Pregnancy Brain

Duhhhhhhhh.......

I've gotten much dumber recently. It's a wonder that I can even successfully write a blog post anymore.

As I explained to BD, I'm have trouble "closing the deal." If I remember to do something, I remember to do 95% of it, but then forget the final and most important 5%. Example: I remembered to ask BD for my new insurance info before I left for the doctor's appointment last week. I remembered to print it out. And then I left it on the printer. This instance alone is not cause for alarm...it's just when you realize that nearly every single activity I engage in ends similarly.

Apparently I'm not alone: http://pregnancy.about.com/cs/symptoms/a/placentabrains.htm
Brain shrinkage seems to be common in pregnancy, and lasts through the first six months after birth.

So bear with me, my friends. If I'm acting flaky, or forgetting your names, just pat my belly and realize that I have "a condition."

Good Advice

This from my co-worker who gave birth in September:

"One more tip for you…drink as much water as you can get down. (I could go through 4 or 5 20 oz bottles just at work.) You will be in the ladies room 10 times a day as your bladder runs out of room, but it’s worth it. It will help you feel better when your blood pressure is low, it will give you a bit more energy, and it will keep you from swelling. These concerns may have been more top of mind for me during the summer, but I still think the water makes a big difference."

Music to a Fetus' Ears

Someday, my child is going to be able to say that Lollapalooza 2006 was his or her first concert experience and the line-up was awesome (Stars, Eels, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Kanye West, Violent Femmes, Lady Sovereign, Wilco, Death Cab for Cutie, and so on).

Of course, the zygote was just getting nice and implanted at the time...but it still counts, right?

But it did get me a little nervous when I started reading pregnancy books and Web sites, and I saw the warnings to try to avoid loud sounds, for example at a rock-and-roll concert. More no-no's that I was unaware of. And to think that I had been super proud of myself for not drinking that weekend, staying hydrated, and taking little cat naps on the grass when I needed them. Little did I know I was freaking out my new little zygote with great music!

I love going to concerts, but I've really had to cut back. Not just because of the loud sounds, but mostly because of the indoor smoky venues. So sad!

But what is the science that's behind the recommendation to avoid loud music? I looked and looked, but I couldn't find good information...just the general recommendation to avoid it. The Center for Prenatal and Perinatal Music has the following:

"How loud should the music be? Generally as loud as you would normally hear music in your home which is between 50 and 60 decibels. A decibel is how the intensity or loudness of sound is measured. Shouting is equivalent to the sound of a motorcycle at 100 decibels, and rock concerts have been measured to around 115 decibels. Loud music has been found to negatively affect the developing baby in several different ways, lower weight at birth, defects, and others. "

Furthermore, my hubby says that after the first trimester, little fetus might actually cover its ears to block out loud sounds. That image alone is enough to get me laughing... but not enough to stop me from singing random songs at the top of my lungs.

So, I apologize in advance to my new little baby if it has low birth-weight or something. It just goes to show, sometimes you have to suffer in order to rock!

Working While Pregnant

A great article with tips on working while pregnant (particulary about the timing of the announcement):

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/1/T011900.asp

Scheduling Around the Unknown

How do you plan around something major that could happen any time during a four-week-plus span? It's like if you were planning a wedding that could happen on the 15th...but it might also be on the 1st or 27th, just wait and see.

For the pregnant woman who also juggles graduate school and multiple work projects, this whole planning thing is a real challenge. Take school, for example. The new semester starts in January and ends the last week of April. I'm due April 16, so if this holds, I'd only miss the final class or two of the semester. But it's best to be prepared if things change. So I've spent about a month talking to professors and an academic advisor, trying to figure out plans and contingency plans. Just when I think it's been sorted out, one of the courses I picked is now already full.

Work is a whole other issue, one that I haven't even begun to really think through yet.

Article of the Day

A must-read on drinking while pregnant from today's New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/29/dining/29preg.html?_r=1&ref=dining&oref=slogin

When to Send Out the Press Release

For the first three months of my pregnancy, the only people who knew about it were me and my hubby, my doctor and my masseuse. That's all. We kept it a well-guarded secret for reasons that fell somewhere between well-reasoned pragmatism and irrational paranoia.

Even now that I'm four months along and I've started telling more people (our parents, siblings, bosses, and some close friends), I'm still not entirely comfortable with the idea of "going public."

Perhaps it's fear that all conversations from here on out will be about babies or pregnancies. Or maybe it's my lingering paranoia that something could go wrong (and then I'd prefer to mourn as privately as possible). Either way, I've found the experience of keeping this secret quite fun, and I highly recommend that more women try it out.

For one thing, during those months, it's your little secret baby, and not yet someone else's grandchild, niece, or godchild (though those are all wonderful things). Secondly, you're going to be a parent above all else for the rest of your life...enjoy your last few months as a professional, a student, a wife, a funky twenty-something, or whatever you may be now.

So on Wednesday, I have the twenty-week sonogram which should prove, among other things, that I am indeed carrying a human inside me. Maybe, after that point, I'll be more willing to send out the press release!

Conception

Today, I gave birth to a blog. It was a fairly painless process, from conception (about two weeks ago) to now.

Picking the name was the hardest--but most fun--part. My father-in-law came up with the winning suggestion: Fetal Attraction. This edged out earlier front runners "In the Baby Way," "Fetal Mania," and "Blog in the Oven." But I think Fetal Attraction really is a blog I can love... and I hope you will too.

On this site, I will share musings about my first pregnancy (now four months along), interesting articles with health news or helpful tips, thoughts about modern motherhood-to-be that includes a career and graduate school, and comments and feedback from anybody who has something to contribute.

Welcome to the world, Fetal Attraction!