Am I going to lose my home birth?

[ACsMom]

I'm 38 weeks, and BP has gone up, as of Monday. Systolic is usually 130 or lower, but diastolic is in the 90's, esp. in the morning. At night I get mid-80's. I am soooo anxious about it, which of course doesn't help. My midwife is not pleased, which contributes to my anxiety! I'm just wondering if anyone has experience with this and what you did, and if you were able to go on to have a home birth. I'm not throwing protein, I have very little swelling or any other problems, I'm eating about 90 grams of good protein a day, with lots of veggies. Also as of two days ago I've upped my garlic consumption and I'm doing lots of other things, nutrition-wise, to bring my pressure down, but I have a feeling it's going to take more than a couple days for everything to have an effect. Am I right?

I'm wondering if some of this could have been brought on by holiday stress, and not being as good with my diet, etc. over Christmas.

Can I beat this? Has anyone else done it? I'm just needing support and encouragement and hopefully success stories! TIA!

[Nicole730]

Google cinnamon, I believe that is supposed to help with blood pressure. I had higher BPs last pregnancy and ended up on bedrest, I would have for sure been kicked out of a homebirth. I'm scared of my BP going up again at the end. It's so hard to stay relaxed when it's so stressful! If that is your only symptom of pre-e - you'll probably be fine. You only have a few weeks left! Just keep trying to relax and not think about it. Your protein intake is awesome!

[ExuberantDaffodil]

Mine started to creep uncomfortably high near the end of my pregnancy. I upped calc/mag and drank a ton of water and rrl tea. It didn't go back down to my normal, but it did go down enough to make my midwife happier with it. I also tested a few times outside of the office and it was lower when I had less pressure. Mine definitely goes up when I have a medical professional taking it, peering at me and a blood pressure cuff.

[smeep]

My midwife suggested garlic, 80+ grams of protein a day as well. She also recommended hopps or sculcap tincture (I took sculcap) and more exercise (walk the dog every day). My blood pressure went down, but it isn't an immediate fix, but we did see an improvement at my next appointment two weeks later and it continued to improve. It didn't go down as much as we wanted but there was a big improvement (enough for her to stop nicely threatening hospital birth if I didn't get it down more ) and now I realize it was likely because of my source of protein. I was eating a lot of protein bars and it's ridiculous how much sugar is in them so it's somewhat counterproductive, but I didn't know that at the time (nor do I think she realized the amount of sugar in them). Those Cliff builder bars that have 20g of protein have 23g of sugar! So beware of that.

[JenChaffee]

I am 39 wks and my BP is now fairly consistently 130/90. MW doesn't seem too worried about this as long as it does not go much higher. She recommended calcium/magnesium supplement, lots of water and lots of protein. I have a blood pressure monitor, and I find that I have a reasonable amount of control. If I lay on my left side and focus on relaxing then I can bring it down to 120/70.

[moonglowmama]

Originally Posted by smeep

and now I realize it was likely because of my source of protein. I was eating a lot of protein bars and it's ridiculous how much sugar is in them so it's somewhat counterproductive, but I didn't know that at the time (nor do I think she realized the amount of sugar in them). Those Cliff builder bars that have 20g of protein have 23g of sugar! So beware of that.

Just wanted to say that the best protein bars I've found are the ones called "think thin." They have 20 g of protein and only about 3 g of sugar.