Mama Brain

The Stash ... My Brain on Ice

Pregnancy brain. I don't think I'll ever recover. If I do, I think it will be when my kiddos are adults.


I never recovered after having my daughter (who will be 3 in a few months). I casually explain to others that it must have lingered into the postpartum period because I breastfed. 


All my smarts are being siphoned right into my kiddos. They will be brilliant (not saying I ever was, but if they have their own brains plus mine...). Me, on the other hand? Not so much.




With each breastfeeding session, I become a little dumber.

I breastfed Miss S until she was 20 months, so maybe that's my excuse? My brains continued to leak out of my body into what will one day be a genius? Or, it could be that I became pregnant during the last few months of breastfeeding the first. Maybe both the action of breastfeeding and giving energy to new life doubly sapped my intelligence? It's possible.


You might wonder if pregnancy brain resolves over time. Like, say, when the postpartum period ends...




With my second kiddo, I'm almost 8 months in, and it seems like it's getting even worse.




All I know is that my memory is shot. Short-term memory? I can remember important, essential things. But others? My basal ganglia are on overdrive.




I would be filthy rich if I had a dollar for every time I've:




1. Asked my husband if he's seen my ______ (insert phone, keys, sunglasses, glasses, diaper bag, wallet...take your pick). I'm getting slightly better because I'm remembering basic survival skills like having one set spot for an item.

2. Found honey in the refrigerator or spices in with the vitamins or food (that should be in the refrigerator) that I left sitting on the counter over night.


3. Taken my wedding ring off to apply lotion and then forgot to put the ring back on. I do it without thinking (thank you, basal ganglia), so sometimes I don't even remember where I was when I took off my ring. Yeah. Not good. Especially because my ring is irreplaceable.

Liquid Gold Smarts


4. Left my pumped milk either in the refrigerator at work or out on the counter all. night. long. (Ok...I think it was only once that I forgot to put my milk in the refrigerator, but still. To not only have pumped out my smarts but then to have to dump it in the sink? Seriously tragic. I'm not kidding.)


5. Forgotten what I'm saying or doing (really...I'm too young to have this problem!)


I'm sure there are more examples, but I've forgotten them.


The scientific community wants to prove that pregnancy brain doesn't exist because some women don't like being labeled as having "pregnesia." 


If I can't say I have pregnancy mama brain, than what am I? Sleep-deprived? 

Because of chronic lack of sleep which accompanies having infants and toddlers and is especially troublesome for someone who loves to sleep? 

Maybe. Just maybe.