Self Prenatal Care - blood pressure

[purpledragonfly]

Hi all!

So I had my first and last prenatal checkup yesterday (I just wanted the pregnancy to be noted by my doc.  I live in Canada, BTW), and told my doc. that I would not be coming in for any more checkups, I would be doing my own prenatal care.  Her main concern about this was how will I know if my blood pressure gets too high or too low.  I could go out and buy a BP cuff for myself, but I eat healthy, get my exercise, so I'm just wondering if it is necessary or not.  Do you other low risk UC mommas check your BP regularly?

[babymonster]

Is this your first pregnancy?

I didn't ever take my BP with this pregnancy.  I did intend to, but I had never had any problem with it in previous pregnancies so I got kinda lax...  I think it is useful to have a cuff available so you can check your BP right away if you have any symptoms that might be related.

[RobynHeud]

I had pre-e with my first so when we did a UP/UC with the second, I was understandably paranoid about it, but I only took it once a week, no more. I have white coats syndrome too, so it was nice having a record showing what my normal was.

[purpledragonfly]

This is my second pregnancy.  I've never had a problem with blood pressure before, so I'm kinda leaning towards not monitoring it.....  I'm drinking nettle tea and red raspberry tea for nutrition and there benefits for the birth and postpartum.  So I think I should be fine.  

[incorrigible]

I turned my UP into a whole like homeschool project for my older 2. lol I downloaded some prenatal checkup forms and ordered all the supplies online. I had an early loss at about 9 weeks, so we only had a couple in home check ups. I taught them how to take blood pressure and read all the urine test strips and take my pulse and check the fundal height. We had a blast and were really excited about doing check ups throughout the pregnancy. *sigh* Now I am all gooey and wishing I were pregnant again. I guess it's my science brained version of doing henna paintings on my belly and other more earthy ways to bond with the unborn. Those are fun, but they just don't resonate with me like numbers and stats. lol 

[1babysmom]

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Edited by 1babysmom - 3/23/13 at 5:56pm