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Important vitamins during pregnancy

Vitamins during pregnancy are very important. You must remember those pregnancy vitamins.

If you have ever attempted to go on any kind of diet that involved reading the information on the nutritional labels of your food you are all too familiar with the fact that those little words and symbols can start to look like Greek after a while. If you’re not a doctor or a nutritionist you probably have no idea of what Vitamin B or Folic Acid

If you’re not a doctor or a nutritionist you probably have no idea of what Vitamin B or Folic Acid are, much less why they’re important. The first step to conquering pregnancy nutrition is understanding what you’re eating, how much you should eat, why you’re eating it and how it’s going to help your baby.

Important Vitamins During Pregnancy

A quick note. In the following section you are going to see several mentions made about the negative consequences of overdosing on specific vitamins. You must understand that this overdose very rarely occurs because of the foods you eat. More often it is because mothers have chosen to consume extra pregnancy vitamins in an attempt to “help” their baby or they have forgotten to tell their physician about other vitamins and supplements they take on a regular basis.

More often it is because mothers have chosen to consume extra pregnancy vitamins in an attempt to “help” their baby or they have forgotten to tell their physician about other vitamins and supplements they take on a regular basis.

vitamins during pregnancy

vitamins during pregnancy

Be sure when you go in for your prenatal appointments that your physician knows exactly what vitamins, medications and supplements (including herbal) you take, regardless of how insignificant you may believe them to be.

Vitamin A During Pregnancy

Vitamin A helps the development of baby’s bones and teeth, as well as their heart, ears, eyes and immune system (the body system that fights infection) so is an vitamins during pregnancy. Vitamin A deficiency has been associated with vision problems, which is why your mom always told you to eat your carrots when you were a kid! Getting enough Vitamin A during pregnancy will also help your body repair the damage caused by childbirth.

Vitamin A deficiency has been associated with vision problems, which is why your mom always told you to eat your carrots when you were a kid! Getting enough Vitamin A during pregnancy will also help your body repair the damage caused by childbirth.

Pregnant women should consume at least 770 micrograms (or 2565 IU, as it is labeled on nutritional labels) of Vitamin A per day, and that number almost doubles when nursing to 1300 micrograms (4,330 IU). Be aware, however, that overdosing on Vitamin A can cause birth defects and liver toxicity. Your maximum intake should be 3000

Be aware, however, that overdosing on Vitamin A can cause birth defects and liver toxicity. Your maximum intake should be 3000 mcg (10,000 IU) per day.

Vitamin A can be found in liver, carrots, sweet potatoes, kale spinach collard greens, cantaloupe, eggs, mangos and peas.

Vitamin B6 During Pregnancy

Also known as Pyridoxine, Vitamin B6 helps your baby’s brain and nervous system develop. It also helps Mom and baby develop new red blood cells. Oddly enough, B6 has been known to help alleviate morning sickness in some pregnant women.

Pregnant women should consume at least 1.9 mg of this pregnancy vitamin per day of Vitamin B6. That amount rises slightly when nursing to 2.0 mg per day.

Vitamin B6 can be found in fortified cereals, as well as bananas, baked potatoes, watermelon, chick peas and chicken breast.

Vitamin B12 During Pregnancy

pregnancyVitamin B12 works hand in hand with folic acid to help both Mom and baby produce healthy red blood cells, and it helps develop the fetal brain and nervous system.

The body stores years’ worth of B12 away, so unless you are a vegan or suffer from pernicious anemia the likelihood of a B12 deficiency is very slim.

Pregnant women should consume at least 2.6 mcg (104 IU) of B12per day, nursing mothers 2.8 mcg (112 IU).

Vitamin B12 can be found in red meat, poultry, fish, shellfish, eggs and dairy foods. If you are a vegan you will be able to find B12 fortified tofu and soymilk. Other foods are fortified at the manufacturer’s discretion.

