hospital birth and high blood pressure

[snowangel182]

I'm getting nervous about birth as my blood pressure keeps fluctuating - today it was 147/96. I've been on modified bed rest since Thanksgiving due to the blood pressure and also pregnancy induced low platelets (called thrombocytopenia). What happens during a hospital labor when blood pressure is that high? Does anyone know any tricks for keeping blood pressure low during labor? Thanks in advance

[notjustmamie]

I can't tell you what the standard protocol is, but I've had two hospital births with high BP--the first it was about where yours is and they didn't do anything special, just kept me on a BP cuff and watched it.

The second time I transferred in labor from a planned homebirth and my BP was in the 170s/90s. I also had some significant bleeding. They put me on a magnesium sulfate drip, injected some other BP drug (lobeterol? something like that). I had to stay in bed, lying down and the mag stopped my contractions, so they started a Pit drip to get them going again.

As far as keeping BP low--what has worked best for me in the past is relaxing. I've used visualizations (imagining myself relaxing on the beach or getting a massage) and deep breathing. I've also heard carrot and celery juice can be good.

ETA: This didn't work well for me, but there is a free Hypnosis script available from Hypnobabies called "Relax Me" that might be useful to you. You can read a description of it and get the download link on the blog post.