You’re Pregnant! Watch That Blood Pressure

Regular prenatal checkups allow your doctor to detect and treat hypertension

Your Community, Your Hospital

Care and education for expectant mothers is a big part of what we do at the Center for Women’s Medicine, our obstetrics/gynecology practice. Care is offered to all; a sliding fee scale is available for patients without insurance, and some may qualify for free care. Our physicians and residents also offer high-quality care in pediatrics, surgery, dentistry, family and internal medicine, geriatrics and mental health, with special programs like Centro de Salud for the Latino community. Our clinics had a total of 127,345 visits this year. In photo, Tammie Cruz of Allentown gets a blood pressure check from Jane Laudenslager, R.N.

If you’re like many healthy young women, you’ve never given blood pressure a thought. Now that you’re pregnant, your doctor is strapping that cuff to your arm at every prenatal checkup. There’s a good reason for it. High blood pressure (hypertension) can lead to many complications during pregnancy, and there are no symptoms. Frequent monitoring is the only way to detect and treat this serious condition.

The fact is, many women develop high blood pressure long before pregnancy, but it’s not detected until their first prenatal checkup. “Because of the rise in obesity, which is linked with high blood pressure, we’re seeing an increasing number of pregnant women with hypertension,” says cardiologist Darla Hess, M.D., of Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network.

Other women have normal pressure before becoming pregnant, but experience a rise during the nine months of pregnancy. In some, this “pregnancy-induced” high blood pressure leads to a potentially deadly complication called preeclampsia. “Blood pressure usually goes down during the second trimester (weeks 13-24). If you have this normal drop in pressure, it’s a good sign you won’t develop preeclampsia,” says Wayne Hess, M.D., a perinatologist (high-risk childbirth specialist) with Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network.

No one knows for certain why some women develop preeclampsia, and its symptoms (blood pressure above 140/90, lower leg swelling and protein in the urine) aren’t always consistent. About 10 percent of first-time mothers develop it. Left untreated, preeclampsia can lead to serious complications such as kidney and liver damage, brain swelling and stroke. “Existing high blood pressure, diabetes or kidney disease increases your risk for preeclampsia,” says Hesses’ colleague, obstetrician Amanda Flicker, M.D. “Your age also plays a role. Women older than 35 and younger than 18 are at higher risk.”

If you develop high blood pressure or preeclampsia, your doctor will try to prolong your pregnancy as long as safely possible, to allow time for the baby to develop. Your doctor may prescribe bed rest to help reduce your blood pressure, along with medications to manage your symptoms and speed the baby’s lung development.

Can you prevent preeclampsia? “Because high blood pressure raises your risk, do everything you can to keep blood pressure under control before you become pregnant,” Darla Hess says. Have your blood pressure tested regularly, maintain a healthy weight, eat a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, and get plenty of exercise.

Want to Know More about preeclampsia? Click here. Or click here for a class on how to makeover your blood pressure.

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