what pills should i start taking now?

 hey ladies. i'm 9 months out from VSG and after my 1yr surgerversary in august i want to start trying for a baby. 

right now i take a multi, vit d, iron, b12 and fiber gummies. and of course birth control (for now).
i was told i should start taking some stuff now even though i'm not trying till august. so what should i be taking? a prenatal vitamin? with or without DHA?  and what is DHA? should i take a pre-natal with folic acid? or take folic acid on its own. and what is folic acid?

i'm so clueless. any info would be appreciated.

thanks!

Any woman who could be pregnant or is planning on ttc should start folic acid before getting pregnant. They actually suggest any woman regardless of ttc or not should take folic acid because it is best if it is built up in your system BEFORE you are pregnant. Covers those OPPS! I am pregnant women. It can help prevent defects like spinal bifida. DHA is good for baby's brain development but I have never heard of taking it prepreg but it doesn't hurt you either. I just took a prenatal vit for the folic acid even before I was preggers. I added in DHA after I knew I was pregnant. You will need iron once you are pregnant as well but you already are taking it so you should be good. At your next labs with your surgeon have them check your vit levels just to be sure you don't need an extra boost from any vit you are already taking.

Hope that helps 

 thanks for the info. i wouldn't want to take any pills unnecessarily because i don't know if it will do any harm so i don't just wanna go all willy nilly and buy everything with a pregnant lady on the package.

do you have any suggestions for prenatals? there are so many out there.

Calcium, folic acid and a multi/or prenatal. DHA is not until you are pregnant ad it is optional. Get a full lab panel about a month pre-TTC to see if you are deficiant in anything, that way if you are, you can add the vites in. But you don't malabsorb anything so that is not much of a worry.
Seriously, start the folic acid now :) Good luck.

 i already take a multi. should i take a prenatal as well? or should i just take folic acid? because they have folic acid by itself and they have the pre-natal with folic acid.

i just don't want to take too many vitamins.

http://www.marchofdimes.com/pregnancy/folicacid_indepth.html

The link is to the March of Dimes study on folic acid. They recommend a year prenatal. It reduces risks by at least 70% of having a child with a neural tube defect (NTD)- spina bifida, encephaly and also cleft lip/palate and heart defects. It is also believed it may decrease the risk of having a child with Down's Syndrome as well. They recommend 400mg while trying to conceive and 600 once the pregnancy is confirmed. I found that most OTC woman's vitamins do not have 400mg of folic acid, but the prenatal ones do. Obesity increases the risk of having a baby with a NTD. It also decreases your chance of having a baby premature.

http://www.marchofdimes.com/pregnancy/nutrition_vitamins.htm l

Another link- this one discusses the other vitamins, such as dha.

I'm a speech therapist and I work with kiddos with all sorts of needs and etiologies. Kuddos to you for being proactive for your baby before you even conceive!

 thank you sooo much for all this info! especially for how much folic acid i should be taking. that is so helpful. thank you!!!

quick question though, should i be taking a multi and a prenatal with folic acid? or just take folic acid along with my multi vitamin?

I'm with the previous poster...hockeybabe. BUT for me I can't remember to take most of anything (which is why I have an IUD instead of the BC pill! lol)- sooo- I took a prenatal but only because I could remember to take one vitamin instead of a few. Do whatever you're comfortable with, but just make sure you're getting it in somewhere.

Prenatals have 400mg of folic acid btw, so if your labs are fine and you're just supplementing then you don't necessarily need the extra folic acid vit and a prenatal. But if you use a multi, most multis don't have the extra folic then yes, take extra folic.  

I have a band and I don't have malabsorption issues. My labs came back fine. I only had to take a prenatal and then later I had to add iron. Your body may be different.

 i found this iron that has 400mg of folic acid. can i just change to this iron and bypass the seperate folic acid?www.amazon.com/Natures-Bounty-Gentle-Iron-Capsules/dp/B001G7 QYM4/ref=sr_1_2

That sounds like a good deal! lol I wish I had seen that when i was having to increase my iron. I probably would have gone that route.