It's true: Baby Brain exists

When I first found out I was pregnant I felt determined to avoid being defined by the big pregnancy stereotypes. I didn't want to gain a ton of fat, develop stretchmarks, spiral wildly out of control into the highs and lows of mood swings, and most of all... suffer from BABY BRAIN.

Baby brain is defined loosely as being forgetful, clumsy, absent-minded and just generally DITZY. See this article for more.

Unfortunately, it seems there really is little I can do about suffering from any of these conditions. I don't want to give you exact numbers, but let me just say that only slightly over one year ago I weighed QUITE a bit less, on the day Luke and I got married. I will say that I dieted maybe a tad too much and could probably have weighed more than I did, but to see the dramatic increase on the scale is quite honestly a little frightening.

Along with this I keep discovering stretchmarks in completely random spots I didn't expect to find stretchmarks. Ironically I have none on my belly because I've been so careful with oils and lotions to prevent them there. Sadly I didn't realize I would need to grease up my entire body in order to avoid randomly appearing marks!

Luckily I haven't been affected too badly in the mood-swing department. For those of you who know me well this may come as a surprise. :) It seems the hormonal onslaught that occurs in pregnancy may have actually evened me out! Who knew?

All this is to say, the one area I am noticing the BIGGEST difference in pregnancy is exactly what you know I'm going to say: Baby Brain. I've always felt a little clumsy for most of my life, but I'm telling you, there is nothing like clumsiness experienced during pregnancy. Like I mentioned in an earlier post, I've gotten into the habit of literally walking into things, because I forget I have a belly. People are usually around to witness this. Usually strangers. At first I got embarrassed but now I just mentally shrug it off and go on to the next thing. I can't seem to pick anything up without dropping it. Pens seem to fly out of my hands at work. It always looks like I'm throwing things at my coworkers. Usually more strangers are on hand to witness this.

In order to really define to you how bad my Baby Brain has become, you'll need to hear a few choice stories of really stupid things I've done lately. Honestly, this is a little embarrassing, but mostly hilarious. Every time I tell one of these stories I end up in hysterics and I think people aren't really sure how they're supposed to react.

1) A couple weeks ago I finished my half-day at work and decided to get some lunch from Wendy's, which is right next door to my office. My car was parked in our back parking lot, which is right next to the Wendy's drive-thru. It was not a busy time at Wendy's and no cars were in the drive-thru. I sat in my car trying to figure out which way I should drive in order to access the drive-thru, thinking I needed to enter from the front of the building. I drove all the way around the parking lot to access the drive-thru from the front parking lot. As I pulled in to make my order I realized that only seconds ago I was literally a stone's throw away from the order-taking area of the drive-thru BEHIND THE BUILDING. I HAD LITERALLY BEEN BESIDE THE ORDERING AREA WHILE SITTING IN MY CAR. I still haven't figured out why I thought I needed to go all the way around to the front?

2) Another day, I was in the same parking lot behind my work building. Because I work in a plaza the parking lot is pretty big and linked to a couple other parking lot areas. I drove through the parking lot aiming to leave at the front of the building, meaning I had to take a couple turns through the parking lot to avoid some cement curbs. I don't normally use my turning signal because the parking lot is often empty. This particular day as I was approaching a turn in the parking lot I noticed a squirrel sitting across the parking lot, watching me. Subconciously I said to myself, "Oh, I'd better signal... someone is watching." Yep. That someone was a SQUIRREL.

3) Two days I ago I went to the local drugstore to mail a package off to a friend. This drugstore has a Canada Post outlet at the back. As I picked out the envelope to send the package to my friend, I thought to myself - I'd better pick out a card or something to stick in the parcel with a little note. I headed to the card aisle and chose a card. I took it back to the postal area and quickly proceeded to write something in the card, stick it in the parcel and seal it all up to send. I paid for the parcel to be mailed and walked out the store, only realizing then that I just took the card without paying for it. I stole a card! I STOLE!!!

I hope no Rexall employees read my blog :S