Hoping for insight from MWs or other birth professionals with knowledge...
I'm 37+ wks pg with #3. My BP appears to be creeping up a bit now, which I know is not unusual at this stage. My MW has recommended passionflower tincture and cal/mag/zinc, which seem to help. I've also been spending more time outdoors in the heat as my oldest DS just started fall baseball. I've been feeling dehydrated and swelling up at every game. Yuck. By the next morning, with plenty of water in between, the swelling seems to go away. After an extra day, it seems to stay away, too.
So I've been monitoring my BP at home with a wrist cuff that has seemed to be pretty accurate. For instance, my MW took my BP with her cuff (albeit it too small - plus-sized mama here) and it matched very closely to what the wrist cuff said (using opposite arms). But in the last week or two, I've gotten such a variance in readings I don't know what to think.
I generally take my BP on my right arm while seated on my couch. I try to ensure I've been resting for a few minutes, but am upright, before taking it. I'm consistently getting borderline high readings now doing that on my right arm. If I take it again on the same arm a few minutes later, it will be much lower. I hesitate to trust those second readings, though, since the arteries were just compressed from the first reading. (Not sure if that should make it go up or down, but I know it can affect it.)
So I've tried taking it on my right arm - which, btw, has consistently felt more swollen/weird even when the left is just fine - and then on the left, figuring that won't affect the reading because it's different arteries. The left readings are always better! Not always a huge difference, but definitely different.
What to make of this? Should I rely on the right arm that I typically use for measurements? Or go with the left, which I used to use frequently, too? Is there any significance to this? Or to the fact that my right hand sometimes feels different than the left?
Thanks for any help in trying to make sense of this.
: Just hoping baby comes soon so I don't have to worry about it!
I'm 37+ wks pg with #3. My BP appears to be creeping up a bit now, which I know is not unusual at this stage. My MW has recommended passionflower tincture and cal/mag/zinc, which seem to help. I've also been spending more time outdoors in the heat as my oldest DS just started fall baseball. I've been feeling dehydrated and swelling up at every game. Yuck. By the next morning, with plenty of water in between, the swelling seems to go away. After an extra day, it seems to stay away, too.
So I've been monitoring my BP at home with a wrist cuff that has seemed to be pretty accurate. For instance, my MW took my BP with her cuff (albeit it too small - plus-sized mama here) and it matched very closely to what the wrist cuff said (using opposite arms). But in the last week or two, I've gotten such a variance in readings I don't know what to think.
I generally take my BP on my right arm while seated on my couch. I try to ensure I've been resting for a few minutes, but am upright, before taking it. I'm consistently getting borderline high readings now doing that on my right arm. If I take it again on the same arm a few minutes later, it will be much lower. I hesitate to trust those second readings, though, since the arteries were just compressed from the first reading. (Not sure if that should make it go up or down, but I know it can affect it.)
So I've tried taking it on my right arm - which, btw, has consistently felt more swollen/weird even when the left is just fine - and then on the left, figuring that won't affect the reading because it's different arteries. The left readings are always better! Not always a huge difference, but definitely different.
What to make of this? Should I rely on the right arm that I typically use for measurements? Or go with the left, which I used to use frequently, too? Is there any significance to this? Or to the fact that my right hand sometimes feels different than the left?
Thanks for any help in trying to make sense of this.
: Just hoping baby comes soon so I don't have to worry about it!
When the wrist cuff seemed to give accurate (and not abnormally high) readings from the get-go, we stuck with that rather than the cuff that was clearly too small.
, I can cope with her smaller cuff or my alternate one when there's no discussion of sending me to a high-risk OB 'cause I'm about to stroke! 
But I think I'll give her a call and see if she did get the bigger cuff, just as I think it will be more accurate over all. And then perhaps we can all relax more!