Vitamin C During Pregnancy

Vitamin C helps the body to absorb iron and build a healthy immune system in both mother and baby. It also holds the cells together, helping the body to build tissue. Since the Daily Recommended Allowance of Vitamin C is so easy to consume by eating the right foods supplementation is rarely needed.

Since the Daily Recommended Allowance of Vitamin C is so easy to consume by eating the right foods supplementation is rarely needed.

Pregnant women should consume at least 80-85 mg of Vitamin C per day, nursing mothers no less than 120 mg per day.

Vitamin C can be found in citrus fruits, raspberries, bell peppers, green beans, strawberries, papaya, potatoes, broccoli and tomatoes, as well as in many cough drops and other supplements.

Calcium During Pregnancy

Calcium builds your baby’s bones and helps its brain and heart to function. Calcium intake increases dramatically during pregnancy.

Women with calcium deficiency at any point in their lives are more likely to suffer from conditions such as osteoporosis which directly affect the bones so especially now this is one of the most vitamins during pregnancy.

Women with calcium deficiency at any point in their lives are more likely to suffer from conditions such as osteoporosis which directly affect the bones so especially now this is one of the most vitamins during pregnancy.

Pregnant women should consume at least 1200 mg of these pregnancy vitamins a day, nursing mothers 1000 mg per day.

Calcium can be found in dairy products, such as milk, cheese, yogurt and, to a lesser extent, ice cream, as well as fortified juices, butters and cereals, spinach, broccoli, okra, sweet potatoes, lentils, tofu, Chinese cabbage, kale and broccoli. It is also widely available in supplement form.

Vitamin D During Pregnancy

Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium, leading to healthy bones for both mother and baby.

Women who are pregnant or nursing should consume at least 2000 IU of Vitamin D per day. Since babies need more Vitamin D than adults babies that are only breastfeeding may need a Vitamin D supplement, so if your doctor recommends this don’t worry. You haven’t done anything wrong! Formula is fortified with Vitamin D, so if you are bottle feeding or supplementing with formula your baby is probably getting sufficient amounts of this vital nutrient.

You haven’t done anything wrong. Formula is fortified with Vitamin D, so if you are bottle feeding or supplementing with formula your baby is probably getting sufficient amounts of this vital nutrient.

Vitamin D is rarely found in sufficient amounts in ordinary foods. It can, however, be found in milk (most milk is fortified) as well as fortified cereals, eggs and fatty fish like salmon, catfish and mackerel. Vitamin D is also found in sunshine, so women and children found to have a mild Vitamin D deficiency may be told to spend more time in the sun.

Vitamin E During Pregnancy

Vitamin E helps baby’s body to form and use its muscles and red blood cells. Lack of Vitamin E during pregnancy has been associated with pre-eclampsia (a condition causing excessively high blood pressure and fluid retention) and low birth weight.

On the other hand, Vitamin E overdose has been tentatively associated with stillbirth in mothers who “self medicated” with supplements.

Pregnant women should consume at least 20 mg of Vitamin E per day but not more than 540 mg.

Vitamin E can be found in naturally in vegetable oil, wheat germ, nuts, spinach and fortified cereals as well as in supplemental form. Natural Vitamin E is better for your baby than synthetic, so be sure to eat lots of Vitamin E rich foods before you reach for your bottle of supplements.

Folic Acid During Pregnancy

Also known as Folate or Vitamin B9, Folic Acid is a vital part of your baby’s development. The body uses Folic Acid for the replication of DNA, cell growth and tissue formation.

A Folic Acid deficiency during pregnancy can lead to neural tube defects such as spina bifida (a condition in which the spinal cord does not form completely), anencephaly (underdevelopment of the brain) and encephalocele (a condition in which brain tissue protrudes out to the skin from an abnormal opening in the skull).

All of these conditions occur during the first 28 days of fetal development, usually before Mom even knows she’s pregnant, which is why it’s important for women who may become or are trying to become pregnant to consistently get enough Folic Acid in their diet.

Pregnant woman should consume at least 0.6-0.8 mg of Folic Acid per day as this is one of the most critical pregnancy vitamins that we currently know of.

