High blood pressure affects around 1 in 10 women who are pregnant or have recently given birth.
If you have high blood pressure, controlling your blood pressure with tablets is important to prevent complications for both you and your baby. To ensure your blood pressure is controlled, you will require regular checks throughout the pregnancy and after you have given birth.
You have been given this leaflet because you have been asked to monitor your blood pressure at home. The leaflet will explain how to measure blood pressure, what targets to aim for, and what to do if your blood pressure is outside of this target range.
Chronic, or essential, hypertension refers to high blood pressure that you either knew about before getting pregnant or was diagnosed in the first half of your pregnancy (before 20 weeks).
Pre-eclampsia and pregnancy-induced hypertension refers to high blood pressure diagnosed for the first time in pregnancy after 20 completed weeks. Unlike pregnancy-induced hypertension, pre-eclampsia is diagnosed when the high blood pressure has affected one of your organs as indicated by blood or urine tests.
The benefits of monitoring your blood pressure at home include:
- Reduction in the number of times you need to attend hospital.
- Reduction in need for admission to the antenatal or postnatal ward.
- Better overall control of your blood pressure.
In addition, some women have so-called ‘white coat’ hypertension. This is where their blood pressure increases when measured in a clinic/hospital environment. If you think this happens to you, measuring blood pressure at home can give a more accurate reflection of your ‘true’ blood pressure.
In addition to benefits, all procedures have risks. This section will talk you through what the risks of home blood pressure monitoring might include.
Some women find that monitoring blood pressure at home can cause stress or anxiety. If you find this happens to you, please stop home blood pressure monitoring, and discuss with your doctor or midwife the frequency of hospital blood pressure checks you might require.
If you have been diagnosed with high blood pressure during pregnancy, it is important that we check your blood pressure regularly to ensure that your blood pressure is controlled with the tablets you are taking.
If you choose not to monitor your blood pressure at home, we will ask for you to attend your GP or hospital to have your blood pressure checked.
There are many places you can have your blood pressure checked but it depends on how many weeks pregnant you are.
If you are less than 16 weeks pregnant, please attend your GP or local A&E.
If you are more than 16 weeks pregnant, your blood pressure can be checked at:
- Maternal Fetal Assessment Unit
- GP
- Or, with your midwife or doctor during a routine appointment.
Please follow these steps:
- Ensure your clothing is loose or not too tight when rolled up.
- Sit on a chair with both feet flat on the floor.
- Rest for 5 minutes before measuring your blood pressure.
- Slip the cuff onto your arm following the instructions of the device you are using.
- Make sure the bottom part of the cuff is about 2cm above the inside of your elbow joint.
- Rest your arm on a table or across your lap with the palm facing upward.
- Once you have the cuff in the correct position, measure your blood pressure following the instructions of the device you are using.
- Do not talk until the measurement is completed.
- After the blood pressure has been measured, and once the cuff has deflated, wait one minute before repeating the measurement.
Please see the links below for instruction videos that you might find helpful.
The number of times a week that you need to measure your blood pressure at home will depend on how well your blood pressure is controlled and how many weeks pregnant you are.
You and your doctor can decide on a plan of home blood pressure monitoring that works for you depending on the above factors.
When you receive the BP cuffs, you will also receive information on how to connect them to Google Fit or Apple Health Kit. Here are the steps you need to follow:
- Download the device-specific App e.g. IHealth for Apple or Android (from the app store/play store).
- Create an account on the app.
- Agree to that 3rd party apps T&Cs, data processing agreement etc.
- Pair the device to the app via Bluetooth/Wifi/RF.
- Take a measurement from the device.
- Go to Apple HealthKit/Google Fit and link Ihealth to Google Fit.
- Go to MyCare, Health Tracker and click "Link to Apple Health Kit/Google Fit".
- Agree to the Permissions for Apple Healthkit/Google Fit.
- All historic data is then submitted to MyCare.
Please see the page below to see the step-by-step guide on how to link to Apple Health Kit/Google Fit.
Ideally, both top and bottom numbers in your blood pressure should be below 145 / 95 mmHg.
If either of these numbers are equal or above 145 / 95mmHg, your next steps are detailed in the figure below. Your next steps will depend on whether you have chronic hypertension, pre-eclampsia or pregnancy-induced hypertension.
Your doctor would have told you what your diagnosis is in the clinic so that you are clear on which pathway you should follow. These three conditions are also described in Section 2.
It is important to note that if either of these numbers is above 145 / 95 mmHg AND you have any of the following symptoms, then you should attend the hospital for a review:
- headache,
- visual disturbances,
- pain in your tummy,
- baby is not moving or moving less,
- vomiting.
Maternity triage number: 0203447 9400 (option 2 to speak to a midwife, open 24hrs Mon-Sun)
Non-urgent questions:
UCLH pregnancy hypertension team: uclh.
UCLH midwife enquiry line: uclh.
You will need to return the Blood Pressure cuff after the baby's delivery. You can return it in the following ways:
- When your midwife visits you after delivery, normally within 10 days after delivery.
- Drop it off with the reception staff at MFAU (Maternal Fetal Assessment Unit), on the 1st Floor of the EGA building on Grafton Way).
Services
Page last updated: 07 January 2025
Review due: 01 January 2027