I knew it! And now the studies confirm it!
As I wrote two months ago (two months! have I really neglected my blog for that long!), I had a bit of surprise and learned that I was, briefly, pregnant. I realized that I had likely conceived right after I returned from the SkyLab bootcamp we did at the beginning of September.
Determined to repeat whatever behavior lead to the pregnancy (other than the obvious of course), I clicked through what I did during the SkyLab week. There was hiking every day, swimming every day, eating very clean (no wheat, dairy, sugar, alcohol, or caffeine), relatively low stress, and lots and lots of fun and inspiration from the women (and man!) who attended.
I then realized that the other thing that happened every day was that I spent a significant amount of time every day in the sun. As a self-proclaimed sun worshipper, I don't get the chance to frolic in the sun during my normal, every day life, so I took advantage of it while in CA. And when you have sun, you have vitamin D. I quickly wondered if the extra vitamin D could have had something to do with the surprise pregnancy.
I decided to add vitamin D to my supplement regimen...I figured it couldn't hurt. I started taking 1,000 IU twice a day. Then about two weeks ago, I saw a study that made me shriek, "I knew it!"
According to a recent study presented at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine conference in San Francisco, vitamin D boosted chances of conception in women with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS)....women like me! Researchers found that women with PCOS were "far more likely" to lack vitamin D than women without PCOS. They hypothesized that giving vitamin D to women with PCOS could help to restore menstruation and possibly fertility.
While spending some time in the sun every day is the best way to get vitamin D, you can get it from foods (namely oily fish and eggs, as well as some fortified foods). Of course, you can also purchase a supplement. I personally prefer the gelcap supplement...and as much sun as possible.