Folic Acid can be found in oranges, orange juice, strawberries, leafy vegetables, spinach, beets, broccoli, cauliflower, peas, pasta, beans, nuts and sunflower seeds, as well as in supplements and fortified cereals.

Iron During Pregnancy

Iron helps your body to form the extra blood that it’s going to need to keep you and baby healthy, as well as helping to form the placenta and develop the baby’s cells.

Women are rarely able to consume enough iron during their pregnancy through eating alone, so iron supplements along with prenatal vitamins are often prescribed.

Women who are pregnant should have at least 27 mg of iron per day, although the Center for Disease Control suggests that all women take a supplement containing at least 30 mg. The extra iron rarely causes side effects; however, overdosing on iron supplements can be very harmful for both you and your baby by causing iron build-up in the cells.

Iron can be found in red meat and poultry, which are your best choice, as well as legumes, vegetables, some grains and fortified cereals.

Niacin During Pregnancy

Also known as Vitamin B3, Niacin is responsible for providing energy for your baby to develop as well as building the placenta. It also helps keep Mom’s digestive system operating normally.

Pregnant women should have an intake of at least 18 mg of Niacin per day.

Niacin can be found in foods that are high in protein, such as eggs, meats, fish and peanuts, as well as whole grains, bread products, fortified cereals and milk.

Protein During Pregnancy

Protein is the building block of the body’s cells, and as such it is very important to the growth and development of every part of your baby’s body during pregnancy. This is especially important in the second and third trimester, when both Mom and baby are growing the fastest.

Pregnant and nursing women should consume at least 70g of protein per day, which is about 25g more than the average women needs before pregnancy.

Protein can be found naturally in beans, poultry, red meats, fish, shellfish, eggs, milk, cheese, tofu and yogurt. It is also available in supplements, fortified cereals and protein bars.

Riboflavin During Pregnancy

Also known as Vitamin B2, Riboflavin helps the body produce the energy it needs to develop your baby’s bones, muscles and nervous system. Women with Riboflavin deficiency may be at risk for preeclamsia, and when baby is delivered it will be prone to anemia, digestive problems, poor growth and a suppressed immune system, making it more vulnerable to infection.

Pregnant women should consume at least 1.4 mg of Riboflavin per day, nursing mothers 1.6 mg.

Riboflavin can be found in whole grains, dairy products, red meat, pork and poultry, fish, fortified cereals and eggs.

Thiamin During Pregnancy

Also known as Vitamin B1, thiamin helps develop your baby’s organs and central nervous system.

Pregnant women and nursing mothers should consume at least 1.4 mg of Thiamin a day. Nursing mothers who are Thiamin deficient are at risk for having babies with beriberi, a disease which may affect the baby’s cardiovascular system (lungs and heart) or the nervous system.

Thiamin can be found in whole grain foods, pork, fortified cereals, wheat germ and eggs.

Zinc During Pregnancy

Zinc is vital for the growth of your fetus because it aids in cell division, the primary process in the growth of baby’s tiny tissues and organs. It also helps Mom and baby to produce insulin and other enzymes and is a critically important vitamins during pregnancy.

Pregnant women should have an intake of at least 11-12 mg of Zinc per day.

Zinc can be found naturally in red meats, poultry, beans, nuts, grains, oysters and dairy products, as well as fortified cereals and supplements.

Bear in mind that the Recommended Daily Allowances are just that-recommended. None of those pregnancy vitamins  number has been formulated on a case-by-case basis, so if your doctor recommends something else for you listen to what they have to say. After all, they managed to run up that student loan somehow!

Please though look and read and make sure you get your fair share of these vitamins during pregnancy

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Muscle and joint fitness – JCR Test

Motor fitness is a more inclusive term than physical fitness.

Physical fitness combines strength, stamina, and cardiovascular reserve. Motor fitness includes these and adds agility, balance, “explosive” power, and speed. This concept has more limited value for the sportsman but approaches an even higher level of general fitness. Because more parameters are measured, these tests tend to become increasingly complex and complicated.

