Baby Brain!

“Hmmmmmmm... what’s the word again?!?! You know what I mean?! The thing? The thing that does that thing?? Oh come on?! You must know what I mean!!”

Welcome to the inner workings of my brain! It’s a scary place and I have noticed recently that due to the 3rd baby entering our family, it’s become even scarier!

 Mumnesia or “baby brain” is something I have joked about since I fell pregnant with our eldest in 2010. I used to blame my absentmindedness on the fact I was pregnant or had a new born or had a toddler or because I was pregnant again. 8 years later, I can honestly say that baby brain is real, it’s serious and I have it!

It can be seen as day to day absentmindedness but forgetting where the “special” place I put things is or forgetting appointments is incredibly frustrating. More so, recently I have found that simple words escape me. I know exactly what I mean but I end up staring at the person I am talking to and in a complete panic, all the while trying to find a suitable synonym or at least a word that is related slightly to complete my sentence. 

I find myself surrounded by non native English speakers on a daily basis and they are starting to simplify their English for me as I seem to have trouble forming sentences with intelligent or remotely challenging words!! It’s hilarious! For some reason, my English is no so goodie no more.

Walking into a room and genuinely having no idea why you are there or what you are doing there is a day to day occurrence for me.  I’ll be walking into a room to grab something, end up doing 25 other things and then stop and reflect on why the hell I went there in the first place.

So, what can I do about it? Is this it? Am I to prepare myself for a lifetime of placing ice cream in the cupboard, walking out of the house with a bra in my hand?!? (To this day, I still can’t explain what the hell was going on in my head that afternoon!?) and having absolutely no idea why I have just walked up the stairs? 

I decided that I needed to organise myself and to do this, I needed stationery; and by stationery, I don’t mean any old half empty notepad from the cupboard.... oh no! I needed a new sparkly one with a positive message on the cover; perhaps a “make today brilliant” or “be a mermaid!” And a matching pen as all serious note takers need these to better organise their life.

                                   

For about a month, my life was mapped out and planned perfectly in my new sparkly notepad. I finally was attending appointments and remembering to buy milk. That was until I placed my notepad in a special place whilst I went out to pick something up. It will be of no surprise to you to learn that I still have no bloody idea what I went to the shops for or where my notepad is!!

So my next solution was to keep all my notes on my phone. My phone is beside me 24/7 so this is bound to be a sensible idea. That was until the day came when I spent all morning looking for my phone whilst holding my bloody phone!! I actually called my husband from my phone to tell him I couldn’t find my phone!!

Much research has been done on this topic and there is debate over whether or not “baby brain” is a something that can be scientifically proven. Interestingly, a study published last year showed there were reductions in grey matter in the brains of pregnant women in regions known to be closely tied to processing social information, such as decoding baby facial expressions and establishing healthy bonding between mum and baby. Could this mean  that 'baby brain' is actually an important adaptive phenomenon that might help us prepare for raising our kiddos by allowing our brains to adapt to our new role as mummas??

Moreover, the same study showed that this loss of grey matter was restored two years after the birth of the child.. so maybe there is still hope for me yet, my youngest is only 6 months old!!?

So for the moment, this is my new reality..please be understanding when you see me and maybe help a mumma out;  tell me that my long lost glasses are on my head, my phone is in my hand and remind me that I have 3 children. 

Wishing you all a wonderful week ahead.

Love,

Kay