Tales From Another Planet

As I come to the final few weeks of pregnancy with our third child (a third boy of course), I have been wondering about those people who hope to have the "first baby of the year". I was a bit disappointed not to have a December baby (obviously, I hope he bakes long enough to be healthy) when I ended up in the hospital shortly after Christmas and thought about all the benefits of having a baby in December rather than January. He was pretty close to being fully cooked, so he probably could have avoided a long stay in the hospital, so I thought about all the benefits and drawbacks of December versus January babies.

I was shocked when I went to my doctor yesterday. A normal level of B-12 is between 350-1000 (although Japan recently raised their levels to 500 for the low range). Mine was 247. When I read the list of symptoms, I was amazed at how many I was experiencing. B-12 deficiency didn't even register on my radar. Suddenly I learned how important this particular B vitamin is. I learned it the hard way. Just to list some of the possible symptoms: memory loss, numbness in the hands and feet, eye twitches, migraine headaches, depression, fatigue. I thought I had a case of mild depression that I just couldn't seem to recover from. I was always tired and had started forgetting things (which unfortunately is also listed as a depression symptom). I have always had migraine headaches, and I didn't think anything of the minor eye twitches I would get from time to time. I had no idea that B-12 deficiency is common in up to 30% of the population and can lead to severe brain and nerve ...