St. Albert & Sturgeon Primary Care Network
High Blood Pressure in Pregnancy
What is blood pressure?
Blood pressure is the pressure in the arteries in your body. It is the force with which the blood moves through the blood vessels. Doctors and nurses measure blood pressure by putting a cuff around your upper arm. Then they listen to your blood flow with a stethoscope. High blood pressure is also called “hypertension”.
What causes high blood pressure during pregnancy?
There are three types of high blood pressure in pregnant women:
- Chronic hypertension: Sometimes a woman has high blood pressure for a long time before she gets pregnant, but she doesn't know it until her first prenatal check-up.
- Preeclampsia: This condition can cause serious problems for both the mother and the baby. It only happens in the second half of pregnancy. It causes high blood pressure, protein in the urine, blood changes and other problems.
- Pregnancy induced hypertension: Some women just get high blood pressure near the end of pregnancy. They don't have any other signs of preeclampsia.
Why is high blood pressure during pregnancy a problem?
High blood pressure during pregnancy can cause problems for you and your baby:
- High blood pressure can make your baby grow too slowly. Women with chronic hypertension are also more likely to get preeclampsia, which can be very dangerous.
- High blood pressure is not the main problem, but it is one of the main signs of preeclampsia. Preeclampsia can cause problems with your brain (headache and seizures), your eyes (blurred vision), your liver (pain in your belly), and your blood and other organs. It can make your baby grow slowly.
- Pregnancy induced hypertension: This condition does not cause any problems for you or your baby.
How is high blood pressure treated in pregnant women?
The treatment of high blood pressure will depend on the reason for it:
- If you are already taking medicine for high blood pressure, your healthcare provider may want you to keep taking that medicine. If that medicine is not safe for the baby, your healthcare provider will want you to change to another medicine. Your doctor will pay special attention to how your baby is growing. You might have ultrasound exams more often. Your doctor will watch closely for signs of preeclampsia.
- How your healthcare provider treats preeclampsia depends on how close you are to your due date and how you and your baby are doing. The only treatment that stops preeclampsia is to deliver the baby. If your baby is born very early, it may have serious health problems. But your healthcare provider may want your baby to be delivered early if you or the baby are sick. If your healthcare provider thinks it is safe for the pregnancy to go on, he or she will watch you and your baby very closely until delivery. You will see your doctor often and have blood tests.
- Pregnancy induced hypertension often doesn't need any treatment. But it can be hard to tell this condition from early or mild preeclampsia, so your doctor will watch you very closely to make sure your high blood pressure elevation is not actually preeclampsia.
What happens to high blood pressure after delivery?
- If you suffer from chronic hypertension your blood pressure will probably stay high after you have your baby. You will have to keep taking medicine for high blood pressure.
- If you develop preeclampsia your blood pressure will go back to normal within 6 to 12 weeks after you have your baby.
- If you experience transient hypertension your blood pressure will go back to normal within 6 to 12 weeks after you have your baby. But you are more likely to get chronic high blood pressure later in life.