Tally Sticks: Prep work

Oh Joy! Picture this: You walk into the drugstore or pharmacy and stand in front of the pregnancy/conception supplements. Bright pink and with images of happy women holding smiley babies. What makes one brand better than the others? One has more iron than the other, is that good or bad? One is has only enough for one month, the other for 3 months but they cost the same.

Hard truth? Australian supplements cost A LOT. For example Blackmores Pregnancy and Breast-feeding GOLD is a two a day (euggh) 3 month supply for $41.69. So what is a woman to do when she is faced with these prices? (And I don't mean to pick on Blackmores, they do great supplements it was an example of the price)

For Her

Knowing that I would be taking these for at least 5 moths before TTC and the the 10 months during pregnancy and then afterwards as well during breastfeeding, that meant that I could be out of pocket by $250 (queue lemon face) I was out for a deal and wouldn't be dissuaded. Enter Amazon and the world of online bargains. I love shopping online and even have a tendency to stad in shops looking at an item online to see if I can get a better deal.

I knew what the supplement needed to contain and I wasn't too fussy on wether or not the supplement was organic/natural. I bought three of the Spring Valley 1 a day Prenatal supplements. Including shipping it cost me $69.11AUD. And with 240 per bottle it would last me ageeeees, and don't worry they don't expire until the end of 2015.

(Image source)

As these do not contain any fish oil or DHA I had to find something here that would give me the recommended amount of DHA, be it from fish oil or otherwise. I found a great deal here at home with the Swisse Odourless High Strength Wild Fish Oil. It's meant to be a two a day but with 125g DHA per tablet, one is enough. Warning: they are huge ass pills and often get stuck in my throat. I don't take them in the morning and make sure to eat something afterwards to force it down.

(Image source in the link above)

For Him

These wonderful men of ours only need to have topped up supplies of Zinc and Selenium in order to be of optimum baby making health (that sounds weird)

Easy peasy, I just made sure to find the best deal a men's multi and as he had started to take a Krill Oil supplement it wouldn't be too hard for him to forget to take it in the morning. For reference with links, here is what we got:

Cenovis Men's Multivitamin