found out pregnant & freakin out & need help

Found out I'm pregnant which never thought would happen and it is my first, so I'm freakin out more than I want bc I want to do it right.  I'm 3 yrs post-WLS and have maintain since.  I'm still unable to eat a lot  and haven't gain weight even when I have went off my diet before.  I know these questions have been answered but can someone give me the basics.  I really need to know about vitamins.  I take 3 multi a day on a normal basics but what should I increase it too now.  I increased it to 4 plus added more folic and DHA to it.  Second I eat ever chance I can but I dont eat a lot but I figure when I can get some down I should. I make the food count.  I'm not a person who went off sugar completely like some bc I'm also a type-1 diabetic and have to eat sugar but I'm limited bc it will come back up.  So I eat a lot of small meals/snacks will that work?

Hi, welcome to the board and congrats on your pregnancy!  To me, taking 4 muli vitamins a day seems to much.....2 should be enough, but you would want to add extra B12, calcuim citrate and iron along with the extra folic you said you added.  BUT, I'm no doctor and I would highly suggest you call your Bari surgeon and tell them your pregnant....ask what kind of vitamins you should be taking and to run a full blood screening on your vitamin levels.....they could help you go from there.  Some woman take a prenatal while they are pregnant....while others continue to take their multi!  Eating small meals/snacks during the day sounds like your right on track!  We only need 200-300 extra calories a day being pregnant and don't be surprised if you find you can eat way more now than you could before getting pregnant.....this is quite normal!

Best of luck on your journey!  How exciting.....your 1st child!!!

Hi. 3 or 4 multi's a day is too much. You have to be careful with the fat soluble vitamins like A, E, D....they are important but too much of one can be toxic.
I take one in the morning and one at night. be careful you are not taking Calcium at the same time or it will cancel out the iron in the multi. Since you had RNY, you need to take calcium citrate which you have to look for specifically...Citrical petites are a common brand. You also need B12 shots monthly or a daily sublingual since you cannot absorb that any other way. Your best bet is to tell your WLS surgeon that you are pregnant and ask them to run a ful lab panel to see where all your levels are at. I just had one and it was about 18 tubes of blood so bring a snack when you have it done.
Good luck.
P.S many OB's know nothing about the vitamin requirments of a gastric bypass patient....and tell you that one multi is all you need. Avoid this advice at all cost :)

Oh wow. Thanks for the advice. I'm in the same boat with vitamin questions. No wonder I've been feeling like absolute crap! My OB just has me on one prenatal, 3 fish oil, 1 iron, and 1 folic acid a day. Looks like I need to get some B-12 again and Calcium citrate :( 

Have your dr run labs for you and see how you're doing on them.  It may need to be done every 2-3 months just to make sure your levels don't go down as the pregnancy progresses.

I'd say that you need to talk to your dr re your vits - whether your surgeon or your OB/GYN or PCP, I don't know.  I don't think anyone can tell you whether 3x is too little or 4x is too much...it depends on a lot of things...ie what type of vits you take, what your levels are, how your absorption rate is, etc.  Some people may find that 3x is not enough, some people 3x is too many.  The increase in folic acid is good.  My drs have told me that even if your folic acid goes high, it's not something you can OD on.  Vit D and iron seem to be two of the big ones for going down during pregnancy from what I've seen on the boards, so make sure they're monitoried too. 
Snacking/small meals is fine - it might even help prevent morning sickness.  As one of the previous posters had said - as long as you don't over do the calories, only increasing 200-300 per day - you should be fine.  You do NOT have to 'eat for two,' as many 'wives tales' tell you to do. 

I hope you have a happy and healthy pregnancy - welcome to the board.

If you are looking for a good site to know which labs you need while pregnant - Here you go. Andrea knows her labs and vitamins!

 

Pregnancy – Baseline

• 85025  CBC w/ diff
• 80053  Comprehensive Metabolic Profile
• 84134  Transthyretin (Prealbumin)
• 83735  Magnesium, Serum
• 7444  Thyroid panel
• 83540  Iron Profile (Includes TIBC and Sat %)
• 82728  Ferritin
• 84630  Zinc, RBC
• 84446  Vitamin A
• 82306  Vitamin D (25-hydroxy)
• 84425  Vitamin B-1 (Thiamin), whole blood
• 84207  Vitamin B-6 (Pyridoxine), plasma
• 82747  Folate, RBC
• 82607  Vitamin B12
• 83970  Parathyroid Hormone (PTH), Intact
• 83921  Methylmalonic Acid, Serum
• 84590  Vitamin E
• 82525  Copper
• 496  Hemoglobin A1C

Pregnancy – every 8 weeks

• 85025  CBC w/ diff
• 80053  Comprehensive Metabolic Profile
• 84134  Transthyretin (Prealbumin)
• 83540  Iron Profile (Includes TIBC and Sat %)
• 82728  Ferritin
• 82306  Vitamin D (25-hydroxy)
• 84425  Vitamin B-1 (Thiamin), whole blood
• 84207  Vitamin B-6 (Pyridoxine), plasma
• 82747  Folate, RBC
• 82607  Vitamin B12
• 83970  Parathyroid Hormone (PTH), Intact
• 83921  Methylmalonic Acid, Serum
• Any additional tests as needed

http://wlsvitagarten.com/lab-tests/

Sara, thanks for posting this.  Where did you find it????  The docs here (in Austria) are much more lax in their monitoring of labs after RNY than in the US, and if I could take the web site to her, I can probably get her to draw a more comprehensive profile....

Thanks in advance!
Linda

Thanks for the help. To clarify on the vitamins.  1 vitamin, I would still get sick easy. 2 vitamins, I would just be ok. 3 vitamins I would actually feel great.  That is why so many before pregnancy.  I just want enough for the new one to get.  I also do eat normal at all. My pouch has not stretch like some peoples.