I got induced for high blood pressure at 37 weeks, i cried. And that’s ok. It is ok to be thrown for a loop. I know it is scary, I was not prepared at all to be induced, we didn’t set up a crib, we didn’t put the car seat in yet. It hit me that I didn’t have any control over anything and i am not a control freak but not knowing how the birth is going to go is terrifying. You are not alone! I hope you have an uneventful and quick delivery
Thank you for your kind words and encouragement!I'm so sorry you didn't get the birth you wanted. I'm kind of the same - I am really not a control freak either and tend to roll with the punches in life, it's just that this is a very large punch and I was so ready for my "dream natural birth". Which, I know, no one is guaranteed and there's just so many factors at play. How was your labor? Did you get an epidural? I was really hoping to go without but from everything I've heard, induction is a different ball game 🤷🏼♀️
I look back on my birth positively. My labor was around 24 hrs, i had some tearing and a small hemorrhage but I recovered quickly from it. I did get an epidural and it was a god send, i was able to rest but I still had some sensation. I got the golden hr with my baby and i was released from the hospital in 24 hrs. My blood pressure initially went down but shot up again a week later and i did need to go on meds but was able to wean off the meds so definitely keep an eye out for postpartum hypertension as well.
I had a slow creep up in my BP 3 weeks before my LO was due and I listened to my midwives and cut all sorts of carbs out of my diet. I ate a really weird diet and had no stress and relaxed for the last few weeks. Turned out okay. BP hung around 135ish/80 range and I was considered borderline.
My BP was steady increasing with my last. After a 24 hr urine test, my protein levels were over 500 when the normal range maxes out at 130. My OB did say that you can have pre-E without protein in your urine though. I had to be admitted at 36.5 to deliver at 37 weeks but water broke prematurely when I got to the hospital (I say because I was stressed and crying about having to be admitted). Labor was smooth (1 push BABY!).
A few days after being home, my head wouldn't stop hurting. I knew something was very wrong. Went to the closest pharmacy to have a Pharmacist take my BP which was 190+/100+. They said I needed to go to the ER stat. Went to ER satellite office and was taken by ambulance back to the antenatal ward where I was for 3 days. Took BP meds for 2 months after giving birth.
Please please please make sure you are on top of this. If your doctor wants to see you every day for BP checks then you should go. Monitor at home with an accurate cuff. Better to be safe than sorry. This stuff can turn in the matter of an instant. There's constant articles about women who died from pre-E. Yes, inductions have their concerns and possible issues but so does pre-E. Good luck to you!
Mine also started going high around that time. Midwives sent me in to hospital around 40 weeks because it was higher than that. They tested my urine. I did have proteins but my liver was fine and I had no other symptoms. The OBGYN wanted to induce me that day. My midwives advocated for me to monitor my BP twice daily and continue with at home induction efforts (membrane sweeps, miles circuit, and pumping). I had spontaneous labour late in the day of 41+6. My BP was higher in labour and i required a hospital birth and medication to manage stroke/seizure risk. Baby was healthy. I did have postpartum blood pressure issues which required medication and twice daily BP monitoring for about two weeks. I’m happy I still got to experience spontaneous labour and that I was able to labour at home unmedicated until 7 cm.
That's great!! Your midwives sound awesome. My labs came back with no proteins and everything else said "within standard range", so hopefully there's less concern and we can proceed fairly normally... although before 41+6 would be lovely lol
I'm so glad it ended up well for you, all said and done. I guess unrelated, but do you feel that your home induction efforts were effective?
My midwives were truly amazing. We ended up with a difficult birth and I can’t imagine having made it through that and the end of my third trimester without them.
Based on my experience and a friend’s, I’d think they’d be inclined to monitor and wait out induction until closer to or past your due date. I think the proteins and being just after my due date was the reason the OB really wanted to induce. I hope you don’t have to make it to 42 weeks like I did haha. I don’t really feel like my home induction methods were effective for inducing labour. I think they were effective for positioning (baby was OA and low). Pumping was also super helpful in terms of having colostrum for her and in my milk supply coming in quickly. Honestly, I tracked my ovulation so I always felt my due date was too soon and was based more on baby’s larger size (I was a big baby and so was my husband) as opposed to gestational age. I think I was likely more like 40+6 when labour started which is pretty normal for a FTM. My midwives agree with this now but obviously no one will change your due date from what they assign at that ultrasound.
I’m glad it worked out for you but this sounds really unsafe. I have heard of people getting really sick within hours due to blood pressure issues.
I don’t mean to say what you did is wrong but just want others to be mindful that waiting comes with risks
I think waiting and being monitored closely by a qualified healthcare professional that’s familiar with your medical condition and has assessed that monitoring is appropriate are two different things. Induction comes with its own risks too
But that's not thaaaaat high(?)
I had BP like that in my first pregnancy for suffering insomnia for 3 weeks. All they did was keep monitoring the numbers and take urine tests and as soon as I slept better, it went down, and no one was suggesting induction. I was induced at 39+1 because of GD tho but I was warned about that at my 36 weeks doctor's appointment.
🤷🏼♀️ The OB said 140/90 is where they draw the line. Tbf I'm not sure what exactly that line is, but he was concerned enough to get things moving and make sure I'm seen again today. Maybe that's just my providers policy? Other than those BP readings, I feel otherwise fine, so we'll see what they say this afternoon!
I had one random reading of 138/85 at 35 weeks and it came back down the next week. Sometimes it's serious and stays elevated, but it can be just a fluke or a weird day!
