To reserve my right to use 'pregnancy/ baby brain' as an excuse!

[LDNmummy]

A while ago there was a thread where where the OP stated that they disliked the use of 'pregnancy/ baby brain' as an excuse.

Frankly I was already noticing new and really bizarre things happening since getting pregnant but could not be arsed to defend my right to say that pregnancy brain is a very real thing IMO.

After the last couple of weeks (now 24 weeks), I fully reserve my right to use it as an excuse for funny behaviour or forgetfulness etc...

Yesterday I went out and took my digital house phone with me. I didn't realise I had done it till I was out and then promptly forgot about it for the whole day until DH heard it ringing in my coat pocket.

I keep forgetting at least one thing at home when going out and having to go back for it, or putting items in the fridge or airing cupboard that definitely don't belong there (such as tins of sardines or my keys)

I forget what I am going to say while I am mid sentence and end up having to explain that I just instantly forgot while talking (very annoying)

So bollocks to you if you haven't experienced 'pregnancy/ baby brain' and think it is just an excuse, because it can actually be very tedious. Especially when you end up spending a crap load of time looking for something because you can't remember where you put it, very regularly.

I totally agree with you mummy I was awful when pregnant,I was so forgetful poor DH had to leave notes for me,and I would still forget.
Psssssh I am not much better now if I am honest ;)

I used to leave keys in the doors all the times and even in the car

it's totally your prerogative to use your baby brain as long as you wish.

I am more clumsy, and forgetful (i get that a lot when I'm due my period, so it stands to reason)

and exactly like you, with the stopping mid-sentence

and, furthermore, if anyone tells you you can't - have a hormone-induced strop and see if they go any further with it!

So far I've put my sugar puffs in the fridge and the milk in the cupboard. Im only 10 weeks and it really baffled me.

DH used to find strange things in the fridge,also a bar of soap ended up in the freezer. I do remember once forgetting coffee,he asked me if I had got some,I fled in the garden crying but once I had calmed down I said well I remember toilet roll though,we already had 30 in the airing cupboard.

I just couldn't believe how many people thought it was a daft excuse on the other thread.

Now mine has fully kicked in it is so bizarre.

Apparently clumsiness also comes with a shift in your center of gravity and I haven't even started on that yet! I keep swaying into door frames somehow

All very peculiar.

"I said well I remember toilet roll though,we already had 30 in the airing cupboard."

:o

I regularly forgot words in the middle of phone conversations at work and in meetings - very embarrassing! Everyone experiences things differently so I guess some people don't get it.

the worst one (as in most potentially disasterous consequence) i've had so far is that I very nearly poured orange juice onto my Special K.
I did pour milk into my glass instead of juice, but that's not nearly as bad!

i've heard people be horrified at the 'excuse' before, and i can only think lucky them that their brain remained in tact! It was disappointingly apparent in me, and it's only really starting to subside now my youngest is almost 2 :-/ i'm a complete nightmare to have a conversation with, just drift off mid sentence. and i will swear blind things never happened, mister never told me things and then sheepishly remember them a fortnight later with perfect recall. scary.

I left my keys on the roof of the car and drove off (using DH's keys). Keys are gone forever. I wouldn't have been so dense usually.

It's not an excuse, it's the law

I'm definately not as fluffy normally as I am when I'm pregnant!

My brain remained perfectly intact during pregnancy. In fact I completed a first class mark dissertation whilsr expecting dd1 and then did my finals when she was a few weeks old. The problem with saying baby brain etc is that it is used to generalise across the board. Discrimination against pregnant women in the workplace remains rife and claiming baby related stupidity only feeds that prejudice. It's utterly unfair. Please say you are forgetful 'at the moment' rather than 'blaming' pregnancy.

My body is doing amazing things and I'm about to undergo a massive change in my life which is stressful at times. I absolutely claim the right to blame pregnancy brain if I do random silly things as a result. If employers choose to break the law by discriminating against pregnant women, how can that possibly be my fault?

DS is six weeks old and I've only slept for more than 3 hours in one go twice in that time and I am rubbish at everything when I'm not sleeping, despite this I've still managed to spot and correct a large number of flaws in my PhD research plan that had been totally beyond me for the 9 months of pregnancy.

northernlurker you didn't get pregnancy brain, but then my breasts didn't grow. Different women are always going to get different symptoms, but that doesn't mean that they don't exist or that those that do experience them have to say they don't have them.