Like clockwork, it started for me- literally- the day I found out I was pregnant. It was a Saturday morning, and Jake and I had decided to go out and run a few errands after breakfast. I was in the dreaded two-week wait, and although I had been experiencing some typical early pregnancy symptoms, I was trying to convince myself to wait another two or three days to take my first pregnancy test. I was in serious need of distraction to keep from getting my hopes up, so I suggested we go look for Halloween costumes for a party we were throwing at the end of the month. Off we went, and although we had a good time, it proved futile in keeping my mind off anything and everything preggo. We came back home, unloaded some stuff from the car and came in to have lunch. Another hour later, I was going to call a friend of mine, but couldn't find my phone anywhere. It was my newest toy, time-suck, and little modern marvel all rolled into one- the iPhone. And it was gone. After realizing that it was not resting in it's usual place in the side pocket of my purse, I frantically turned the house upside down in search of it. Looking back, I realized this was the only point in that two week waiting period that I thought of something other than being pregnant. *This was not the distraction I had in mind, however.* Was I losing my mind? I didn't even take it out of my purse the whole time we were in the store, and I distinctly remembered having it with me when we left. I did nothing short of digging through our trash can in hopes of finding my little black beauty. What the hell? Frustrated and distracted, I went out to our mailbox to bring the mail in and as I walked past my car, a small black object on the windshield caught my eye. Holy mother of God. There it was. Sitting outside in the bright afternoon sun for two + hours- and yes, on the windshield. Ohhh, right. *lightbulb comes on* I had taken it out of my purse and then set it there momentarily in order to help Jake grab some bags from the backseat.
Now, for the past five days, I had been experiencing what I thought and hoped were undeniable early pregnancy symptoms: sore boobs, fatigue, recurring tension headaches, some mild nausea, bleeding gums...I had a mental checklist that I was updating every 10 minutes. For whatever reason, none of the above mentioned symptoms were enough to make me pull out my pee sticks and have a go. Yet, the first thought that popped into my head upon seeing my iPhone chillin' out on the windshield of my car was, "oh my god. I think I'm pregnant." It was pretty uncharacteristic of me to have had a brain fart of quite that magnitude. Thank God it wasn't raining that day. I walked into the house and straight into our hall bathroom, pulled out the pregnancy tests and 2 minutes later found myself face to face with two very undeniable bright pink lines. Thus, the preggo brain drain began. *Special thanks to that lovely hormone, progesterone.*
Since then, my memory has deteriorated and is not nearly what it used to be, and I have been warned that it may never return. I have forgotten phone numbers of people I dial on a regular basis (and this, from a person who could remember every phone number of every house I have lived in, in four different cities since I was five years old). I have walked into a room and wondered what the heck I came in there for to begin with (if you have seen our house, you'd know this is tough to do as there are not that many rooms). I have gotten in my car, driven out of our neighborhood to go to....wait, where the hell am I going? I started leaving myself post-its with reminders- everything from birthdays, bills, my own social security number and cat's name, much like someone with Alzheimer's. My reaction time is even slower. When it comes to math, I would fit into the "borderline retarded" category. But even with quick math (you know, the kind that most 10 year olds can do in their head), I stutter and stammer and search for my calculator, which I also seemed to have misplaced.
It's gotten bad, people. It's probably going to continue to get worse before it gets better- if it ever gets better at all. Thankfully, those on the receiving end of my brain blunders have been more than understanding. Apparently there is validity to this "brain drain" after all. I just hope I can get some of these brain cells back once baby is here....*fingers crossed, but not counting on it.*
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