What bp is right?

[honeykovu]

I developed severe PE last pregnancy which put me in the hospital at 29 weeks (24 hr protein level was 3000) and caused me to deliver at 31 weeks after being on 14 bp pills a day to try and bring down my pressures.

I am pregnant again and 30 and a half weeks. I have been taking my bp twice daily for the past 3 months and it has always been normal until 2 days ago. It was 136/93 2 nights ago, then went down to 122/83 yesterday morning, then last night it was 138/88 and this morning it was 119/83. All of these readings have been after resting for 15+ min. The only thing that has happened a few days ago is I developed a cold which I have been fighting for 3 days now. Not sure if this could cause my nightly pressures to rise, but then why would they be low in the morning? I am seeing my doctor in 2 days so will see what he says, but I don't know what to think, are my pressures high or not? If you look at the night ones then the answer is yes, but the morning ones say no.

[trish]

Welcome! A cold could certainly cause your BP to go up a little as could meds you might be taking (like Sudafed). BP can vary by 10-15 points throughout the day and that's perfectly normal. Since your BP at night isn't much out of that range from your morning BP I wouldn't be too concerned - but I'm not a Dr. (Just someone who's been there, done that with high BP).

If it were me, I might add in a mid day BP check and just track it for the next 2 days until you see your Dr. and then share the readings with him/her. You might also ask specifically what they would consider a "high" reading for YOU (since everyone's high differs - my call in BP was 160/110 in my 3rd pregnancy). Other people might freak at that BP, my OB just said, guess we have to adjust your meds again. Sometimes Dr's have both a call in BP # and a go directly to L/D BP number. Or they might say call in if you get a high BP number that remains high for an hour, 2, 6 hours. You just need to see what your Dr. feels is right for you.

But for now, probably resting this weekend is the best idea for your BP and that cold! Hang in there.

[honeykovu]

Thank you for the reply. My bp was good last night and this morning so hopefully those two high readings were just flukes and not a sign that my pressures are starting to rise. Anyways, I will find out in the morning what my doctor says. I'm at least glad that I am only a few days away from when I gave birth last time and so far PE hasn't raised it ugly head. Praying this means I can make it to full-term this pregnancy.

[honeykovu]

Well looks like I may be heading down the PE path again. Blood pressure was up this morning at 130/90-93 and 2+ urine on the dipstick.
Had labs drawn to check for liver and kidney function and I am doing the 24hr urine on Wednesday. I guess the only good news is that if it is PE again at least it held off until now, at this stage last time I had PE for a month and a half and had to deliver at this stage where I am now, so if it is starting again maybe I can make it to my 1st goal of 34 weeks.