Pregnancy Induced Hypertension but Already Delivered

Please listen to your doctor! I had perfect BP during my first pregnancy, and I had never had high BP in my life. Three days after coming home, i was admitted to the hospital and put on a magnesium drip for post partum pre-eclampsia for two days. My BP spiked during labor and never got better but got worse. It's nothing to play with! You can have a atroke or seize. I have never been on medication since, so it's probably a short-term issue.

My sister experienced postpartum PIH with both of her children. With her first, her BP returned to normal within a week, but with her 2nd she had to be on meds for about a month before it returned to normal. I would trust your docs on this one, as they probably experience it about daily.

Sometimes it takes a while for the damage caused by gestational hypertension or preeclampsia to heal, especially since the placenta dumps a bunch of chemicals in the bloodstream during delivery that take a while to clear up.

I nursed my daughter while taking an L2 antihypertensive (considered "safer" for breastfeeding); I felt the benefits far outweighed the risks.

I've found www.preeclampsia.org a great source of information and support.

(Although preeclampsia requires proteinura plus high blood pressure to diagnose, current thinking is that it is related to gestational hypertension and they probably have the same root cause. For more info: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21048778 & http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/07/24/060724fa_fact)

Hi there.

I haven't had exactly what you are experiencing, but did have severe preeclampsia during my second pregnancy. From what I understand from the doctors and researchers I've spoken to, your blood pressure being elevated after delivery is of particular concern because delivery is supposed to be the "cure" for your high blood pressure. There is also a higher risk of death or other serious complication when the blood pressure rises after delivery.

It sounds like they are just doing what is best for you and your baby...trying to make sure that you are healthy and your new baby has a healthy mommy. For more information or forums with other women who have probably gone through EXACTLY what you are going through, try www.preeclampsia.org. It's the Preeclampsia Foundation's website and is very helpful.

Take care.
-M

I had the same issue. One thing to make sure is that the entire placenta was removed. If even a little is left, you can continue to have PIH. With me, the entire placenta was removed, but I continued to have high blood pressure. I kept taking the meds, and we slowly decreased them. My ds is 3.5, and haven't had any problems with my bp. It may take a few weeks, but you won't be on drugs forever. I was able to breastfeed on both my meds, so check and see if you can try a different med. If you can't, just pump and dump, so that your body does it's thing, and you'll be ready to breastfeed once you are off the meds. I know it is very frustrating, but just hang in there. I hated throwing my milk down the drain when I was on meds for a severe migraine, but it was worth it to keep my milk supply. Best of luck and congrat's on a new baby boy!

You can still breast feed. My blood pressure was not high my entire pregnancy - three days AFTER I gave birth it spiked. I ended up in the hospital with my 9 day old, on a magnesium drip for 2 days. I was confined to a bed. I am on a BP medication now.

There are plenty of safe medications that don't have any issue with breastmilk.

As to "will it last" -- I am in the same boat. I am almost four weeks post pardum and HOPING this goes away. I've always had low blood pressure. My doctor basically told me if it doesn't go away by six weeks it will just be considered that I have hypertension. In a few cases pregnancy induced hypertension becomes chronic. I hope that doesn't happen.

I am in exactly the same spot -- wishing you luck. But you can still Breast feed.. I am happily breastfeeding my nearly 4 week old.

I had horribly high blood pressure when I was pregnant, too. Never had a problem before; haven't since. I, too, was put on medication post-delivery because it didn't drop immediately. However, I was totally able to breastfeed, so I'm not sure if there are other meds you could talk to your doctor about. At my six week checkup, my bp was back to normal and I was weaned from the medication. Hang in there and congratulations!

Yes, definitely trust your doctors as Kate J remarked.

I had post-partum high blood pressure after both of my pregnancies and it took quite a while for it to go away. Mine was excellent prior to pregnancy (110s/60s) but then surged up to 150+/110+ - yikes! You may not have to be on medication forever; it might recover after a while. In addition, you can help the condition by adopting a low-sodium diet (1500-2300 mg maximum...google DASH diet) and including regular exercise (but that might be hard to do with a newborn, so start with diet).

High blood pressure isn't something you want to mess around with. Unfortunately it might mean making modifications in your life at this time. Truthfully, though, you don't want to have that much continuous stress on your body, your heart, and especially your blood vessels as you need them to last for about 50 more years.

Preeclampsia is NOT just hypertension, but also added with protein in the urine, etc. There are more signs then just hypertension. Also, just so you know, 98% of BP issues are due to the kidneys and during the end of the pregnancy, your kidneys are flitering your body with the added pressure of your baby.

Depending on how life threatening your BP is, you may want to consider doing something else to HELP your kidneys rather than adding medication that your kidneys have to process, as well. If you had Pitocin, an epidural, and an IV, then your kidneys are still dealing with those meds as well.

Maybe start with CranActin (you should be able to find it locally) or PURE cranberry juice - like 2-3 oz per day WITHOUT any sugar AND preferably NOT from concentrate. Add distilled water for ONE day to flush them out. Try the cranberry and 3-4 liters of waters for a week and see if that brings it down. Eat salt/sodium minimally and I bet you'll see a turnaround!

Good luck!

I developed high blood pressure and preeclampsia with my first pregnancy. My blood pressure stayed high after delivery, but eventually went back to normal (110/60ish) when my son was about 6 weeks old (I think). I have a couple of theories-- 1. I broke my tailbone during delivery and was in very serious pain and I think there is a relationship between pain and blood pressure 2. It took a while for my system to adjust post pregnancy. I had wonderful midwives who had me come in for weekly blood pressure readings and I know they were concerned, but didn't medicate me and the problem did go away. On a side note, I just had my second son and also developed high blood pressure at the end of the pregnancy (I always develop it AFTER my due date...if they would just come on time!). But, this time I didn't get preeclampsia and my blood pressure returned to normal almost immediately after I delivered.

I had pregnancy-induced, or 'gestational' hypertension with my first child.
I was fortunate to have a very good doctor who believed in more natural or holistic methods for me. Since I also had toxemia, he needed to be extra cautious with my health.
I was put on a sodium-restricted diet; no added salt, no cured or smoked meat, or canned food. Everything had to be cooked without salt.
I was on this regimen for four weeks after the birth (this condition has something to do with the hormone levels in the body during the pregnancy and it takes about that long for your body to return to a kind of normalcy); after a month I was back to my normal pre-pregnancy blood pressure levels.
He also cautioned me not to use birth-control pills; that the hypertension would return if I ever used them because the hormones that they contain would make my body think it was pregnant.
I did become pregnant twice more, and even though I didn't have the same doctor, I followed a less-restrictive version of the same low-sodium, less-carb diet during these pregnancies. I delivered two healthy children with no ill-effects, and no hypertension. I also returned to my pre-birth weight right away. I wish you good health, and hope this helps in some way.