It is not a myth. The pregnancy brain followed by mummy brain is as real as it gets. I started experiencing it while pregnant and now, five months after I gave birth I still feel it. My brain is a bit like mashed potatoes. Tasty as it can be – any woman can get out of any trouble – but so damn frustrating. I swear. It’s like forgetting where you put your keys although they are in the same freaking place they have always been; planning on watering your flowers and five minutes later not remembering what the plan was; making a grocery list and coming home with only half of what you were supposed to get plus some useless things that will definitely go off in the fridge, having endless conversations with my fiancee and explaining to him a million times that I am not turning into a selfish monster who cares about no one but myself, I am only under the influence of those crazy hormones and I have no idea who I am and what I’m doing. Try and explain it to the most realistic person. I wasn’t the best at it. At times it was impossible for me to communicate what I was feeling. I couldn’t understand myself so how can someone else do it? When I first bumped into an article regarding “baby brain” I laughed. I thought it’s just an excuse for pregnant women to do whatever they want to and whenever they want to. I mean we forget things every day but as a mum to be you don’t have to explain it. Blame it on the hormones. You can play this card for nine months and another year after the baby is born. The reality is this is no card to play, this is no game. This is real and it’s scary at times. There have been many researches done and lately more and more voices claim that short term memory loss in pregnant women and new mums exists. Plus it makes you a better mother. How? You have problems concentrating on simple logical tasks like where your wallet is but on the other hand you concentrate more on the needs of your baby. So basically I might forget where I put things in the house when I turned into a tornado and cleaned all tiny little corners, I might not remember appointments or even why did I enter into a particular store but it does not matter. 

With this I am a better mother and a shoplifter as well. Cause it happened to me to casually walk outside a store, holding my favorite nail polish in my hand but having no receipt for it. And you know what? I didn’t even notice it until I had to use my oyster card at the train station and I noticed a small bottle in my hand. That’s when all clicked. I was a thief. Yes. I am not hiding behind the bush. I accidentally become a shop lifter. Worse is if you never stole a piece of paper in your life. The guilt is pressing hard on your shoulders making you go nuts. But when your belly is so big and you barely walk, the trip back to the store seems like an impossible task.

You prefer to live with the guilt and risk a heart attack thinking what if you’ll see your picture on the news. “Heavily pregnant woman leaves the store without paying” or “The pregnant thief” or God knows what else. And when you can’t take it anymore guess what you do. You don’t go to the store manager or some sales assistant apologizing about what you did few days back and offering to pay for the damn nail polish. No. You sneak into the store and pretend to check other nail polishes and when you think nobody can see you, you just put the bottle back and leave like nothing happened but feeling relieved that you didn’t get arrested and you didn’t give birth in a police cell while thinking how good that color would look on your toes.

But never mind that. It’s in the past. No need to mention it that much. I mean I don’t want to show off. It’s only a simple example of what baby brain can do to you. And yes, it can happen even after the baby comes. Or especially after. And I’ll tell you why. You have a buggy now and all your shopping goes in the buggy basket so really small items like a pack of tissues or an antibacterial hand gel can be forgotten there for quite a while.

So in conclusion I just want to say that pregnant women are thieves and crazy people by accident. Try and forgive them and see the beauty of what they are and what they are creating, a human being who is more important than remembering to get an umbrella when you obviously know it’s raining or leaving the store with a small item in their hand without even realizing it’s there. Give them the benefit of the doubt. They have so much more to think about and concentrate on. Let them be what they are. They’ll go back to their old self eventually and you will miss the craziness around them. Or who knows you might end up falling in love all over again.

SONG OF THE DAY: – one of my all times favorite song