The Mommy Brain

The mommy brain. No one ever talks about it. I don’t remember it ever being covered in my childbirth prep class. And once I was pregnant with my second child the mommy brain kicked in in full force. And the brain has yet to go back to normal. I’m doing the classic things that my mother did and I am seeing the other moms I know doing the same thing…calling the kids’ by the wrong name, even the pet’s name, forgetting what day of the week it is, forgetting important dates like the year your child was born. Yesterday I forgot my youngest child’s well doctor visit. Ugh, and I’ll be paying the 50 dollar no-show fee to prove the mommy brain. The sad thing is I have a calendar with important dates and events clearly marked hanging in a central location, so you can’t miss it. I even have the days we need to take the recycling to the curb on the calendar.
So here are the things that no one tells you about when you are having a baby that I wish someone would have spoke up and said something…
1. You will forget important things/dates…you’ll constantly feel like you can’t focus. For someone who could multi-task pre kids this will drive you totally insane. You’ll walk into a room and forget what you came for…what you were doing even though you hold the cleaning solution in your hand.
2. Bleeding. Why doesn’t anyone talk about this? I bleed for 6 weeks after the birth of both of my kids and the first time around I thought something was wrong with me physically that I debated going to the ER when the bleeding continued for the 2nd week. It’s normal and every woman goes through it regardless of whether she had a natural birth or a c-section.
3. Hemorrhoids. Please childbirth teachers of the world…talk about it!!!! I’ll be honest here…never had hemorrhoids before…then I have a baby and now I am counting the fiber in my diet. I have blatantly asked the women I know who have had c-sections (I’ve had 2 natural childbirths) and they told me that they too have the ‘roids. So this is obviously a universal thing amongst childbirth.
4. Shoe Size. Not only do I have the stretch marks on my stomach of bearing 2 ten pound babies…but I went from a 6 ½ shoe size to an 8 after the birth of my second child. Now I will admit that my best friend’s mom warned me of this while having a pedicure and being 8 months pregnant with my first son. My best friend told her and I quote “mom you don’t tell a shoe-a-holic this when she’s pregnant”.

So that’s my top 4….keep the conversations going…ask questions….be bold….find out your own answers! Would love to hear from other moms on their top 4 mommy brain picks.