I have been trying to do a lot the last to weeks and will be doing a lot in the upcoming weeks to prepare for our young gentleman on the way. We need to move the office to make the nursery. I order to move the office to the basement, we need to finish the basement. This past weekend, I spent the entire Saturday doing insulation. Sunday I worked and then did all the outside work preparing for the first snow of the year. Monday I moved all the millions of pieces of drywall we bought from the garage to the basement. I have drywalling, painting, popcorn ceiling scraping, and furniture building in my near future. My weekends are booked. I am not listing this to complain. I am listing this because I did not mention the end of the year awards banquet for my cross country team I need to planned prepare for, the extra work for my actual job, and trying to get in some training. I am busy and tired.... or, as many know it, normal human life. Apparently, though, all this stuff has squeezed out other "less important" information. I will get to that in a moment.
In the brief research I have done on "pregnancy brain" on both mom and dad, the science doesn't show much, but there are quite a few surrounding factors that could be reason for it. Losing sleep can severely effect memory, and my wife has been having a hard time getting through the night, which means the same for me. There were also a few ideas that changing hormone levels, etc. could be the culprit. One idea I found interesting was that there could be an evolutionary reason for pregnancy brain. Nature is telling us to simplify everything else and focus on the baby. That would make a lot of sense to me, actually. I also read that, at this time, I, the male, will also undergo hormonal and chemical changes. I will also start nesting and may become more handy around the house. I have not noticed that I am more handy, but my list of stuff to do is very long. Usually I will be quite grumpy about this, but lately, I have been actually looking forward to it. That must be the chemical changes I am undergoing. I don't feel a need to drywall, but I'm not as cranky about it. Reflecting on anything else I find different in myself, I can't think of much. I feel a touch more stress. I am more tired from interrupted sleep. I am also starting to feel a need to read a book or something to prepare for this.
Anyways... here are two quick anecdotes on the affects of pregnancy brain on me and my lady.
Last week my friend Jarid told us of a good deal going on a a restaurant we like, Los Chingones. He asked in an email if he should me make reservations for Sunday at 6:30.... at least thats as far as I read the email. I was teaching and just told him that time works fine... go for it. Sunday tools around and we go to downtown Denver to meet them for dinner. We stopped on the way to get dog food, but nailed the timing. We got there right at 6:30. The place was pretty low key as the Broncos were playing at home. Denver shuts down for the Broncos. I found it weird we were the first of the party to drive as this is almost never the case. The hostess did not have any reservations made under my friend's name. Crap! I checked my email again and my wife checked hers. We scrolled down. The reservations were for the NEW Los Chingones location in DTC. Crap again! Thats like 20 minutes away! We thanked the hostess who said she would text the manager... she was really nice. I called Jarid as we were pulling out of the parking spot to tell him.
Me: Dude! I am so sorry! We went to the wrong restaurant (me laughing a little.. .wife not laughing).
Jarid: Huh?
Me: We're gonna be like 20 minutes late. We went to the wrong one.
Jarid: What are you talking about?
Me: The restaurant, man! We went to the wrong one!
Jarid: Nate, thats for next week.
Me: (Very loud laughing) I think we've lost out minds
We turned around and went back the the first restaurant. We told them the story. They laughed and took care of us, even bringing us a free delicious appetizer. We had gone to the wrong restaurant on the wrong day. That's totally ridiculous. Neither of us bothered to read the full email. We both prioritized it as low and moved on to whatever was next.
Then....Tuesday, I was scheduled to do a presentation at one of my colleague's college classes she is teaching at Regis University about literacy practices for teachers. She asked me to do this a really long time ago, saying it would be great to bring in a perspective on literacy from an art perspective. I agreed to it, set the date, and put it in the calendar. I worked really hard at the presentation and saw it as an opportunity. Now that I have my Master's degree, maybe I could moonlight some classes at a small university. I had a whole thing about language creating reality and showing a glassblowing video to introduce new vocabulary and passing out images to use and breakdown using a Frayer model, etc.
I had a plan for Tuesday, as well. It was my day to come home first after school to let the dog out, etc. I also needed to get to a local pottery store to buy a material that helps fix projects so I could repair some of my students' projects that had broken. The pottery store was only a few minutes from the university. The plan was go home, walk the dog, double check my PP, and leave the house at 4:15 or so. I could get to the pottery place a little before 5. I would run in, grab the stuff, and maybe even have time to grab a coffee before I needed to be on campus for the 5:30 class. Seems reasonable, right?
I implemented my master plan, all working to perfection right up to the pottery store, which I arrived at 10 minutes before 5. I left my phone in the car. I never do that, but thought, "I'll just be a minute". Well, the guy in front of me was ordering a million different things. He was in corduroy pants, a deadhead shirt, and had dreads. I am not judging the look, but apparently he works at a high school. I am envious he can dress like that to school. I wish I didn't have to wear dress past everyday and get clay all over them. He kept ordering different types of clay to try out on their pottery wheel, spending all sorts of money. Again.... jealous. By the time I left, it was 5:15. Not enough time for coffee, but I would still make it. I checked my phone getting in the car to get directions. There were several messages asking me if I was OK, where I was, etc. Uh oh. I called my colleague. Long enough story, shorter.... apparently the class started at 4:30, not 5:30. I was an hour late. A HOUR LATE!
I apologized profusely. I drove over there and met them at the campus pub which was having dollar beer night. No one else was there but our small group of graduate students. The undergrads had left... which I completely agree with. The group was really nice and allowed me to present how I use the Frayer model with images and discuss a few things. They even participated in the activity. So, I taught my first college class at a pub.
I don't know why I thought the time was 5:30. Did I come up with that number? Why didn't I double check with her to make sure I knew? Again, maybe this past week it wasn't a priority and the pregnancy brain bug decided to prioritize my life for me. I remembered for sure to text my buddy Monday and have him come over and help me move drywall around in preparation, ultimately, for the baby room. Did nature do this prioritizing for me? I don't know. I do know that, despite what I think I can do, I am having a hard time remembering everything I should or even having enough awareness to check on things twice. It could be sleep. It could be I have too much going on. Maybe I need some brain supplements. I don't know. But now that I have identified this thing, I am going to try to work through it.... oh yeah, I lost my sunglasses yesterday somehow, too.
If you are experiencing pregnancy brain as a mom or dad or whoever is involved with the incoming baby, do not feel bad about forgetting things an slowly losing our mind. You are not alone. Although, if you go to the wrong place at the wrong time, you might be.
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