Baby on the Brain

Last week, I met a friend at the playground for a fun time of catching up while our kids chased each other around the slides and swings. We left at lunchtime, exhausted from the muggy heat, and as I turned on the car I discovered that we were so low on gas the indicator was illuminated. 

We pulled into a gas station near the park and I hopped out to fill up. I swiped my debit card, and when the screen told me to enter my PIN, I went to enter it and stopped abruptly. Wait… what was my PIN? I racked my brain, which was jumbled with a couple of digits I could remember and thoughts of, “I can’t believe this. I’ve had the same PIN for about eight or nine years.” 

After I tried several combinations of what I believed might be the digits and tried calling my husband who always remembers important numbers, the screen flashed PLEASE SEE CASHIER. Not willing to drag three sweaty, tired kids into the station to have my card confiscated by a suspicious clerk, I decided to take the risk that we might run out of gas on 270 and headed home. 

Later that night, my husband caused me to smack my head one more time when he said, “Why didn’t you just run it as a credit?” 

Baby brain, pregnancy brain, or whatever you want to call it, I have it. Bad. We are expecting our fourth child in December, and every time I am expecting a new baby, my husband is entertained by the funny things I do or forget to do. 

The other day I absentmindedly tossed a paper napkin down the laundry chute. A couple of weeks ago, I gave my husband a lot of trouble about “stealing” my blue kitchen scissors and he had a good laugh when he showed me that they were still in the drawer, right where I always keep them (I still think he took them and then took advantage of my condition to sneak them back in the drawer). It’s the same problem that caused me to store our can opener in the freezer during my second pregnancy and to tuck my kids into the wrong beds during my third. 

When I asked the nurse practitioner about pregnant brain at my obstetrician’s office, I expected her to give me a bland answer about my mind being very focused on the pregnancy. Instead, she nodded emphatically and said, “Absolutely, it is totally real.”

She said that it may just be the same stress that is on the rest of my body also impacting my brain’s functioning. Or the way that blood is distributed around the body during pregnancy causes the brain to get less blood flow at times. 

I also asked a couple of my friends whether they had any good examples of doing funny things while pregnant. Kris, who has a house full of kids, said that she couldn’t distinguish between how her brain worked during pregnancy and after, but that it’s just mommy brain. 

Kim, another friend with four kids, agreed with Kris. She is not currently pregnant, but said that she will go downstairs to replace her roll of paper towels and then get distracted by laundry or another mess. She might try several times before third or fourth trip to the basement actually produces the roll of paper towels. 

My sister-in-law, Christina, is about to deliver a new baby any day. She said that one day she forgot her groceries when she left the grocery store. But, as she said, there should be some kind of bonus points for forgetting the groceries and not the kids. 

I’m sure to forget a few more details over the next few months. But if you see three kids wandering around at the grocery store alone, you might ask them their last name. They just might be mine.

Writer's Note: We are excited to welcome our newest addition in December. Over the next few months, I will be periodically writing about various aspects of our preparations and my pregnancy.