Worried and a bit confused

[kometa]

Hi all.

Exactly a week ago my 33 year old girlfriend had a routine appointment with her OB/GYN. I usually accompany her but I had a very busy day at work so this particular time I couldn't. the OB/GYN found her BP to be a bit high <150/96> so they decided to keep her overnight. Her ankles and fingers were swollen due to liquid retention (this doesn't necessary mean she has PE, right?). around noon the next day they released her with a normal BP <136/82> but asked her to take a BP monitor home. She was asked to monitor her BP 3 times a day and call to the hospital in case her Diastolic reached 95 or above.

This week her BP has been between 120-140/76-90.

Yesterday, after a pretty hectic day of shopping and such, her BP peeked at 134/94. Needless to say we got a bit worried. We decided to sleep (it was half past twelve) and to call the hospital in the morning. This morning her BP was down to <126/80>. We were told by the doctor on the phone that since the BP had gone down again there was no reason to be alarmed. And that she should take it easy and rest.

Her urine levels have always been normal and no protein has ever been detected.

So, I'm wondering the following.

In your opinion is there any reason to be alarmed? Is this PE or simply irregular BP? Can this damage my GF and or the baby?

My GF is in week 38 and she's been set to give birth on the 15th of August.


Thanx in Advance.

Cris

P.S. we live in Denmark, Europe and the health system is a bit different here than in the US.

[fiona]

Cris, welcome,

it does sound as though there may be rumblings of something going on with your girlfriend. With PIH (pregnancy induced hypertension) and pe, we tend to see BP becoming labile (jumping around a lot) before it goes up and stays up.

I would certainly recomend that she takes the advice to rest seriously - feet up, lying on her left side and keeping activity to a minimum. You are quite right to call in if her BP starts to creep up and if she shows any new symptoms - facial swelling, nausea, visual disturbances, upper right quadrant pain or a headache that won't go away with painkillers - go straight into hospital.

38 weeks is a great place to be should she need to be induced. Keep a close eye on her, never think you are overreacting by seeking medical attention and reassurance and keep a log of those BPs so the doctors can look for trends.

Good luck - I'm partial to Aug 15 birthdays, as that's my own ;-)

[kometa]

Thank you for your swift reply.

Relaxing and tking it easy are not things that come naturally to my girlfriend.
I will be keeping an eye out for the symptomes you described.

Thank you

/ Cris