This concept has more limited value for the sportsman but approaches an even higher level of general fitness. Because more parameters are measured, these tests tend to become increasingly complex and complicated.

Introducing the JCR Test

Perhaps the simplest of these is the JCR Test. This is intended to assess basic motor skills such as jumping, chinning, running, and dodging which presumably require power, stamina, speed, and agility.

The J of JCR stands for the vertical jump. This is performed by having the subject stand erect, reaching as high as he can without standing on tiptoes, and making a mark
the wall.

Is Running Healthy

Is Running Healthy

Next, he squats down and then leaps as high as he canmaking another mark on the wall. The distance between the two chalk marks is recorded.

The C is for chinning. With palms facing forward, the subject grasps a bar above his head. He then chins himself as many times as possible, making sure that his elbows are straight before each chin. Wiggling, kicking, and jerking are not allowed.

Running accounts for the R in JCR. This is a hundred-yard shuttle run. The subject runs a ten-yard course ten timesback and forth between two walls ten yards apart. His time is then measured in seconds.

In all types of fitness measurements, experts generally deplore self-testing. Unintentionally the subject may count partial movements as complete. Or the ability to time oneself may be askew.

However, these objections do not apply to sportsmen provided that they always perform the test in the same manner, under the same conditions, and are measuring for comparisonimprovement or deterioration. The sportsman competes only against himself in fitness tests; he is not concerned with what other individuals or other groups can or cannot do. He is checking his own progress.

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Four Months Post Kidney Donation – My Experience

Four months after kidney donation. Wow, have times changed in my life.

A couple days ago I reached my 4 months post kidney donation. Back on August 11th, I donated a kidney to my daughter in a surgery that was pretty exciting for our family and all of those around us.

Back in May by daughter Taylor had her kidneys pulled out in the first step towards doing a kidney transplant. Usually, when a person is getting prepared for a kidney transplant the recipient will not have to have their kidneys taken out but, in this case, her kidneys were not retaining any water at all and we were going to run into a lot of problems post-transplant because of that.

Taylor with swollen Parotid GlandsSo, Taylor had her kidneys pulled, and we held our breath knowing that she would have to rely on dialysis every night to clean her blood and get super healthy enough to have a successful kidney transplant using one of my kidneys.

Prepping for Kidney Donation Surgery

I originally had a lot of testing to get the ok to be a kidney transplant donor back late in 2012 and since it had been so long since that testing I had to go through a bunch of the testing again. Not a big deal. The hospital had to check my general health again as well as my kidney function in particular. A few hours in the hospital and we had all of the testing taken care of.

Then strange as it may seem we needed to do a crossmatch test. The basics of a crossmatch are to see if we shared the same O negative blood type (we do). There is an extra blood test that Taylor and I did at the same time to see if we had both been exposed to the same viruses growing up. They compare the antigens.

We did this crossmatch just a few days before the transplant was scheduled and it turned out great.

Then our countdown was just making sure that we were staying healthy. I did not have any diet restrictions or anything special and neither did Taylor but the day before surgery everything got ready and prepped.

Day of Surgery

Taylor was first. She went into hospital a couple days early and instead of the regular dialysis 10 hours a day they did very aggressive dialysis for 32 hours until just an hour or two before surgery started.

As for me, I showed up the day before surgery. Fasted overnight and had an enema before bed and then I was all ready for surgery.

Yay, Surgery day. Taylor and I were both very excited. My wife Michelle and son Jaiden were nervous.Our surgery was scheduled for first thing in the morning. Taylor and I each had a separate operating room and everything went smoothly for our laparoscopic surgery:

Our surgery was scheduled for first thing in the morning. Taylor and I each had a separate operating room and everything went smoothly for our laparoscopic surgery:

  • We were each put to sleep
  • My surgeon pulled out my kidney and brought it a few feet away to Taylors operating room
  • Taylors surgeon put my old kidney into Taylor and connected up the plumbing while my surgeon closed me up

I am sure this process is a lot more difficult then I just described :) But I was back in my room before lunch and Taylor not long after that either. These transplant surgeries are quite quick and much more common than most people know.

