Pre-natal vitamins - WTF?!

So my genius of a first Dr. in his infinite LACK of wisdom, had almost no advice on vitamins. The prescription he wrote literally said “prenatal vitamins”. Duh! He recommended I shop around a bit because some of the over the counter stuff is better and cheaper than the prescription. “Ask your pharmacist,” he said.

So I started my great quest for prenatal vitamins where one would naturally start these days – with online research. What they don’t tell you is that there is one company (ONE) who has bought up all of the prenatal vitamin websites. They all lead you to the same place – a vitamin website (which I will leave unnamed so this doesn’t show up in searches). They have this Doctor on there that tells you all of the stuff you should be taking so you don’t end up with some demon child with 2 toes and 3 eyeballs. This guy seriously knows how to freak a gal out! Then you see this rating that rates the top ten prenatal vitamins – which do you think is at the top of the list? Yup, the same brand of vitamin. Then they get down to the price. They only want you to pay $450 for a 9 month supply. WHAT? $450??!!! Seriously? For VITAMINS? What the hell do these things have in them that can cost so FREAKING MUCH! The pills must be the size of a freaking cucumber! Then they really get you – wouldn’t you pay anything for a healthy baby? Well I say this – HELL NO! I’m not falling for your crappy scheme to prey upon hormonal expectant mothers who are freaked out because they don’t know what freaking vitamins to buy. No way! End rant... PHEW...

So I gave up on my online search. Having not had the time to buy any books yet, I decided the best course of action was to go straight to the pharmacy. I went over to the pharmacy across from work and spoke to the very nice pharmacist. He was very nice, but not entirely committed to his answers. “Well, it’s up to you to decide what you need. Here’s our prescription one, it’s got a lot of good stuff, but the over the counter stuff could be just as good. It’s up to you... Blah, blah, blah.”

I sort of was at the point where I was frustrated and just needed someone to tell me which freaking one to buy. I went over to the giant wall of vitamins and looked at the selection. They were all fine, but every single one is just slightly different. You probably have to be some sort of medical professional to know what makes one better than the other and the doctor, pharmacist and web had proven to be completely unhelpful. So I went with my intuition and chose the prescription vitamins, then I grabbed some extra calcium with vitamin D since I’m lactose intolerant and a little Algal DHA for brain development. I checked with the pharmacist to make sure I wasn’t going to OD on anything, and one hour later, still pissed off and with $75 less in my bank account, I moved on with my life and did what all new mothers must do these days - hope for the best.