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Your body is making tremendous adjustments to support your growing baby during pregnancy. The changes happening inside your body are as impressive as the visible changes you can see on the outside.
Blood pressure is an excellent way to learn more about the health and wellness of mom and baby.
For most women, the relaxing effect of progesterone causes the blood vessels throughout the body to relax a bit, causing her blood pressure in pregnancy to be a little lower than her non-pregnant blood pressure. The blood pressure drops in early pregnancy, and stays low until the 3rd trimester when it may gradually rise again to help you circulate the increased blood volume you have late in pregnancy.
The average blood pressure range is between 110/70 and 120/80, although this varies a lot in pregnancy. If your blood pressure reaches 140/90 it is considered “pregnancy induced hypertension”. Although gestational hypertension usually goes away after the birth, it may be an indication that you are at risk for hypertension later in life. Hypertension can be caused by stress. Some women get it simply because of underlying anxiety. But in 7-10% of women, elevated blood pressure can be a part of a condition called pre-eclampsia. We monitor blood pressure throughout pregnancy, and recommend some important strategies to support your healthy blood pressure.
If your blood pressure is above 140/90, we need to set up an appointment with a physician who can help us make sure everything is ok. Most of the time, a few changes to diet and using relaxation strategies can keep your blood pressure controlled.
What effect does high blood pressure have?
Imagine what would happen if you use a high pressure hose to clean the screens on your windows. The forceful water could bend the fine wires that make up the mesh of the window screen. In a similar way, high blood pressure can cause damage to the mother’s kidneys, liver, and also to the placenta.
Kidneys: Kidneys have a filtration system in them that functions like a window screen. High pressure blood can damage the filtration system, causing the filters to expand, reducing the amount of filtration. We can see the amount of damage by doing a urine test to measure protein.
Placenta: The placenta attaches to the uterus with little fibers that resemble Velcro. At high pressure, blood can cause damage to the connections, reducing the amount of nutrition and oxygen that travels across the placenta to the baby. This can cause a wide range of consequences including restricting the baby’s growth.
What is the plan?
We are a team. If we have some concerns about your blood pressure, we will need to work together to support your health.
Fetal Kick Counts. Please do standardized, fetal kick counts daily. Be aware of your baby’s normal movements and contact your midwife if they change. Read the handout “Fetal Kick Counts” for specific information about how to standardize them.
Take your blood pressure at home in the morning and at night. If you get a reading of 140/90 or greater, rest for 1 hour and take it again. If it is still elevated, call your midwife. Make sure you have been sitting still for at least 5 minutes. Keep your feet flat on the floor. Do not talk during the test. Breathe slowly and stay totally relaxed. Rest your arm on a supportive surface at about chest level while the test is being performed.
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