Pregnancy Brain Strikes

Posted September 29, 2014 by Prairie Wife - 4 comments

Anyone who has had a new baby in their house knows about baby brain. The inability to remember things until you have already left the house or store, and the overall fog that takes over your entire thought process and makes coming up with an idea for dinner a Herculean task. I think that we also need to address Pregnancy Brain. As I sit here 20 weeks pregnant with my 5th child, I find that my grey matter has begun to diminish at an alarming rate. I like to pretend that every time I loose a brain cell or two, it has gone directly to my baby, it gives me comfort that at least someone in this family may be able to walk into a room and remember what they needed.

As I sat and enjoyed some tea with a friend last week, I stopped mid story and looked at her blankly “I’m sorry, I have absolutely no idea what I was trying to say…” Being a mother herself, she just laughed and assured me I would remember it eventually…though I have to admit that I still have no clue what my point was. I find myself mixing up my beginning and ending sounds of words, resulting in confusion all around as I angrily glare at the Cowkids for not getting right on “reaning their cloom”. My calendar has become my life line, one that I have to check 30 times a day because I simply can’t remember for longer than 15 minutes what I read. Laundry sits in the washing machine for days and the dishwasher sits full of dirty dishes and soap, just waiting to be turned on.

Two  weeks ago we reached the pinnacle of Pregnancy Brain forgetfulness. Sometimes The Cowboy gets into town early and offers to help by picking the Cowkids up from school. On days when Cowgirl G has ballet I especially appreciate this. Spending an hour keeping the three Cowboys entertained while she dances is no easy task! He texted me that we would meet at dance and trade kids, and I thankfully texted him back. I headed out to dance and arrived more than 20 minutes early so I did what every normal person does, I took out my phone and phoned a friend. In this case it was TallGirlJ and we caught up and chatted away. After all, it had been more than 24hr since we last talked. In the middle of a vital part of our conversation The Cowboy rang and I did what most people would do, I ignored him and kept on chatting away.

10 minutes later (15 minutes after school was out) he pulled up next to me. I quickly hung up and rolled the window down and smiled at him. He looked in the van and said “Where are the kids?” Now The Cowboy is known around the state of Wyoming as a BIG trickster so I just smiled and said “Ha Ha, get Cowgirl G out of the truck and you can go.” The look on his face told me that perhaps he wasn’t joking and my blood pressure rose as I said “Wait I thought you were going to pick them up and meet me here! I’ve been sitting here for over 20 minutes!”

He shook his head “No, you were supposed to get them and meet ME here. I tried to call you to make sure and you dodged my call!” I started the car, said a few unladylike words, and with his laughter echoing in my ears called the school as I headed that way. Thankfully ballet is only 5 minutes from their school, and the office staff nor the Cowkids were upset in the least. But, oh man did I feel bad! In the five years of taking kids too and from school I have never been more than 5 minutes late to get my kids…and I was sitting there yacking away (and ignoring my husband) when I should have been in the school parking lot picking them up. The Cowboy assured me that it would only take a few weeks with a therapist to help them work through the emotional pain.

Thankfully with Pregnancy Brain I’ll have forgotten all about it in a few more days anyway…

What does Pregnancy Brain do to you?

Copyright: lovleah / 123RF Stock Photo

Categories: Life As It Happens, Parenting

Tags: , foregetting kids, humur, motherhood, pregnancy and babies, Pregnancy Brain