Chorevia

Day 100 of 280 · 14 weeks + 2 days

Iron

Last reviewed · 3 min read · 10 sources · Plain-text version

Day 100 of the count. Your blood volume is rising, your vitamin should carry 27 mg of iron, and today you write down one question for your next visit.

Size this week
about the size of a kiwi fruit
Length this week
around 8.5 cm from head to bottom
A white woman in her thirties at a bathroom sink in soft morning light, turning a plain unlabelled vitamin bottle in her hand and reading the back, a notebook on the counter.

Fourteen weeks and two days, and the hundredth day of the count. Today is one number on the back of a bottle and one question for your next visit.

Your baby

A whole brown kiwi fruit on a plain white ceramic plate, soft daylight.

Around 8.5cm long from head to bottom, about the size of a kiwi fruit (NHS). A midwife may be able to hear the heartbeat with a handheld monitor around now (NHS). It will sound fast. By week 28 the NHS puts it at about 140 beats a minute, against about 80 to 85 for you, partly because a heart that small can't pump much blood per beat, so it beats more often (NHS).

Your body

In the second trimester you'll generally have one prenatal visit a month (MedlinePlus). One of the tests along the way is hemoglobin: it checks for anemia, which is common in pregnancy and easy to fix (MedlinePlus).

The reason is volume. You need 27 mg of iron a day during pregnancy because your blood volume rises (MedlinePlus); ACOG recommends the same 27 milligrams daily, found in most prenatal vitamins, to reduce the risk of iron-deficiency anemia (NICHD). The other rule is just as plain: only take the vitamin and mineral supplements a provider recommends (MedlinePlus).

Try today

  1. The iron question

    Time: 5 minutes

    1. Turn your prenatal vitamin round and find the iron line. The number you're looking for is 27 mg (MedlinePlus).

    2. Write two questions for your next visit: when is my hemoglobin checked, and does my vitamin have enough iron? (MedlinePlus)

    3. If your bottle says something else, don't swap it today. Take only what your provider recommends (MedlinePlus); that's a question, not a shopping trip.

    4. While the bottle's in your hand, read the rest of the label. A daily prenatal may include folic acid, iron, calcium, other minerals, DHA and ARA (AAP).

    Make it work:

    Check the folic acid line too. During pregnancy the figure is 600 mcg a day from foods and/or vitamins, and most people need a supplement to reach it (MedlinePlus).

Watch for

  • Normal

    tiredness that's easing but not gone (NHS).

    Call your provider

    for overwhelming tiredness; it's on the CDC's list of urgent maternal warning signs (CDC).

  • Normal

    a vitamin that sits badly; the iron in it can irritate the stomach (MedlinePlus).

    Call your provider right away

    for pain when urinating; it's on MedlinePlus's second-trimester list of reasons to call (MedlinePlus).

  • Normal

    feeling hot, on the NHS's list of common symptoms (NHS).

    Call your provider

    for a fever of 100.4°F (38°C) or higher (CDC), or for fever or chills at any point this trimester (MedlinePlus).

For you

If the vitamin turns your stomach, move it. MedlinePlus says to take prenatal vitamins at night and with food, since the iron can irritate the stomach (MedlinePlus). Dinner, then the pill, then bed.

You are not unusual for finding pills a chore. About 9 in 10 women report taking some type of medicine during pregnancy (CDC); most of them have a bottle by the sink and a day they forgot.

If you're the partner: put the bottle next to the toothbrush, not in a cupboard. The job is making it impossible to miss, not reminding her.

Sources

This guide is general education that summarizes published research and guidance from groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics, the CDC, and the WHO. It isn’t medical advice, and every child develops on their own timeline. Your pediatrician knows your child; if something feels wrong, call them. In an emergency, call 911.

Get each day’s note the morning it applies

Add your due date to a free Chorevia household, and every morning until the birth the day's note arrives in the app and by email: what's forming, what your body is doing, one thing to try, what to watch for, and a word for you.

Create your household