High Blood Pressure and Your Pregnancy

High Blood Pressure - also known as Hypertension - can cause problems for both Mom and baby during pregnancy. It is also a preventable problem.

Risk factors during pregnancy w/ Hypertension:  A pregnant woman with high blood pressure is at risk of superimposed preeclampsia, preterm delivery and bed rest with high blood pressures. This means increased doctor visits, increased in Ultrasound frequency to monitor baby and mom and nonstress tests starting at 32 weeks to monitor baby and mom.

Who is at risk? Anyone who starts pregnancy overweight might already have high blood pressure. Anyone who had preeclampsia in her previous pregnancy and is overweight has a higher chance of needing medication to control blood pressure during next pregnancy. Pre-pregnancy planning is so important to get Mom's weight down.

Signs: There are no real signs of high blood pressure. There's not a sudden onset of symptoms like preeclampsia, which is high blood pressure during pregnancy, usually in the third trimester. Chronic hypertension is something pre-existing and then usually gets worse or leads to other complications during the pregnancy. It is important to get your blood pressure checked once or twice each year, particularly if you have a Body Mass Index (or BMI) of 25 or greater. (Calculate your BMI) Once diagnosed, high blood pressure can be treated with medication, exercise and a healthy diet.

Prevention: Lose weight before getting pregnant. It is possible that by doing this alone, you may not need blood pressure meds and the hypertension could be cured. Planning for pregnancies can prevent a lot of risk during pregnancy by getting weight within normal limits, exercising, and taking folic acid.

PRE PREGNANCY PLANNING: Women in Utah have a tendency to space their children closer than other parts of the country. This means that they start their later pregnancies overweight (BMI of 25-39.9 with BMI of over 30 defined as obese). And, if they had preeclampsia with their firstborn, they are then at risk for developing high blood pressure with their next pregnancy earlier than the first trimester, which then is labeled "gestational hypertension" and puts them at all the same risk as mentioned above. There is only so much medication a patient should take to control the blood pressure. Intergestional spacing is recommended by health professionals as about 2 1/2 years between birth and the next conception.

Source: Katrina Jensen, Healthy Beginnings Perinatal Care Manager from Selecthealth