on my son and recovery. My pp follow-up was with a nurse, so I didn't bother then. Then I just figured I would ask about it sometime before delivery if I ever got pregnant again.

I had my d&c almost 2 weeks ago, lost a ton of blood, had a transfusion. Blood pressure was extremely low for a while, but I completely understand why it happened this time.

None of these seem like the same situation, but my blood pressure seems to get really low after medical procedures. I'm going to ask my OB about this at my d&c follow-up, but I'm mostly just wondering if it's common for your blood pressure to drop so much after delivery. Google hasn't helped me much. Now that I'm no longer pregnant, I need to reschedule a knee surgery that was supposed to take place last month and to be honest, I'm a little concerned about it. It should be no big deal, but things never seem to be as easy as they say they will for me.

beebe929 · May 2011

My good friend had heart issues with both her c/s. In her case it is almost like her heart slows way down. They concluded (the drs) that one of her cardiac nerve roots was lower than the normal person and that the spinal block was causing that to shut down too.

It isn't quite the same thing, but it could be something similar?!?!

Germanwife2b · May 2011

It is normal to drop your blood pressure after you have a baby (and also after you have an epidural administered- this is why you are required to receive a liter of fluid before you get an epidural). Blood loss is normal with childbirth and a little more than normal blood loss can equal a little more than normal blood pressure drop. 60/30 is low. You are a small person so I bet you drop your blood pressure more frequently and more easily than someone who is larger. You probably run on the low side to begin with. So, to answer your question, blood pressure does drop with childbirth and with anesthesia many times. Before you get your next procedure, discuss your concerns with them (and the anesthesiologist). It may be a consideration in what types or how much medication they end up giving you. I hope that helps.

roxydaisy · May 2011

When I had my epidural my blood pressure dipped very low and I started vomiting uncontrollably. They had to call the anesthesiologist back to have him adjust the amount of meds I was getting. After he adjusted it my B/P went back to normal, which is on the low side (100/60-ish) anyway. I'm really not sure what about the epidural caused it to happen. I've had anesthesia before and had some issues with vomiting but this was my first epidural and the first time I had B/P issues.

GypsyEsq · May 2011

Mine dropped with my epidural -- I was warned this was very common.

pinkcallalily · May 2011

Germanwife2b:
It is normal to drop your blood pressure after you have a baby (and also after you have an epidural administered- this is why you are required to receive a liter of fluid before you get an epidural). Blood loss is normal with childbirth and a little more than normal blood loss can equal a little more than normal blood pressure drop. 60/30 is low. You are a small person so I bet you drop your blood pressure more frequently and more easily than someone who is larger. You probably run on the low side to begin with. So, to answer your question, blood pressure does drop with childbirth and with anesthesia many times. Before you get your next procedure, discuss your concerns with them (and the anesthesiologist). It may be a consideration in what types or how much medication they end up giving you. I hope that helps.

I was hoping you might reply since I figured you would have a good answer! You are right, my blood pressure does tend to run on the low side. I also remember them telling me I lost a decent amount of blood during delivery, but that wasn't until a day or two later when they told me my iron was low. I do remember my OB talking to us the day after my d&c and mentioning that I might just be a bleeder. My poor husband is the one that gets really upset about this because he has to sit there and watch while the blood pressure machine keeps beeping and more and more people keep coming in, while I just lay there mostly unaware of what is happening. I've ordered my hospital chart from my d&c and I'm really curious to see it once it gets here. I'm the type to google everything I don't understand until I fill in the blanks of what I don't remember, which is at least half of this past hospital stay because I was really out of it for a while.

pinkcallalily · May 2011

GypsyEsq:
Mine dropped with my epidural -- I was warned this was very common.

It's quite possible they warned me about this, but I didn't get the epidural until I had been stuck at 9 cm for 4 hours and awake for 30+ hours so I highly doubt I listened to anything they said Smile

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Anyone's blood pressure drop after delivery and/or anesthesia?

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