Well, yes and no. The thing is, what I was carrying at that time were my prenatal vitamins. I never took any vitamin pills before I got pregnant. My diet sufficiently provided all the nutrients and minerals I needed. But pregnancy changed all that. After all, my body was carrying and nurturing another body (in my case two bodies since I was carrying twins) and I needed all the help I could get it terms of vitamin supplements. This would ensure that the baby(ies) get all they needed to develop and grow normally without starving mommy in the process.

What Are The Prenatal Vitamins We Need?

According to the recommendations of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, we need higher doses of vitamins and minerals during pregnancy. Most of these we can get in a proper healthy diet while avoiding certain foods, but sometimes we need extra supplementation for others.

Those vitamins that are sufficiently available from our daily diet, thus not routinely recommended for supplementation during pregnancy are:

• Vitamin A, available from green leafy and yellow-orange vegetables

• Vitamin B-1 or thiamine, available from milk and whole grains. Vitamin B-2

• Vitamin B-2 or riboflavin, available from green vegetables, dairy products, eggs and fish.

• Vitamin B-6, available from most vegetables you eat

• Vitamin B-12, available from animal proteins

• Vitamin C or ascorbic acid, available from fruits and vegetables

• Vitamin D or the sunshine vitamin, available from exposure to sun and vitamin-D-fortified milk

• Vitamin E, available from animal fats and proteins

• Vitamin K, available from green leafy vegetables, tomatoes, dairy products, and eggs

• Niacin, available from poultry, fish, and nuts

Some vitamins and minerals are not sufficiently available in our daily diet for many reasons. Thus, in order to ensure the well-being of both mom and baby, supplementation is recommended.

Most Commonly Prescribed Prenatal Vitamin Supplements

• Folic acid/folate is available in vegetables and grains but in small amounts. In the US and many countries, flour is fortified with folate, the synthetic version of folic acid. However, even this fortification is not sufficient for pregnant women, thus folic acid supplement is highly recommended during pregnancy. Folic acid deficiency has been linked to neural tube defects in fetus (e.g. spina bifida) and to maternal megaloblastic anemia. If you are planning to get pregnant, taking folate supplements in advance is advisable. The recommended daily allowance (RDA) of folate supplement for pregnant women is 0.6 mg. In women who had a previous child with neural tube defects, the RDA may even be increased up to 10 mg.

• Iron is available in our daily food but the absorption in the gastrointestinal tract is rather inefficient. Iron is essential for the production of hemoglobin that enables our blood to transport oxygen. In a pregnant woman, hemoglobin is very important in supplying blood to the placenta and the fetal tissues. Iron deficiency anemia is a common complaint during pregnancy. Thus, iron supplementation is highly recommended, with an RDA of 30 mg.

• Calcium is essential in the synthesis of bones. It is not surprising that as the baby grows in the uterus, the calcium requirement of the mother also increases. The RDA for calcium in pregnant women is 1200 mg.

I remember that I took my vitamin supplements each separately. However, nowadays, there are certain formulations which put the needed nutrients (and then some) in one multivitamin pill. According emedicine WebMD, the standard prenatal vitamin pill should contain the following:

• Iron – 30 mg

• Zinc – 15 mg

• Calcium – 250 mg

• Vitamin B-6 – 2 mg

• Folate – 0.4 mg

• Vitamin C – 50 mg

• Vitamin D – 5 mcg

The formulations, however, can vary and in some cases and may be customized to a woman’s specific nutritional needs. The following situations, for example, require special supplementation considerations.

When Special Supplementation May Be Needed

• Vegetarian diet – When a woman is vegetarian or vegan, then she would need supplementation of vitamins the she can only get from animal fats and proteins (e.g. Vitamins B12 and E).

• Lactose intolerance – Women who are lactose intolerant and therefore cannot drink milk or eat dairy products may need extra calcium supplementation.

• Cultural and behavioral considerations – In some countries, women may have minimal exposure to the sun, e.g. women in Muslim countries wearing the veil, or those intentionally avoid the sun for aesthetic or medical reasons. In such cases, pregnant women are usually prescribed vitamin D supplements.In developed countries, some women, especially the very young, might have the fear of having the so-called “baby fat” during pregnancy and would therefore try to cut down on their food intake. In these cases, obstetricians as well as family members should watch out for eating disorders to make sure the baby is not starved.

Multiple Pregnancies

Multiple growing babies require more vitamins and minerals than just one. I remember that when I was carrying my twins, my doctor had to increase my supplementation at a certain point. Folate and iron supplements may be increased and Vitamin B-6 supplement may be prescribed.

For more info about prenatal vitamins, check out:

• Prenatal Nutrition from WebMD

• Prenatal Vitamins: American Pregnancy Association

• Nutrition During Pregnancy: ACOG Education Pamphlet AP001 — American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

There is no doubt that mothers play an all-important leading role in the lives of their children. They are the obvious heroes of child rearing. But what about a father’s role? Just how important are the dads of the world compared to the almighty image of mother? My belief is that fathers play just as important a role as mothers. Different, yes. Possibly not as nurturing, not as all-sacrificing but just as important in the developmental and emotional well being of a child.

Dads are the solid foundation of our lives. They are the shore we swim to when our arms and legs feel increasingly tired. They are the strength we rely on as we take our first tentative steps into the world. Dads can be tender, tough, fragile or powerful but they are probably the most uncomplicated love we will ever know.

For daughters, Daddy is the first man they adore … the first man whose eyes shine with overwhelming amazement when they look at us. He is the first man to fall in love with us.

For sons, Daddy is the idol they first aspire to emulate … their mirror image of what will be and possibly the only man they will ever feel comfortable loving.

Daddy is the first man who held us, as a loving parent, with a lump in his throat so huge, only the joy of that love could erase the overwhelming pain of choking on unexpected raw emotion. I think when a father holds his newborn baby, he is touched by pure vulnerability for the first time in his adult life, leaving him forever humbled by the unexplained miracles of life.

For mothers, the father of our children is the one person we can trust to watch over our babies as closely as we would. We are secure in the knowledge of their love for our precious offspring. Dad is the only other person in the world as fascinated with every nuance and murmur of our babies. He is the one person on the planet with whom we can indulge our need to brag and carry on about our kid’s accomplishments and heartaches ad nauseum … one who will be just as interested and never yawn in the face of our devotion.

Without dads, we wouldn’t be moms. I would like to take the liberty of thanking them from all our hearts for this honor and for being our partners in this business of raising children.

Know how much you are loved and revered, guys! You are our trusted soldiers and we need you more than you will ever realize.

Copyright – 2000-2004- Rexanne Mancini

About The Author
Rexanne Mancini is the mother of two daughters, Justice and Liberty. She is a novelist, freelance writer and maintains an extensive yet informal parenting and family web site, Rexanne.com – www.rexanne.com – Visit her site for good advice, award-winning Internet holiday pages and some humor to help you cope. Subscribe to her free newsletter, Rexanne’s Web Review, for a monthly dose of Rexanne: www.rexanne.com/rwr-archives.html.
rexanne@rexanne.com