Sawyer is looking forward to her high school graduation and then college. To walk across the stage and get my diploma. Jacqui was born with an open spine and damaged spinal cord, a condition called spina bifida. Folic acid plays a key role in early pregnancy when the spine forms and tissue comes together and closes. A folic acid deficiency can cause a baby to be born with an open spine.
Folic acid helps DNA, the genetic building blocks, repair itself.
Dr. Chuck Brodsky, an obstetrician, noted that for folic acid to be its most effective, it probably needs to be started anywhere between 1 to 3 months before a woman becomes pregnant. Folic acid deficiency occurs even before a woman knows she is pregnant. In a recent study, about 90 percent of pregnant women took pre-natal vitamins. But researchers discovered only 16 percent took them during the crucial first month. Jacqui adds her own thoughts.