The measure of the force with which your blood thrust against the walls of the arteries is known as blood pressure. This blood pressure is regarded as “high blood pressure” or hypertension when the force is harder than the average “safe” range. Women, comparative to men, have a relatively lower blood pressure but it does increase due to certain conditions or complications. A woman might get pre-pregnancy High Blood Pressure or it may start to increase during the pregnancy. Preeclampsia is one such problem within pregnant women; it is a complication where High Blood Pressure commences after 20 weeks of pregnancy. There is no way of knowing if a woman is to develop Preeclampsia so it is recommended to keep a close watch and go for checkups more often if High blood pressure is detected during pregnancy.

Preeclampsia and High Blood Pressure are related, but they are different in some ways.

High Blood Pressure:
Usually, blood pressure in women is expected to drop during the “Second Trimester”, which returns to normal towards the end. Sometimes, some women develop very high blood pressure in their second or third trimester. This is known as gestational hypertension and often leads to preeclampsia.

Preeclampsia:
Besides High blood pressure after 20 weeks of pregnancy, other Symptoms include protein in the urine.
Preeclampsia can prove lethal for both mother and child. It restricts blood and oxygen flow to the baby, can also harm brain, liver and kidneys of the mother. Women with serious cases of preeclampsia can have fatal seizures called eclampsia.
Preeclampsia or not, every pregnant woman should be aware of any increase in blood pressure as high blood pressure can lead to stillbirth.