Prenatal vitamins...

Way back when, in the very beginning, I went to my doctor for a pre-conception visit. I just wanted to talk about what I could do to make my body the best environment for conceiving a baby. One of the simplest things you can do is take a prenatal vitamin, and my doctor gave me a prescription for gesticare with DHA.

Now, I have pretty good health insurance with a prescription plan but of course these specific vitamins aren't covered and they cost $50! So there I was shelling out 50 bucks a month, not getting pregnant, the vitamins were seriously backing up my "system" and to top it all off they made me really queasy if I took them on an empty stomach! Plus every time someone came over I had to make sure they were hidden away and that I didn't open the cabinet or drawer where I had stashed them and then of course I forgot about them later causing me to forget to take them the next day.

In the process of all these fertility testing shenanigans I brought the vitamin issue back up with my doctor: they are ridiculously expensive, they make me queasy and constipated and I keep forgetting to take them so do I really need to take a prenatal vitamin when I'm trying to conceive? The answer: yes, but you don't need to take the whole enchilada. I already eat a pretty healthy and balanced diet so the big thing for me is to take 1 milligram of folic acid a day to prevent lots of different conditions, most importantly preventing neural tube defects dealing with the brain and spinal cord, like spina bifida and anencephaly. And then I just have to be conscientious about staying hydrated and drinking those 8 glasses of water a day. That will get me through those 2 weeks or so before I would be able to confirm a pregnancy and start up with the everything but the kitchen sink prenatal vitamins. For me it really is just so much more comfortable and cost effective!