Blood Pressure After Delivery

I experienced this as well after the birth of my second child. I was immediately put on BP meds to keep it under control. After about 6 months ,I was slowly able to wean off the meds. I would be concerned that you don't have another appt for a month. I would also recommend getting a cuff and monitoring it at home.

I had it after all 3 of my pregnancies. It had nothing to do with diet or weight. It is just the way my body reacted to being pregnant. I had never had any issues before but my dad does have high blood pressure, so the pregnancy may have been bringing out what is in my heritage as well (per my doctors). I had to be put on blood pressure medication for a while after each until it normalized. It took a couple months with 2 of my pregnancies and over a year with the other. It is a good idea to get a blood pressure cuff to keep tabs on it at home. If it rises any more, you should make sure to get into a doctor sooner or ER if it is extremely high. I ended up going to an Internist instead of a family doctor. They seem to be more knowledgeable on blood pressure issues and medications if you need to go that route. I am sure if you've never had blood pressure issues, you will be able to get it back under control no problem with time. Mine still seems to fluctuate more than before. But, I have noticed that running a few times a week seems to help keep it more normal.

I had this problem with both pregnancies - toward the end and lingering after.

I met with my PCP and basically rearranged my nutrition plan to start reducing the amount of sodium I consumed and increasing the amount of potassium. Good choices of potassium include sweet potatoes, bananas, cantaloupe, kiwi, broccoli (I think), and others.

Google - DASH Diet (and go to the site listed by the NIH - National Institutes of health). It is the dietary approaches to stopping hypertension and is an eating plan that not only lowers the amount of sodium you consume on a daily basis but also increases the potassium and supports weight loss in a healthy way. Also google - foods high in potassium for ideas.

The first thing I would do is eliminate any extra salt from your diet. My blood pressure was a little elevated at the end of my pregnancy but it subsided after the baby was born. I know everybody always says get rid of the salt so I thought I would throw it out there. I will be praying for a quick recovery.

R. D.
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WorkAtHomeLike.Us

I"m thinking that is actually your body trying to normalize itself after having to add 45% extra blood volume during your pregnancy. That extra 45% isn't going to just disappear, it will take awhile to be absorbed by the body. In the meantime, I'm sure your blood pressure will be a bit higher than your usual.

Keep tabs on how you feel, dizziness, headache, feeling whoozy when standing from a sitting or lying position - so see the Dr.

Sleeping on your left side will help lower your blood pressure. I developed high blood pressure during my pregnancy, especially at the end, and was told to sleep on my left side. Afterward, my doc. told me to keep sleeping that way until it stabalized.

My docs (OB & GP) would medicate at that pressure.

If your BP was only high just before delivery you could be experiencing post-partum preeclampsia. They don't label you a chronic hypertensive until 12 weeks postpartum (if you still have high pressures.) Sometimes it takes a while for your body to heal from preeclampsia even though delivery is the start of the cure.

If I were you I'd see if I could get an appointment with my GP ASAP. They are more used to dealing with hypertension that most OBs.

In the meantime I would buy a blood pressure monitor from Walmart or Walgreens and keep a daily log. I recommend the OMROM brand with an arm cuff. Depending on your arm circumference you may have to buy a larger cuff but it should come with instructions.

The Preeclampsia Foundation is a great source of information and support when dealing with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. Their website is www.preeclampsia.org. I would check out their message board. In the meantime good luck, I hope your pressures are back to normal soon.

Since you had elevated BP at the end of your pregnancy, I would be cautious and call your OB and let her know that when you got the BP reading at your 6 week check up you were worried. Tell her everything that you wrote here, and tell her that you'd like to know what treatments are available to help reduce your blood pressure.

Laying on your left side helps reduce blood pressure immensely. Keeping hydrated along with your exercising, as well as keeping up with your nutrition should help. Don't underestimate the stress of being a new mom either and how stress and anxiety can increase blood pressure. It's not all about how much you weigh and getting back to prepregnancy weight when it comes to these health issues.

Keep up on your checking and if you EVER have a severe headache and get sick to your tummy go to ER immediately, I had Post Eclampsia with my last and ended up in ICU 4 times over the course of two months from High BP. Took a long while to get it under control lots of medication and tweaking of meds. Finally 5 mo post partum all issues dissapeared but we had some dangerous scary months after delivery. Please don't take this lightly.

I would highly suggest getting a blood pressure cup, I got one from target for $30 and keep track of your BP and make sure i doesn't get up over 160/100

I never had problems before my last pregnancy and haven;t had any since but it can be very serious.