Let's prove this dickhead wrong...what achievements did you manage during pregnancy?

[MrsThierryHenry]

Theo Paphitis from Dragon's Den claims that pregnant women's brains 'turn to mush': here. Unless this is just journalistic licence, this man is clearly turning hearsay into fact.

The facts appear to be that the brain does shrink during pregnancy, which can impair intellectual function and possibly even cause PND. But this doesn't necessarily happen if you add extra fatty acids to your diet. I know of women who achieved great things before and after having a baby, what about you?

I'll start: I won an industry competition when 6 months' pregnant and was selected as one of my industry's 'bright young things'.

being preg is an achievement - men have it easy

Took a two year medical secretarial diploma compressed into one year. Sat the finals when 7 months pg - two weeks of solid exams, one am, one pm. Passed everything with distiction. It included learning to type from scratch and getting 120 words per min in medical shorthand... not just ordinary words!

Oh.. and I was an 'ancient' 27 year old in a class of 16 to 18 year olds. I came top.

Marathonmum ran the London marathon while pregnant (with DC2 if i remember correctly) and in about 3 hours 20 mins!

I wrote virtually all of my PhD thesis while pg with dd2

Message withdrawn

oh yes I forgot teaching high school and 6th formers up until summer holidays - almost 37 weeks pregnant with dd1.

Managing largely GSCE students while stuffing face with saltine crackers between classes to prevent me from puking on said GCSE students in early days with dd1. Managing to teach full time, sort out medical needs and other therapy needs etc for dd1 whilst pregnant with dd2.

Pregnancy 1 - completed a diploma [ok, so it was in Dental Patient Co -ordination, but still a diploma]

Pregnancy 2 - Passed my driving test.

Awarded prestigious research fellowship (interviewed at 8 months pg - one of the interviewers was 8 1/2 months pg) and won highly competitive research grant at same time (heard on due date). The notion that there is some intrinsic pregnancy / mother brain failure is really anti-women.

Having said that, there needs to be support in place too, and flexibility for when things go wrong physically - I had more morning sickness and SPD second time round and put myself under MUCH less pressure, main goal was getting through it.

First time round -
worked up to 39 weeks
travelled on business to the US and launched new software project
played the clarinet/sax up to 37 weeks inc winning a national competition with wind orch

Second time round (so with a toddler in tow too) -
Tarted up & sold our flat in London in a couple of days for full asking price
Got all our stuff sorted out and packed up inc. rehoming cats, stuff to charity etc. for move to New Zealand
moved to New Zealand
bought house
unpacked entire contents of container and decorated
started a new life on the other side of the world
played the clarinet to 39+4 (did audition on that day - didn't get it but am now in that orchestra)

When I was at university there was a woman 2 years above me who was heavily pregnant whilst studying for her finals - she gave birth the day after she finished them and she got a first. She had a toddler in tow as well. I think she was still studying for post-grad qualification when she had her third child and now she has a Phd I think.

Slightly less impressively I was studying for an OU post-grad course when expecting DS1. I left work fairly early on so that I could spend my days doing that instead. It was nice to have the time to do something intellectual instead of going to work. I certainly couldn't have sat on the sofa all day and watched daytime telly.

Organised 3 training programmes for medical professionals which involved co-ordinating over 200 diaries, booking venues, accommodation, travel, dietary requirement meals, disabled access, special needs etc in December. In London. Two weeks before going on maternity leave

I got my store top sales in the area and an A in my stock check.

So nerrrrrrrr

Try teaching 16 year old disaffected boys with a Linx addiction while suffering from all day morning sickness!

I survived an OFSTED inspection and was graded (along with my department) as excellent while pregnant.

When I was 7 months pregnant my (lovely) uncle died suddenly.

His funeral, which I couldn't possibly miss, was the day of the signing of a massive financing (30+ interlinking contracts) I'd been working on for months. I stayed up till I don't know when the night before, getting the documents in such perfect order [the lawyers here will appreciate what this entails] that the signing could flow like a run of dominoes with no supervision needed.

And it worked.

So far I've moved house, passed my driving theory test with 49 out of 50 whilst in the middle of said house move, and passed every requirement so far for the first year of my MA (including getting a distinction for my first piece of assessed work).

Less tangibly, I've continued to be a good friend/girlfriend/family member to various loved ones and learned all about this pregnancy and baby lark while dealing with the after effects of a major bereavement.

When 36 weeks preg with my son I applied for a managerial role a step above what i had been doing that many people said I was mad to go for. I got an interview, which I had three weks after my son was born (attended with massive leaky boobs and mastitis, in baggy size 20 M&S suit to hide c-section jelly belly!). I got the job.

Who is this prick, anyway?

achievments eh?

hmmm, can i get back to you?

Message withdrawn

what a twat

oh right yeah, i passed driving test too. during pg 1
then i did a montessori teaching diploma during pg 2, but didnt do the exams at the end coz they were on same day as EDD. oh and baby 1 was only 13m whn baby 2 was born.
did fark all during pg 3, but then i had 2 babies already to keep me busy, and developed SPD too, so was a tad occupied.

1st pregnancy - played 6+ gigs a week as a cellist, despite crippling SPD (let me tell you - playing the cello with SPD FUCKING HURTS). I played in a Christmas gig at 10 days overdue.

2nd pregnancy - having 5 minutes without being sick and walking to the car without crying with pain were my biggest achievements.

did driving lessons and passed test at 38 weeks