Vitamin A is fat soluble and the adult daily rec. is 750mcg, and certainly you shouldn't exceed 1500mcg daily. Because it is fat rather than water soluable, the body can't excrete is through urine and sweat etc.
I can't remember why or how high levels of vit A can cause birth defects, but I know that vit supplements and broad spectrum antibiotics have too much vit a in them and so should be avoided by TTC & pregnant women.
It is generally recommended that you are best off getting most of your nutrients from normal food......for example, although in this case, TTC and pregnant women are always advised to avoid liver of any desctiption (including prepared liver such as pate) because 100g of liver contains around 30,000mcg of vit A....around 40 times too much vit A!
To get "the right amount" of vit A from food is pretty easy.....red & yellow & orange fruits and veggies all contain appropriate levels of Provitamin A (beta-carotene and other cartenoids) which is the good stuff that you need for vision and growth and repair of the bodies tissues, and helps maintain hair and skin.
An ideal amount of food to get the right amount of vit A would be a serve (say a cup?) of rockmelon with brekky, and some peaches and apricots (dried or fresh) as a snack, and a serve of sweet potato or pumpkin with a meal, or perhaps some carrots.
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