Ify

Age at interview: 35

Age at diagnosis: 34

Brief Outline: Ify was pregnant, expecting her third child.

Background: Ify was born in Nigeria and has lived in the UK for 8 years. She a nurse, married with three children.

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Ify was invited to join the study as she had a high BMI. This was her third pregnancy, and in the later stages she developed gestational diabetes. Her son was born by caesarean section.

Ify knew it was important that she keep checking her blood pressure for six weeks after having her baby. However, it was often difficult to fit in with family life.

And did you understand why it was important to carry on testing on after you’d given birth?

Well, yes, because anything could happen any time because it’s not necessarily just when you’re pregnant or before pregnancy, you know, one could fall ill after pregnancy. So yes, I knew to, I did them. I still do understand the importance of having to take that, even after baby had arrived

It was very it was very difficult, especially at the, after I had baby.

Between few weeks to having baby and after I came back home from hospital, it was very difficult but I didn’t want to give up because I thought, I’ve started this and I need to finish this so I carried on and went along as, some days were blank and I felt really very guilty, you know, because I thought, well, I should have done this but again, new baby, the family and so many things happening, I couldn’t really do much. But those days, some of them were left blank and other days I took them.

Ify sometimes found it a struggle to check her blood pressure on the right days.

Tell me what it was like taking part in in the trial? How did you find it?

Initially, I was very excited to start with and my first week, must have been about 16weeks, when I started and it was all alright. I kept doing what I was supposed to do, took my blood pressure three times a week, twice a day for three times a week, which was fine until about the third trimester, the last stage and I thought, oh my goodness. How long can I carry on doing this? 

[Laughs]

Because there were days where I felt not very well and there were days when I had to go to work and get back home tired and I have a family to see to, I mean there were a lot of things happening the way it is, I couldn’t. I would take them but I made up as I went, I don’t know if I was allowed to that but I felt I ought to do it three times a week.

But I made up as I went and put recordings down. But, for example, if I was meant to take it on a Wednesday and I forgot on the Wednesday. I took it on a Thursday.

But I write it Thursday and date it at the time it, you know, yeah, generally, but, when I came out of hospital, after I had the baby, for about a week or so I couldn’t, it was really very hard settling in with a new baby and having had a section, sometimes I forgot. Forgot to take my blood pressure.