What blood pressure is too high during pregnancy?
Body Mass Index (BMI): A number calculated from height and weight. BMI is used to determine whether a person is underweight, normal weight, overweight, or obese.
Cesarean Birth: Birth of a fetus from the uterus through an incision (cut) made in the woman’s abdomen.
Chronic Hypertension: Blood pressure that is higher than normal for a person’s age, sex, and physical condition.
Complications: Diseases or conditions that happen as a result of another disease or condition. An example is pneumonia that occurs as a result of the flu. A complication also can occur as a result of a condition, such as pregnancy. An example of a pregnancy complication is preterm labor.
Corticosteroids: Drugs given for arthritis or other medical conditions. These drugs also are given to help fetal lungs mature before birth.
Diabetes Mellitus: A condition in which the levels of sugar in the blood are too high.
Diastolic Blood Pressure: The force of the blood in the arteries when the heart is relaxed. It is the lower reading when blood pressure is taken.
Fetus: The stage of human development beyond 8 completed weeks after fertilization.
Gestational Hypertension: High blood pressure that is diagnosed after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
HELLP Syndrome: A severe type of preeclampsia. HELLP stands for hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, and low platelet count.
High Blood Pressure: Blood pressure above the normal level. Also called hypertension.
Hypertension: High blood pressure.
In Vitro Fertilization (IVF): A procedure in which an egg is removed from a woman’s ovary, fertilized in a laboratory with the man’s sperm, and then transferred to the woman’s uterus to achieve a pregnancy.
Kick Count: A record kept during late pregnancy of the number of times a fetus moves over a certain period.
Kidneys: Organs that filter the blood to remove waste that becomes urine.
Lupus: An autoimmune disorder that affects the connective tissues in the body. The disorder can cause arthritis, kidney disease, heart disease, blood disorders, and complications during pregnancy. Also called systemic lupus erythematosus or SLE.
Nutrients: Nourishing substances found in food, such as vitamins and minerals.
Obstetrician–Gynecologist (Ob-Gyn): A doctor with special training and education in women’s health.
Oxygen: An element that we breathe in to sustain life.
Placenta: An organ that provides nutrients to and takes waste away from the fetus.
Placental Abruption: A condition in which the placenta has begun to separate from the uterus before the fetus is born.
Preeclampsia: A disorder that can occur during pregnancy or after childbirth in which there is high blood pressure and other signs of organ injury. These signs include an abnormal amount of protein in the urine, a low number of platelets, abnormal kidney or liver function, pain in the upper abdomen, fluid in the lungs, or a severe headache or changes in vision.
Prenatal Care: A program of care for a pregnant woman before the birth of her baby.
Preterm: Less than 37 weeks of pregnancy.
Stroke: A sudden interruption of blood flow to all or part of the brain, caused by blockage or bursting of a blood vessel in the brain. A stroke often results in loss of consciousness and temporary or permanent paralysis.
Systolic Blood Pressure: The force of the blood in the arteries when the heart is contracting. It is the higher reading when blood pressure is taken.
Blood pressure is the force of blood that pushes against the walls of your arteries. Arteries are blood vessels that carry blood away from your heart to other parts of the body. Each time your heart beats, it pumps blood to the arteries. If the pressure in your arteries becomes too high, you have high blood pressure (also called hypertension). High blood pressure can put extra stress on your organs. This can lead to heart attack, heart failure, stroke and kidney failure.
Some women have high blood pressure before they get pregnant. Others have high blood pressure for the first time during pregnancy. About 8 in 100 women (8 percent) have some kind of high blood pressure during pregnancy. If you have high blood pressure, talk to your health care provider. Managing your blood pressure can help you have a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby.
How do you know if you have high blood pressure?
Your blood pressure reading is given as two numbers:
Your blood pressure reading fits into one of five categories:
At each prenatal care checkup, your provider checks your blood pressure. To do this, she wraps a cuff (band) around your upper arm. She pumps air into the cuff to measure the pressure in your arteries when the heart contracts and then relaxes. If you have a high reading, your provider can recheck it to find out for sure if you have high blood pressure. Your blood pressure can go up or down during the day.
What pregnancy complications can high blood pressure cause?
High blood pressure can cause problems for you and your baby during pregnancy, including:
Problems for moms include:
If you have high blood pressure during pregnancy, you’re also more likely have a cesarean birth (also called c-section). This is surgery in which your baby is born through a cut that your doctor makes in your belly and uterus.
Problems for babies include:
What kinds of high blood pressure can affect pregnancy?
