High Blood Pressure in Pregnancy

Q: What is your question? What would you consider high blood pressure in a
pregnancy? My daughter was almost 41 weeks and went in to hospital with a blood
pressure of 150/86 and it increased to 159/96 and they would not induce her due
to lack of an ob nurse. 2 days later the baby died and she had to have a
c-section. What do you consider to be too high for a blood pressure during
pregnancy? -Dana Philpott
A: Im very sorry to hear about this. That is a high blood pressure for pregnancy, assuming she had normal blood pressure throughout the early part of the pregnancy. however, a high blood pressure by itself is not a reason to induce labor. Surely, it is an indication to monitor the baby. Also, when the blood pressure is this high a patient is usually monitored for signs of pre-ecclampsia which is diagnosed by high blood pressure, headaches, blurry vision, excessive swelling of the feet and hands, hyper-reflexes and certain laboratory tests.