What did I do, anyway?

This question arrived in the comments of a recent post, from my newly-pregnant friend (and Aussie transplant!), Rebekah.

"What vitamins and minerals did you take during your pregnancy?"

Okay, here's my list... Obviously, the things that work for me don't work for everybody. If something makes you feel worse than you do already, you should probably discontinue...

• Super Mom multi-vitamin with spirulina
  I noticed a major difference in swelling between Precious' pregnancy and Bubby's pregnancy. I *think* it was the spirulina-- good for circulation and detox. I did swell some with Cutie, but it wasn't as much as with Precious. This multi-vitamin also helps boost my energy.
  
  
• Cod liver oil
  2 tsp. a day. I mixed it up with a small amount of "no sugar added" cranberry juice (avoid the kind that's loaded with high fructose corn syrup) and gulped it down without taking a breath. Pregnant and nursing moms need enough CLO to provide at least 20,000 IUs of Vitamin A per day.
  
  More on CLO requirements from the Weston A. Price Foundation.
  
  (Yes, I know CLO has been getting a bad rap lately from the Cannell study. I'll stick with the traditional diet promoted by WAPF. CLO with the naturally occuring ratio of 10:1 Vitamin A to Vitamin D is what you need. Don't buy the kind that has the Vitamin A taken out. Buy one of the brands recommended by the WAPF in the above article.)
  
  If you're going to buy Super Moms from Beeyoutiful anyway, you should know that the CLO capsules that they sell have the correct A/D ratio. You have to take 8 capsules to get enough Vitamin A, though, so you'd go through a bottle pretty quickly (12.5 days, to be exact).
  
  
• Mama's Red Raspberry Brew tea
  1 cup daily, or whenever I think about it. Don't forget to add lots of raw honey to make it as palatable as possible. Red raspberry tones the uterus and allows it to work efficiently during labor.
  
  
• Raw milk from pastured, happy cows
  Great cure for [morning] sickness, or just a quick snack to defeat pregnancy nausea, anytime. A glass at bedtime kept me from vomiting first thing in the morning. You should be able to find a nice farmer where you live. Check out the RealMilk.com website.

I also want to mention another helpful note that came up in the Birth Reflection comments. (Rebekah, by the way, that's when I suspected that you might be expecting!) Jennifer, who recommended The Birth Book to me in the first place, had a few other recommendations for moms who would like to give birth as naturally as possible. She's expecting #6!

• The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth by Henci Goer and Rhonda Wheeler
• Ina May's Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin

Another thing I did this time around was to maintain a subscription to my local CSA and learn how to prepare seasonal vegetables to go with locally raised, grassfed meat. Most of the vegetable preparations involved lots of butter...

And, those of you who know me know where this is headed...

Nourishing Traditions! Go get one!

Oh, yeah :P.