Emma

Age at interview: 27

Brief Outline:

Emma was diagnosed with pregnancy induced hypertension just before 37 weeks of pregnancy and started on medication. She gave birth at 38 weeks to a healthy baby and was able to stop taking her blood pressure medication when her daughter was two weeks old.

Background:

Emma lives with her parents and her two-and-a-half-month-old daughter. She is in a relationship with her daughter's father, although they do not live together at the moment. She is currently on maternity leave.

More about me...

Emma’s pregnancy progressed well until she was found to have raised blood pressure at a routine midwife appointment when she was 36 weeks. Apart from swollen ankles she had no symptoms. She was admitted to hospital overnight, then discharged with medication. Once home, Emma monitored her blood pressure using her mother’s monitor, she also went for twice weekly blood pressure checks with her midwife and at the hospital.

Emma was told she would likely need to be induced but then went into spontaneous labour at 38+3 weeks and had a vaginal birth. She was a bit disappointed that she was unable to labour on the midwifery-led unit because her blood pressure meant she was classed as high risk, but she accepted that things couldn’t always go to plan. Emma’s blood pressure did go up during labour but then settled afterwards.

Emma’s daughter was healthy at birth though she needed to have her blood sugars checked three times before she could be discharged in case these were affected by the medication Emma had taken for her blood pressure.  Emma and her baby went home after 24 hours and were visited by community midwives and a health visitor. Emma continued to monitor her blood pressure at home once a day and would send the readings to her GP who gradually reduced her medication before stopping it after two weeks. Emma felt this worked well and said the surgery would send her a text message reminder if she forgot to send her readings in. She also said she sometimes forgot to take her medication after giving birth, but that her mum or partner would remind her.

Emma doesn’t recall being told about any longer-term health risks for herself or her baby. After stopping her medication, she was simply advised to continue checking her blood pressure once a month. Looking back, she would have liked more information about how to manage her health in the future, including her risk of developing high blood pressure in a subsequent pregnancy.

Before becoming pregnant, Emma had lost four and a half stone by eating healthily, cooking from scratch and exercising regularly. Although she gained weight during pregnancy, she sees this as a normal part of pregnancy and is not concerned about it. Since giving birth, she has lost over a stone and is confident she will lose the rest over time once she is ready to return to her previous routine.

Emma was unsure at first whether she wanted to breastfeed, but after reading about the benefits she decided to do so because of the health advantages for her baby, as well as the convenience and lower cost. She was initially concerned about whether it was safe to breastfeed while taking blood pressure medication but was reassured by her midwife. Emma said she received good breastfeeding support, and feeding has gone well.

Although she felt tired after giving birth, Emma says she has had plenty of support from her partner and family. She is able to get out of the house most days to see friends and other mothers and feels she has recovered well from the birth and adjusted to motherhood.

Emma found home monitoring combined with support from her GP worked well.

And did you check it [BP] after birth at all?

Yeah, I had to take it... I had... so the doctors, after I got signed off from the... no, actually, when I left the hospital after giving birth, they told me to contact... take my tablet for a week, and take the two tablets a day for a week, and then contact the doctor. So, I contacted the doctor’s and she asked me to continue to take it twice a... once a day and to monitor it on, like, this system that they had. So, obviously, took the tablet once a day. I wrote the readings in the chart thing that they gave me, and then at the end of the week, they all got sent off, and then she just messaged me back saying, “Take it every other day and then you can stop taking the tablet,” because my blood pressure was normal.

OK, yeah, so they adjusted it based on your home readings.

Yeah.

OK.

Yeah.

And did you find that all worked quite well, or...?

Yeah, it was... it was, yeah, easy. And they sent me a text message to remind me to take it, so luckily, that was good, so then I took it and then put the reading in, ’cause if not, I think I probably would have forgot. Huh. And that was easy – the system – you text message.

Emma described lifestyle changes that had helped her lose weight before pregnancy and was confident she would return to these habits when she felt ready.

I mean, before I got pregnant, I did lose four and a half stone. I did gain quite a bit of it back on when I… [sighs] when I was pregnant. So, I do... I do... I do know like I can eat... [sound: baby noise] oh, that’s OK. I can, like, eat healthy, and I know, like, what a balanced, nutritious diet is. It’s just getting back... like, my head back into it and eating... eating healthy.

So, four and a half stone, that’s quite a lot. How did you... how did you lose that weight? Was that through diet and—?

I just ate... ate healthier, and I did... I did a lot more... a lot more exercise, so I... I did swimming and I did Couch to 5K. I just... I didn’t cut out everything, I just cut down, like, eating loads of... and, like, loads of crisps. It was like... like, a luxury at the end of the week, like: ‘ooh, I’ll have a chocolate bar,’ or... And... and making stuff from scratch, instead of buying, like, jars, I’d make, like, Bolognese sauce from scratch, and make my own chips, just stuff like that really.