pregnancy supplies
Book for the Partner of a Pregnant Person
Scott and I love this book. It’s written to prospective dads, but it does say a few words about same-sex couples needing the same info, and would be relevant for any poor soul living with a hormone-riven gestation machine (I mean, glowing mother-to-be).
Books on Pregnancy
These are books I read and refer to (listed in order from most hippy-herbal to most medical-science-y): Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year, Do You Want to Have a Baby? Natural Fertility Solutions and Pregnancy Care, What to Expect When You’re Expecting, and The Panic-Free Pregnancy.
The Panic-Free book goes a little further than I choose to. For example, the author says to go ahead and drink caffeine (three cups or less a day), eat sushi, and take certain over the counter drugs; he even recommends taking Unisom for nausea. The Wise Woman book goes a little further in the other direction than I have the patience for. Each book has its strengths as a reference tool.
Vitamins and Supplements
I drink this tea every morning. Two of the books I bought (see above) recommend all of the ingredients in this tea for pregnancy. One of the books says don’t drink any herbal teas as they have not been tested thoroughly enough. I’m just telling you what I do.
I take three capsules a day of Ultimate Omega to get that 1000 mg of Omega-3s recommended in the studies. The best things about this brand are the lemon flavor (no fishy burps), and the fact that it is certified free of heavy metals (mercury, lead).
Source of Life Prenatal Liquid: I take this stuff every day in the morning. It tastes delicious and doesn’t seem to cause nausea or constipation, as other prenatal vitamins reportedly do. I like that I only have to take one dose a day, rather than 3x. It does have to stay refrigerated though, which isn’t so great for traveling.
Another favorite supplement is super papaya enzyme plus (and original papaya enzyme). Both are chewable digestive aids, good for combating heartburn. The original version has small, very sweet, papaya-flavored oblong tablets, ingredients include sugar, and the instructions recommend taking 3 tabs right after a meal.
The super-plus version has larger, less sweet, minty round tablets, with mannitol instead of sugar, and offers the option of 3 after a meal, or dissolving 1 or 2 in your mouth anytime.
Interestingly, the sweet little tabs are usually cheaper, and as far as I can read, a bit higher in enzyme content than the big ones. I usually only take one or two of either, and use the white ones for between-meals heartburn.