Reddit mentions of Rainbow Light Prenatal One Prenatal Vitamins + Superfoods, Probiotics, Non-GMO, Vegetarian & Gluten Free, Clinically Proven Absorption of Vitamin D, B2, B5, folate, calcium, iron & zinc, 150 Tablets

Expecting mom here, due in September. Here are some tips that I have. Take what you like, discard the rest!

• Start taking prenatal vitamins with 800 mcg Folic Acid every day, BEFORE you get pregnant (try to aim for 3 months before, at least). I cannot stress this enough. The sooner you start, the better. Your husband should also be taking a vitamin with 800 mcg Folic Acid. Folic acid has been linked to helping prevent genetic disorders. Since you each contribute half of the genes for your child, the extra chromosome for autism can come either of you. Sperm takes over two months to produce, so have your husband start taking a vitamin asap. It is important that you both do this. I suggest these vitamins, as they are super easy on the stomach and don't have extra, unneeded chemicals in them: Men's Vitamin. Women's Prenatal Vitamin Source: Cell & Molecular Biology major with genetics research background
  
  
• Don't worry about the money situation too much. Yes, it will be hard. Yes, you will have to work harder than you ever have had to. Yes, you CAN MAKE IT WORK. You will find a way to make it work. Get in the habit of tracking where your money is being spent. Can you cut down on eating out? Do you really need that movie on blue-ray? Rather than buying a $7 gallon of ice cream, buy a bunch of bananas for $3. Your body and your wallet will thank you.
  
  
• When you do become pregnant, apply for WIC. You may qualify and there is no shame in asking for a little bit of extra help. It will help you eat healthier and allow you to put that saved money towards things for your little one.
  
  
• Locate a second hand children's clothing store in your area. Not everything will be cheaper than buying new, but many secondhand stores will have infant socks for 25 cents a pair, onsies for $1, and even second hand maternity clothes. You will save a LOT of money buying maternity clothes second hand. I was able to get 3 pairs of Motherhood Maternity jeans for $35 at my local secondhand store (and saved over $70 in the process). Why pay full price on clothes you will only wear for 6 months?
  
  
• Consider the cost of childcare. Bottom line, daycare is expensive. I know you stated that you both have to work in order to pay the bills. Find out what the cost of child care is in your area. It may come out to be that the cost of child care is almost the same as one of your salaries, depending on how much you make. If this is the case, consider having the parent who makes less (whether it's you or your husband) be a stay-at-home parent and only work part time. Why pay someone almost your entire salary to raise your child for you? (My husband will be a stay-at-home dad. He's so excited he can hardly stand it.) If a relative is going to watch your child, make sure that you are willing to give them money for food and such.
  
  
• Be weary of accepting second hand car seats. UV rays from sunlight degrade plastics (Source: I asked a polymer chemist professor) and the safety standards for car seats get better every year. If it is over 5 years old, don't take it. Yes, that new car seat will be between $100-$300. Your child's safety is worth it.
  
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I suggest Rainbow Light - they're once a day, I dont get nauseous from them - just the smell makes me nauseous but thats with all pills for me right now. Theyre food-based so you wont get that nauseous feeling from taking them.

I debated leaving them because Im slowly beginning to get nauseous from everything i put in my mouth but I did research on gummies and they lack iron and its vital to our growing babies. So I am sticking with these. :)

From what I've heard, nausea from prenatal vitamins is really common. I don't know if it's just that most women taking them are in the first trimester of pregnancy and naturally nauseous, or if there's something in prenatals that can upset stomachs more than other vitamins. FWIW, I have a really sensitive stomach (and get nauseous as part of my normal PMS symptoms) and I've had no problems taking Prenatal One vitamins.

Your temps look totally normal. It's very expected to have variations of 0.1-0.3 or more from day-to-day. Definitely no need to "preheat" the thermometer. The important thing is that you're able to pick out the pattern of a temp spike after ovulation. You want to see a rise of 0.2 or more above the previous 3 temps, that lasts for at least 3-5 days (really, it should last until AF shows up, 10 or more days).

