Worried about my risk assesment

[misspriss]

At my 31 week appointment my BP was elevated and I had trace protein in my urine, so my midwife had me back at 32weeks and the protein was fine. My BP was on the high end of normal, but I get "white coat syndrome" (even at the midwife!). I took logs with a home monitor all week and had no readings over the limit.

In my state, to have a homebirth, you have to have a "risk assessment" with an OB at 36 weeks. I am worried my WCS will make my BP super high at my one doctor appointment with a doctor I have never met, who can basically say I can't have a homebirth if they want to.

It's just stressing me out. Any tips for managing white coat hypertension? I plan to monitor it at home for the week before and bring that with me as well.

 

[BunnyN]

I sympathize because I have the same syndrome lol! My readings when at the doc are always higher than when I am at home and my bp was a bit on the high side before pregnancy. My last reading at the doctors was 140/90 which is on the red line for both numbers. Thankfully we have found a nice private MW to do a home birth and she is not too worried about it. She says seeing as my bp was highish to start with and it's normal that it goes up a bit during pregnancy she wont see it as a big danger sign unless there is a jump in the bottom number of about 30 points above my pre-pregnancy bp. She just said it's a good idea to keep an eye on it at home and if the bottom number goes above 110 to go straight to the hospital to get checked out. She said the top number doesn't interest her much because it is effected a lot in the moment (like if you run down the road and back it's natural for it to shoot up). She also said to keep an eye on other possible PE symptoms like bad headaches but that slightly raised bp on it's own was not a big problem. That all seems quite sensible to me but not all doctors seem to look at it the same way :/.

A tip on the protein in the urine- drink lots of water before you have appointment. I got trace protein in my urine a couple times then bought my own strips to test at home and found I had trace readings once in a while but it was only when I hadn't drunk so much water. This is basically what I learned: Everyone has a tiny bit of protein in their urine but it is so little that it doesnt register on a strip test, pregnant woman often have a more protein in their urine because of the stress pregnancy puts on their body, in small amounts it's considered normal. If you don't drink enough that amount of protein is concentrated and will often show up on a strip test. If you drink lots it will be diluted and show as negative. So if you want to 'cheat' the test drink a lot of water. It's not really cheating because if you have enough protein in your urine to be of any real concern it will show up anyway but it stops you from getting readings when there is really nothing at all to worry about. Doctors are actually supposed to compare things like the level of protein against the concentration of the urine but I think they rarely bother.

 

[misspriss]

Ah well thanks, a lot has happened since I posted this! My BP shot up over the weekend so I went to a doctor and my protein was +3 and my bottom BP numbers were stying 100+ so they put me in the hospital for monitoring and 24 hour urine check. I am sitting in the hospital right now....

 

[BunnyN]

Aw, really sorry to hear you have ended up in hospital. I guess that has changed your birth plans but it is good to have hospitals when we need them. At least you and your LO are getting well looked after.