Josa’s pregnancy diary - weeks 18-20

I also took a multivitamin with folic acid for pregnancy, right from the start. The folic acid question is an interesting one – one of the clearest indications of the difference a good diet makes to the outcome of pregnancy. And yet…no particular nutritional advice is given to expectant mothers, apart from supplementation.

The multivitamin contains iron, and sometimes made me feel sick. But my haemoglobin count, which hovered around an acceptable 11 during both my other pregnancies, is now at a rather more encouraging 12.5. So I am a convert to supplements – but only in addition to a very good diet. Everything I eat must be worth eating now, as my appetite is so uncertain. I am lucky in that I have no taste for junk food.

One very obvious sign of pregnancy is that, any regularity your bowels normally achieve goes out of the window. The resulting constipation, caused by the progesterone slowing everything down, is very irritating. Eating plenty of fruit and veg does some good, but I have been taking regular doses of a simple Indian fibre supplement called psyllium husk. The best blend I have found is called Lepicol, which also contains beneficial bacteria. When I remember to take it, it really helps.

Take a look at Anastasia Brien's pregancy diary for week 18.