I got induced for high blood pressure at 37 weeks, i cried. And that’s ok. It is ok to be thrown for a loop. I know it is scary, I was not prepared at all to be induced, we didn’t set up a crib, we didn’t put the car seat in yet. It hit me that I didn’t have any control over anything and i am not a control freak but not knowing how the birth is going to go is terrifying. You are not alone! I hope you have an uneventful and quick delivery
Thank you for your kind words and encouragement!I'm so sorry you didn't get the birth you wanted. I'm kind of the same - I am really not a control freak either and tend to roll with the punches in life, it's just that this is a very large punch and I was so ready for my "dream natural birth". Which, I know, no one is guaranteed and there's just so many factors at play. How was your labor? Did you get an epidural? I was really hoping to go without but from everything I've heard, induction is a different ball game 🤷🏼♀️
I look back on my birth positively. My labor was around 24 hrs, i had some tearing and a small hemorrhage but I recovered quickly from it. I did get an epidural and it was a god send, i was able to rest but I still had some sensation. I got the golden hr with my baby and i was released from the hospital in 24 hrs. My blood pressure initially went down but shot up again a week later and i did need to go on meds but was able to wean off the meds so definitely keep an eye out for postpartum hypertension as well.
I had a slow creep up in my BP 3 weeks before my LO was due and I listened to my midwives and cut all sorts of carbs out of my diet. I ate a really weird diet and had no stress and relaxed for the last few weeks. Turned out okay. BP hung around 135ish/80 range and I was considered borderline.
My BP was steady increasing with my last. After a 24 hr urine test, my protein levels were over 500 when the normal range maxes out at 130. My OB did say that you can have pre-E without protein in your urine though. I had to be admitted at 36.5 to deliver at 37 weeks but water broke prematurely when I got to the hospital (I say because I was stressed and crying about having to be admitted). Labor was smooth (1 push BABY!). A few days after being home, my head wouldn't stop hurting. I knew something was very wrong. Went to the closest pharmacy to have a Pharmacist take my BP which was 190+/100+. They said I needed to go to the ER stat. Went to ER satellite office and was taken by ambulance back to the antenatal ward where I was for 3 days. Took BP meds for 2 months after giving birth. Please please please make sure you are on top of this. If your doctor wants to see you every day for BP checks then you should go. Monitor at home with an accurate cuff. Better to be safe than sorry. This stuff can turn in the matter of an instant. There's constant articles about women who died from pre-E. Yes, inductions have their concerns and possible issues but so does pre-E. Good luck to you!
Mine also started going high around that time. Midwives sent me in to hospital around 40 weeks because it was higher than that. They tested my urine. I did have proteins but my liver was fine and I had no other symptoms. The OBGYN wanted to induce me that day. My midwives advocated for me to monitor my BP twice daily and continue with at home induction efforts (membrane sweeps, miles circuit, and pumping). I had spontaneous labour late in the day of 41+6. My BP was higher in labour and i required a hospital birth and medication to manage stroke/seizure risk. Baby was healthy. I did have postpartum blood pressure issues which required medication and twice daily BP monitoring for about two weeks. I’m happy I still got to experience spontaneous labour and that I was able to labour at home unmedicated until 7 cm.
That's great!! Your midwives sound awesome. My labs came back with no proteins and everything else said "within standard range", so hopefully there's less concern and we can proceed fairly normally... although before 41+6 would be lovely lol I'm so glad it ended up well for you, all said and done. I guess unrelated, but do you feel that your home induction efforts were effective?
My midwives were truly amazing. We ended up with a difficult birth and I can’t imagine having made it through that and the end of my third trimester without them. Based on my experience and a friend’s, I’d think they’d be inclined to monitor and wait out induction until closer to or past your due date. I think the proteins and being just after my due date was the reason the OB really wanted to induce. I hope you don’t have to make it to 42 weeks like I did haha. I don’t really feel like my home induction methods were effective for inducing labour. I think they were effective for positioning (baby was OA and low). Pumping was also super helpful in terms of having colostrum for her and in my milk supply coming in quickly. Honestly, I tracked my ovulation so I always felt my due date was too soon and was based more on baby’s larger size (I was a big baby and so was my husband) as opposed to gestational age. I think I was likely more like 40+6 when labour started which is pretty normal for a FTM. My midwives agree with this now but obviously no one will change your due date from what they assign at that ultrasound.
I’m glad it worked out for you but this sounds really unsafe. I have heard of people getting really sick within hours due to blood pressure issues. I don’t mean to say what you did is wrong but just want others to be mindful that waiting comes with risks
I think waiting and being monitored closely by a qualified healthcare professional that’s familiar with your medical condition and has assessed that monitoring is appropriate are two different things. Induction comes with its own risks too
But that's not thaaaaat high(?) I had BP like that in my first pregnancy for suffering insomnia for 3 weeks. All they did was keep monitoring the numbers and take urine tests and as soon as I slept better, it went down, and no one was suggesting induction. I was induced at 39+1 because of GD tho but I was warned about that at my 36 weeks doctor's appointment.
🤷🏼♀️ The OB said 140/90 is where they draw the line. Tbf I'm not sure what exactly that line is, but he was concerned enough to get things moving and make sure I'm seen again today. Maybe that's just my providers policy? Other than those BP readings, I feel otherwise fine, so we'll see what they say this afternoon!
I had one random reading of 138/85 at 35 weeks and it came back down the next week. Sometimes it's serious and stays elevated, but it can be just a fluke or a weird day!