My Kidney Donation Recovery

After Laproscopic Kidney Donation stitches and bloated

After Laproscopic Kidney Donation stitches and bloated

My immediate recovery was a bit messy for me. I had a catheter inserted during surgery to make sure they could watch to make sure I was passing enough fluids and not much blood.

As for pain medication, I found that I react terribly to any narcotics but this took us a couple days of nausea and experimenting to figure out.

Regular Tylenol was my friend for the next couple weeks

Before I was allowed to leave the hospital I had to be able to eat, have the strength to walk, have control over post op pain, and be able to poo.

Really the biggest problem for me before I left the hospital was getting my energy back to walk and getting my oxygen level good.

The funniest part of this whole process was my discovering on the third day that I was supposed to be breathing through my nose for the oxygen tube in my nose to work correctly. I certainly had some consciousness problems :)

Finally, I left the Alberta Childrens Hospital four days after surgery. My daughter felt like she was ready to leave before me, but they kept her another three days after me.

Finally Home For Real Recovery

Once I got home from the hospital I was tired and not allowed to do much. I laid down on the couch a lot and slept on and off but was quite tired for at least a week and probably two weeks really after I got home.

I tend to be a big eater and the lack of real exercise seemed to drop my appetite for at least a couple months after the surgery. I am back to my regular eating now but I think my regular exercise routine has a lot to do with that.

Considering I had lots of stitches both internally and out on my stomach I did not have a lot of pain in my gut but instead I had a lot of pain in my shoulder.

There is a nerve in your diaphragm that leads to your shoulder. During laparoscopic surgery, my stomach was pumped up with CO2 and this led to an irritation of the diaphragm nerve that pushed pain into my shoulder nerve. I found that this condition is actually really common although not as common a week after surgery.

I found that this condition is actually really common although not as common a week after surgery. My shoulder was in pain and throbbing, but the Tylenol seemed to help as long as I kept the dose up.

I had another problem with my shoulder that I am actually still fighting with and that is a weakness in my rotator cuff. During surgery since your muscles do not have any control apparently my arm was laying too far over my head and it hurt my shoulder. One of my shoulder muscles on my left side is still quite weak, but I am working on that.

Other than these little aches and pains I have recovered well. I was starting to take long walks a week after surgery, but would be pretty tired for the rest of the day for another week or two. Really my overall tiredness took probably 5 weeks to really go away. I was back working part time three weeks after surgery and full time 5 weeks post-op.

Really my overall tiredness took probably 5 weeks to really go away. I was back working part time three weeks after surgery and full time 5 weeks post-op.

One thing that I did do to try and reduce imflammation was to drink Turmeric Tea. I just make it myself from the root and drank it every day for a couple of weeks

I wasn’t allowed to lift anything over 20 pounds for 6 weeks after surgery and really I didn’t start training at all until about 9 weeks after surgery. I am now 16 weeks or so after my kidney donation and I think I am fine physically.

The two of us in the hospital the day after kidney transplant

The two of us in the hospital the day after kidney transplant

One last thing that I have to watch is my remaining kidney and how well it works. Research seems to show that the remaining kidney will experience hypertrophy, this means it will grow and have a greater working ability.

I am getting monthly tests for my GFR and Creatinine levels and right now my creatinine is getting better. Normal is under 100 and in the last month I went from 162 to 151 so my kidney is basically doing its job and is still month by month getting better.

I am getting monthly tests for my GFR and Creatinine levels and right now my creatinine is getting better. Normal is under 100 and in the last month I went from 162 to 151 so my kidney is basically doing its job and is still month by month getting better.

In my situation, I was of course very motivated to help my very own daughter with her kidney disease. Really though, if given this opportunity to help even a stranger this is something that anyone can do. This is a surgery with very little long term effects to the donor but for the recipient, it is truly life changing. I wish I could do it again, but with only one remaining kidney that would be a very bad idea.

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