Pregnancy without fears — a diary

For six weeks now, Anton has been swimming underwater, gently swinging from right to left and back. He's 15 millimeters tall. Yesterday I saw him for the first time, my little clump of cells that is already taking on some human forms. I still don't know if Anton is really an Anton, but I suspect I'm right. Ever since I found out I'm pregnant with the child I wanted so much, I'm doing all I can to make sure he's doing well. I eat healthy foods and take things more calmly than before. After my husband and I decided to have a child, I had a thorough consultation with my gynecologist and immediately started taking Femibion. My doctor had explained that Femibion would help to optimally safeguard my tiny miracle from the very first cell division on. I had the pleasant feeling that I was holding a protective hand over my child even before it had been conceived.

Anton is now 11 weeks old. Since yesterday he can swallow the water he swims in. I suppose it tastes a little bit like licorice — which I love — because, as we know, just about everything, even taste, is absorbed by the amniotic fluid. The tiny living creature swimming around in my belly is four centimeters tall and weighs ten grams. It’s smaller than my pinky. I'm jittery before my first-trimester screening, which will give us information about the health and development of my little symbiote. I had heard about neural tube defects even before I became pregnant. Since that time I've been reading a lot, and today I know that the neural tube, which is a development stage of the central nervous system, closes between the 22nd and the 28th day of pregnancy. If this process doesn't proceed smoothly, a lack of folate is often one of the causes. This has been demonstrated by several studies. The link between folate deficiency and neural tube defects has been known for more than 30 years — and yet 4,000 babies are born every year in Europe with a neural tube defect. An optimal supply of folate significantly diminishes the risk of this defect. However, previous dietary recommendations for reaching an adequate level of folate in the blood have been too low, according to the well-known nutritionist Professor Klaus Pietrzik from the University of Bonn. "Previously it was recommended that women start to take 400 micrograms of folic acid four weeks before they planned to conceive," he says. "But our research has shown that this dose taken over four weeks does not raise the folate in the blood to an adequate level." Women who want to conceive should either start taking folic acid two to three months before the planned date or increase the dosage. "An adequate level can be reached within four weeks with a daily dose of 800 micrograms," Pietrzik says. This is the amount of folic acid contained in Femibion Healthy Pregnancy 1. Fortunately, I started to take the higher dosage well ahead of time, because I became pregnant sooner than we had expected. A friend of mine had to wait for two years, but for us it worked during the first month after we stopped using birth control.  

Anton is 14 weeks old. The first trimester of my pregnancy is over, and the risk of a miscarriage is now rapidly decreasing. I'm relieved. The tiny fellow wants to stay. The embryonic phase is completed, and all of his organs and body parts have been formed. The long-awaited examination shows no indication of any defects such as spina bifida. My doctor recommends that I continue taking vitamins, especially folates, to ensure that Anton continues to be optimally cared for during the later stages of pregnancy.
Previously people would often speak of a folic acid deficiency, but this term is not exactly correct, as folic acid is the synthetically manufactured variant of this substance, which the body must convert into the bioactive form of folate. However, not all women are able to make this conversion completely due to reduced enzyme activity. That's why it makes sense to rely from the very start on folic acid in combination with bioactive Metafolin®, which was specially developed by Merck. Folates are heat- and light-sensitive vitamins in the B-complex group. A person needs on average about 400 micrograms of folate per day. Even though I have a healthy diet, my doctor tells me that it is very difficult for me to consume enough folates, because storage and improper food preparation reduce the amount of folates available. As a mother-to-be I have a higher requirement of 600 micrograms.