Sunday, August 10, 2008

Food Aversion returns?

For the past three days, I've eaten only toast, ice cream, or cereal. The thought of anything else makes me sick.

I feel weak and tired, and sometimes dizzy.

Today, I woke up from a mid-day nap ready to eat. Picked up a salad: Bibb lettuce, grilled shrimp, avocado, black olives, hard-boiled eggs, cilantro dressing. Sounds lovely, eh?

I ate two bites.

What is this? I'm worried about baby, and need the energy.

Any moms out there ever been on iron supplements? A friend mentioned she had her OB put her on them after being completely depleted of energy 3rd trimester. I'm wondering if they will really jive with my binder-free, vegan pre-natals that are so easy on my body.

4 comments:

Cold Spaghetti said...

Yes, start taking iron!! Even if you're not anemic (which would be a big surprise, considering your perfect description and text-book case) -- it would not hurt.

I became anemic with Kate and took iron for awhile. The liquid supplement from health-food stores is what I was told to take (over the pills) for faster impact. Because they do take time to work, it is really really important to start as soon as you can. Going into delivery with anemia is a problem... and because you are facing a c-section, it would really worry me if you had low iron levels at delivery. Check that your prenatals are giving you enough B-vitamins (B-12 and folic acid, especially). Also, you may want to cut back on dairy... calcium prevents iron from absorbing into your system. Vitamin C, though, help with absorption, so go for the OJ! Oh, caffeine also inhibits absorption. (Note, though, that you could stagger your intake so that you're not combining these when you're taking in iron.)

I think the usual recommendation is between 60-120 mg of iron daily -- and that's elemental iron, not the ferrous or other stuff thrown in. Not all supplements are created equal. Read the labels on your supplement. Keep it away from the kids. The liquid iron needs to be refrigerated.

Drink a lot of water to help with the constipation.

Also, don't worry about the baby here, since he is getting all he needs from you... at your expense! The worry is YOU when we're talking about anemia. Specifically, it is about your ability to get through delivery and recovery. You want to go into your final weeks with good iron levels.

Hang in there!!!

Anonymous said...

I was on iron when I was pregnant with Emily, but only after my doctor said I needed it, and I was only taking about 30 mg. I wasn't anemic, I just had low iron levels.

Emmy said...

I've called the doctor this morning.
My prenatal has enough of the elemental iron, I believe. If I don't hear from her soon, I'm off to wholef to pick up the liquid stuff.

Thanks...
I'm pretty worthless right now.

chrissie said...

Feel better soon--hope the doc had something useful to offer.