Pregnancy comes with a whole host of symptoms that women have to contend with, and being obscenely nauseous is among them. But what if it wasn’t your pregnancy that was making you sick? What if your “morning sickness” wasn’t sickness at all? What if it was your prenatal vitamins?
Turns out, for me, it was.
I was very lucky to have an easy pregnancy. An easy labor and delivery, I decidedly did NOT have. But my pregnancy was a breeze. I was tired at first and had the appetite of a linebacker, but I didn’t suffer. Except for at the very beginning after learning I was pregnant.
Once I found out that I was expecting, I got on a daily prenatal regimen. I took my vitamins first thing in the morning, often without food because my schedule didn’t always permit breakfast. Without fail, I instantly felt like shit. But I guess I assumed suffering was to be expected so rather than consider causes and find solutions, I just vented to my husband.
He had the luxury of being clear-headed and not flooded with hormones, and simply said, “It’s those pills. This has happened to you with vitamins before. Why don’t you take those pills later in the day, with a meal. They’re too much all at once on an empty stomach and that’s what’s making you sick.”
Seriously so glad I married that guy.
Everyone needs someone to tell them what they already know.
I took his brilliant recommendation a step further. I googled whether prenatal vitamins could make you sick. (Answer: YES!) And then I googled prenatal vitamins you can take on empty stomach and not get sick.
I went down the metaphoric rabbit hole that is the internet and found women who swore by New Chapter (a brand previously recommended to me by an aesthetician and skin expert I totally trust).
New Chapter prenatals are kind of pricey but it’s strongly advised to take these multi-vitamins for your whole pregnancy, which could be over 10 months full-term plus pre and post pregnancy if you choose, and I was not up for feeling like shit for that long if I could control it.
So I switched over.
I took the new pills every morning, first thing after waking up, with just water.
And I never felt sick again!
Of course many women have real, debilitating morning sickness. It’s absolutely terrible. But if there’s a chance that feeling awful could just be the pills you’re taking, wouldn’t you want to know?! I 1000% did.
New Chapter Perfect PreNatal MultiVitamins. Honestly worth every penny. And I wasn’t shipped samples for free, I paid full price throughout my pregnancy (which spanned 40 weeks and 3 days) and continued taking them after as prenatals are also recommended for breast-feeding.
Starting my second month I also took DHA and calcium daily – and then later on to combat slight anemia, iron and vitamin C.
For the DHA pill, I went to Whole Foods and found the Early Promise Prenatal Gentle DHA 200. I took it with the New Chapter pills and still felt great.
For the calcium, I figured why not treat myself. So I did some research and settled on the Adora Calcium Supplement, which is a tasty disk of chocolate. Your pick – milk or dark. I alternated between them and pretended that sweets were as fun as all the wine I’d be missing.
For the iron and vitamin c, I just ordered off of Amazon. And I also tried to get more iron and vitamin c in my diet.
Anyhooooooo – back to my original intention with this post – why suffer unnecessarily through pregnancy? It is an amazing experience and moment in time but there will always be things that will not be fun (for me, that included massive breasts and at the end, not fitting into anything and feeling like my body was foreign to me). If you can make an easy change that will eliminate feeling awful, girl, make it right away!
xoLC
NOTE: This post is not sponsored. All thoughts are unbiased and my own. All photos are property of Lauren Cosenza Beauty LLC.
Lauren Cosenza is the creator and owner of DIVAlicious® and BEAUTYfull®, a brand consultant and ambassador, a creative director, a published contributor and writer, an on-camera personality and spokesperson, a trusted beauty/fashion expert, a product junkie and an insatiable beauty and style seeker — with a former life at Cosmopolitan and Shape magazines and most recently on contract as Creative Director, Beauty for Bustle.com/BDG brands.