Vitality Prenatal Vitamins

I have never believed in vitamins. Trust me, I'd tried! But I'm a skeptic at heart sometimes and when results aren't jumping out at me, I refuse to believe, no matter how hard I try to force myself.

Then I became pregnant, and started taking Walmart brand prenatals, simply because "that's what you do" when you're pregnant. Baby won't be a healthy baby if you don't take vitamins, right? But of course, nothing seemed different to me, and although I took them fairly regularly, I eventually started to give up. Then my mom sent me Melaleuca prenatal vitamins. "Ok, I'll try them." I rather sporadically took one or two vitamins every couple of days, to appease my conscience.

This pregnancy has been a rough one in a lot of ways. Oh, I'm aware that it could have been much worse - I could have been on bed rest, or have been throwing up constantly, or had preclampsia, or Baby could have had health problems, and none of that has been going on. However, I struggled to eat anything for the first 6 months, losing 8 pounds between August and Christmas, instead of gaining one ounce of baby weight. I was working retail as a sales associate for 16-20+ hours a week during those months and literally coming home from work and sleeping for the rest of the day and night. On my days off I felt incredibly accomplished if I got dishes done or went grocery shopping. My back was in constant pain, too.

At Christmas, Mom strongly encouraged me to be faithful about taking my vitamins. "You AND the Baby need them!" She insisted. So, I went back to it. The recommended dose is 2 per day, and I gradually worked up to taking that amount faithfully.

This week, as I was thinking back over the past three months, I realized how incredible the change has been for me in this trimester. Other than being a little worn out every day, and the normal aches and pains of a body changing with a growing baby inside, I'm almost back to normal health. My former exhaustion has almost completely diminished and I'm eating like a horse (have gained 15 pounds since Christmas). I'm able to eat healthy, wholesome foods, and enjoy them. My back pain is closer to what it was before I was pregnant - more off and on rather than constant (some of that is due to the past 5 months of chiropractic care, I'm certain, too).

Then, it occurred to me that the improvements in how I'm feeling have come at the same rate as my increase in regular vitamin-taking! These prenatals have restored my strength and energy. I have to credit it to them, and God using them in my body. Otherwise there's no way I could feel this good at the end of my pregnancy when the first two-thirds of it were so miserable.