Day 10: Expecta

Offer: Six sealed boxes of Expecta DHA Supplement for Pregnant and Nursing Mothers

Posted this offer to an online moms group I belong to and someone has responded, they'd like to have them. I've been taking Expecta capsules ever since I found out I was pregnant with Cole; DHA is an amino acid essential for brain and eye development in both fetus and breast-fed newborn, and most Americans don't get anywhere near enough thanks to our national diet of industrially-raised animals and crops. My own daily dosing has dropped off bigtime in the last 11 months, not just the DHA capsules but multivitamins too. Our family eats a pretty careful diet of organic, biodynamic and pasture-raised foods, all of which are rich in essential micronutrients lacking in CAFO meat/eggs/dairy products and conventionally raised produce. Since it's much better to get nutrients from actual food, rather than supplements, I felt OK about dropping the pills; eggs from pasture-raised chickens are terrific sources of DHA and I eat a lot of them. But those supplements weree expensive and someone should get the benefit they contain, so hence the posting.

And then right after publicly offering them to my mom's group I took a walk with a good friend who is struggling with depression. She was telling me that research is showing that an imbalance between omega-three and omega-six fatty acids may be a biological contributing cause of depression. Things have been a little less than shiny around here recently, and it suddenly occurred to me that maybe I DO still want these supplements. I took one as soon as I got home, from an open box (still waiting for the bluebirds to begin alighting on my shoulders).

Then I checked email and someone from the group had responded: she's pregnant and would like the Expecta. I have not written back yet. I'm on the horns of a dilemma here: my commitment is to give stuff away, no backsies, but I'm thinking of wiggling out of this one. I did offer these in general but have not committed to actually giving them to a specific person. Does it count if I give half of them to my friend and keep the other half? Does that make me an indian giver?

In fear of being totally offensive in my use of the term "indian giver" i looked it up on Wikipedia. The claim is that it arose from settlers who were affronted when Native Americans would give them things and then later ask for them back. Apparently aboriginal cultures believe that when giving something of value, the item must be given and then taken back three times; if then given a fourth time, the gift is permanent. I, on the other hand, am wondering if maybe the term doesn't refer to the Native Americans so much as the government officials and agencies that promised them land and goods in exchange for treaties, and then promptly reneged on those promises as soon as the tribes had done whatever it was the government wanted them to do. Either way it's not pretty. But it's not like I've snatched these boxes away from someone I'd previously promised them to.

Right now I simply don't know what I am going to do. Probably talk to my friend, see if she wants the supplements even though she's neither pregnant or nursing. And then eat an egg.

UPDATE: My depressed friend wanted the supplements and I had egg salad for lunch. It's so great when everybody wins.