<\/a>There’s no definitive way to predict who will have high blood pressure during pregnancy, however regular prenatal care can help with early detection.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
Beyond high blood pressure, high levels of protein in the urine and other changes in kidney, liver and blood levels are also an indicator of preeclampsia, so testing may include checking the mother’s urine, blood and physical health.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
For those who are pregnant – or planning to get pregnant – taking steps to maintain a healthy weight, having a healthy diet and reducing stress may help.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“Your healthcare provider will help determine the best course of action for preventing preeclampsia, such as a daily baby Aspirin in some circumstances,” Dr. Zhou says.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
The good news is that preeclampsia symptoms usually go away within six weeks of delivery. At 34 weeks or later, experts recommend delivery as soon as medically possible. If the pregnancy is at fewer than 34 weeks, drugs might be prescribed to treat blood pressure and improve the baby’s lungs before delivery.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Women who develop preeclampsia are more likely to develop hypertension and diabetes later in life, and are also at increased chance of heart failure, especially if preeclampsia occurs in more than one pregnancy.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“I cannot stress enough the importance of a healthy lifestyle during pregnancy, as it’s a critical time for mom and baby. For a healthier pregnancy, be sure to get early and regular medical care, track blood pressure at home if advised and manage blood pressure by eating a healthy diet and getting regular physical activity,” Dr. Zhou advises.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
For more information about heart health in women at all stages in life, visit GoRedforWomen.org<\/a> or call 1-800-AHA-USA1 (242-8721). Sponsored by Optum in the Puget Sound, Go Red for Women is a worldwide initiative of the American Heart Association designed to increase women’s heart health awareness and serve as a catalyst for change to improve the lives of women locally, nationally and globally.<\/p>\n\t\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"High blood pressure during pregnancy can put mom-to-be and baby at risk <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":62950,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[152],"tags":[103],"yst_prominent_words":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62949"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62949"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=62949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}