There are some possible complications from a D&C, but it's more related to the ability for an embryo to implant, not for carrying to term. However, lots and lots of women have D&Cs, it's not considered a high-risk procedure. I'd say there's no need to worry until you've been TTC with no luck for at least 6 months, and your doctor would really be the right person to ask about that.

Finally, your sex drive issues could be psychological or hormonal. It could be related to PCOS causing hormonal issues, or even the paraguard removal. Again, I would worry too much until it's persisted for a much longer period of time. :)

Good luck, and welcome to TFAB!

It might sound crazy... but have you exfoliated your scalp? I mean, it doesn't have to be super expensive or anything. Just get some plain ol' sugar, mix with a little olive oil to make a paste (it won't make your scalp greasy, I swear!), and scrub away! Then rinse, and shampoo like usual. I do this about once a month just to get rid of any skin buildup. Cheap & easy!

You might also try to use hair products that don't have sulfites or parabens in them, by the way... those things are nasty to begin with, and people frequently develop allergies/intolerances to both. So like, avoid anything with sodium laurel sulfate or ammonium laureth sulfate, stuff like that. I've had to do this because I deal with eczema, but it's supposedly better for your hair & stuff. I just don't want my head to break out haha!

That said... have you switched prenatals? If you can order from Amazon, these are the best pills around: http://www.amazon.com/Rainbow-Light-Prenatal-Multivitamin-tablets/dp/B00115BJ30

They are crazy expensive, but they don't have any of the typical allergens that most pills have, like lactose or wheat byproducts or any of that other crap. I have a massively sensitive stomach and those are pretty much the only pills that don't wreak havoc in one way or another.

Congrats on the incoming munchkin!

Now, I don't have any first hand experience myself, but I've researched this issue for family members before.

The prenatal vitamin you'll probably want is this: http://www.amazon.com/Rainbow-Light-Prenatal-Multivitamin-150-Count/dp/B00115BJ30

It's food-based so it should sit well with your tummy, and it's totally vegan. Best to take it during meals. Personally I'd recommend splitting each tablet in half, take one of the halves(The larger one if you cut unevenly) at breakfast, and the other half at dinnertime. Otherwise probably just in the morning.

You definitely want to avoid Fish Oil, the mercury content does more damage than the Omega 3's can do good. I recommend this instead: http://www.amazon.com/Ovega-3-Vegetarian-Softgels-500-Count/dp/B004LL7AXE/

Direct source of DHA sourced from golden algae(Which is where a lot of fish get it from in the first place!), grown in algae factories so there should be no fear of mercury contamination. Since you're pregnant I'd probably say take one at breakfast time, and another at dinner time, as their content isn't quite as high as Fish Oil pills.

Finally, definitely want to make sure you're getting enough B12, so I wouldn't rely on the multivitamin for that. I'd say get this: http://www.amazon.com/Aerobic-Life-AdvantageTM-Methylcobalamin-500mcg/dp/B0014JOBXS

Take a spray once per day in the morning with breakfast(You can even spray it into your drink/food). Little bit overkill, but with B12 that's not a problem, and since you're nomming for two, it can only help!

Good luck parenting! :D

I take some random vegan brand, but I haven't got the bottle with me. Essential One or something like that?

I'm lactose intolerant, and almost everything that has iron supplements contain lactose - it has something to do with absorbing iron properly? Not sure, but it was a serious pain in the ass to find a prenatal w/o lactose in it haha!