Two kinds of high blood pressure that can happen during pregnancy:
During pregnancy, your provider checks your blood pressure and urine at every prenatal care checkup. She may use ultrasound and fetal heart rate testing to check your baby’s growth and health. Your provider may ask you to check your blood pressure at home and do kick counts to see when and how often your baby moves. Here are two ways to do kick counts:
We don’t know how to prevent gestational hypertension. But if you’re overweight or obese, getting to a healthy weight before pregnancy may lower your chances of having this condition. And even though gestational hypertension usually goes away after birth, you may be more likely to develop hypertension later in life. Healthy eating, staying active and getting to a healthy weight after pregnancy can help prevent high blood pressure in the future.
How can you manage high blood during pregnancy?
Here’s what you can do:
What can you do about high blood pressure before pregnancy?
What is gestational hypertension ? You have gestational hypertension when: You have a systolic blood pressure of 140 mm Hg or higher and/or a diastolic blood pressure of 90 mm Hg or higher. The high blood pressure first happens after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
As a woman progresses in her pregnancy, her blood pressure may change or return to pre-pregnancy levels. There are a few possible reasons for this.
The amount of blood in a woman’s body increases. According to the journal Circulation, a woman’s blood volume increases by as much as 45 percent during pregnancy. This is extra blood that the heart must pump throughout the body.
The left ventricle (left side of the heart that does a significant amount of pumping) becomes thicker and larger. This temporary effect allows the heart to work harder to support the increased blood volume.
The kidneys release increased amounts of vasopressin, a hormone that leads to increased water retention.
In most cases, high blood pressure during pregnancy will decrease after the baby is delivered. In cases where blood pressure remains elevated, your doctor may prescribe medication to get it back to normal.
There are ways to track your blood pressure between doctor visits.
You can buy a blood pressure monitor from a pharmacy or online medical goods store. Many of these devices will go on your wrist or upper arm. To check the monitor’s accuracy, take it to your doctor’s office and compare the readings on the monitor to those from your doctor.
Visit a grocery store, pharmacy, or other store that has a machine that takes blood pressure readings.
For the most accurate readings, take your blood pressure at the same time every day. Take it while seated with your legs uncrossed. Use the same arm each time.
Notify your doctor immediately if you have repeated high blood pressure readings that are four hours apart or symptoms of high blood pressure.
Blood pressure is the force of blood that pushes against the walls of your arteries. Arteries are blood vessels that carry blood away from your heart to other parts of the body. Each time your heart beats, it pumps blood to the arteries. If the pressure in your arteries becomes too high, you have high blood pressure (also called hypertension). High blood pressure can put extra stress on your organs. This can lead to heart attack, heart failure, stroke and kidney failure.
Some women have high blood pressure before they get pregnant. Others have high blood pressure for the first time during pregnancy. About 8 in 100 women (8 percent) have some kind of high blood pressure during pregnancy. If you have high blood pressure, talk to your health care provider. Managing your blood pressure can help you have a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby.
How do you know if you have high blood pressure?
Your blood pressure reading is given as two numbers:
Your blood pressure reading fits into one of five categories:
At each prenatal care checkup, your provider checks your blood pressure. To do this, she wraps a cuff (band) around your upper arm. She pumps air into the cuff to measure the pressure in your arteries when the heart contracts and then relaxes. If you have a high reading, your provider can recheck it to find out for sure if you have high blood pressure. Your blood pressure can go up or down during the day.
What pregnancy complications can high blood pressure cause?
High blood pressure can cause problems for you and your baby during pregnancy, including:
Problems for moms include:
If you have high blood pressure during pregnancy, you’re also more likely have a cesarean birth (also called c-section). This is surgery in which your baby is born through a cut that your doctor makes in your belly and uterus.
Problems for babies include:
What kinds of high blood pressure can affect pregnancy?
Two kinds of high blood pressure that can happen during pregnancy:
During pregnancy, your provider checks your blood pressure and urine at every prenatal care checkup. She may use ultrasound and fetal heart rate testing to check your baby’s growth and health. Your provider may ask you to check your blood pressure at home and do kick counts to see when and how often your baby moves. Here are two ways to do kick counts:
We don’t know how to prevent gestational hypertension. But if you’re overweight or obese, getting to a healthy weight before pregnancy may lower your chances of having this condition. And even though gestational hypertension usually goes away after birth, you may be more likely to develop hypertension later in life. Healthy eating, staying active and getting to a healthy weight after pregnancy can help prevent high blood pressure in the future.
How can you manage high blood during pregnancy?
Here’s what you can do:
What can you do about high blood pressure before pregnancy?
Here’s what you can do:
Last reviewed: February, 2019