I found them at Fred Meyer, if you have those in your area. Edit - nevermind, the powers of Amazon prevail! http://www.amazon.com/Rainbow-Light-Prenatal-Multivitamin-tablets/dp/B00115BJ30/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375396083&sr=8-1

They're massive, like all prenatals seem to be, but they're super easy on my stomach & my mineral/vitamins are holding steady - or at least they were as of my last blood check, about a month ago. =)

Personally I dont do multi-vitamins, because I prefer to optimize only for the vitamins I need, without risking depleting other vitamins because I get too much of an antagonist vitamin (e.g. if you take too much A, it depletes D3, or if you get too much copper, it depletes zinc, and the other way around). It's best to know what you need based on what you eat, how you feel, and what your blood tests show, and then go from there.

Now, if you insist on multivitamins, I'd say go for the ones that don't have yeast or gluten or anything like that. I think this one is one of the best I've seen around http://www.amazon.com/Rainbow-Light-Prenatal-Multivitamin-150-Count/dp/B00115BJ30/ref=pd_sim_hpc_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=04J9YW4Z94ZB1ZXQMHMH (yes, it's for prenatal women, but that blend is better than the standard daily ones for men/women). Unfortunately, its Magnesium content (which most Westerners are deficient of), is a joke.

So you'll still need K2-Mk4 (which is different from K) and Magnesium separately, and you'd also need some CoQ10 Ubiquinol and PQQ too if you don't eat animal heart on a regular basis. These aren't weird things I suggest. Along D3, they're the "standard" vitamins that the Paleo gurus suggest in their various blog posts. The more "normal" vitamins you find on a multi-vitamin you can get from actual food -- especially Paleo food which is loaded with these.

Rainbow Lites are Vegan. They're giant horse pills so it helps to break them apart. I took these for a year and a half while we were TTC and for the first six months of my pregnancy. They're okay. Were a bit hard on my stomach, but I switched over to some Gummy One a Day (not vegan) vitamins for the last three months because I started gagging really bad on the horse pills (I think by then I was just so fucking tired of choking them down every day my body was like NOPE. NOT TODAY) and they were no better on my stomach.

Here's some pics in the reviews for what to look for. You should be safe if you're getting them locally; I think it's a storage issue at amazon.

Rainbow Light Prenatal One Multivitamin, 150-Count Bottle https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00115BJ30/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_3nVsxb9HG3N7G

First of all congratulations! I am still TTCing but I really like rainbow light pre-natals - they are gluten free and have digestive enzymes so I haven't had any trouble with them. They usually have Iron but no DHA. Also noticed that they have a trimester 2&3 formulation too.

Thanks, I'm walking between 3 and 12 miles each day. The most difficult part was definitely managing bodily function--the first week or two nothing was guaranteed. Best advice I can give: trust no fart.

I also re-read the audio book of Mark Divine's "Way of the SEAL" -- it gives a bunch of exercises to build mental toughness and resilience. I've had little to no hunger/cravings and have cooked several highly aromatic meals for others: homemade pizza, seafood marinara, shrimp and dirty rice, etc.

Overall this has been an exceedingly positive experience my BP has dropped from 140/96 @ 78 bpm to 121/81 @ 74 bmp. I've gone from sleeping 4-5 hours per night with snoring interrupted breathing/semi-apnea (no mask or anything) to 8-10 hours sleeping like a baby. I'm waking up at 5 am before my alarm.

I can't give you the specifics on the nutrients/micronutrients. Here's my complete shopping list--I'm taking electrolyte pills and not using drops--these were recommended in another thread. It's good to keep those on hand, in case you feel any cramps or light-headedness.

YMMV.



https://www.amazon.com/Rainbow-Light-Prenatal-Multivitamin-150-Count/dp/B00115BJ30

https://www.amazon.com/Nutribiotic-Essential-Electrolytes-Caps-Count/dp/B000OP252C

https://www.amazon.com/Posture-d-Calcium-Vitamin-Magnesium-Caplets/dp/B007AHK1EG

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UI9F01C/

https://www.amazon.com/Nature-Made-Magnesium-Citrate-Softgels/dp/B00CU3SX4K

https://www.amazon.com/Nature-Made-Complex-Strength-Packaging/dp/B008PQDCG0