Mommy Brain:

Mommy Brain is real. I have experienced it and… wait, what was I saying?

Oh yes, I for sure thought this was just code for being tired. Wrong! If I had to define “mommy brain” now, I would say it is a strange combination of hormones, sleep deprivation and adapting to a complete life change.

It’s not that you forget everything as soon as the baby comes out. It’s more like all your knowledge and short-term memory being shifted around to different parts of your brain. You know, when you clean up your computer, then you go to access a file, and find that suddenly it’s been moved to a new location and you have no idea where? That is mommy brain.

Suddenly your brain is trying to fit all the information about keeping your baby alive somewhere. It tries to figure out where by randomly getting rid of things you used to use all the time. For example, I used to be really good with names, but apparently my brain has decided that this is no longer necessary and has hit delete. In it’s place is my baby’s nap schedule.

Mommy brain also means leaving things everywhere. Want your coffee? It’s in the fridge. Your kid’s teething toy? That’s in your winter coat pocket. Your dog’s leash? That one is in your diaper bag. The diapers? Oh crap, where are the diapers? I think I left them somewhere around here….

Pregnancy Nose:

Before I got pregnant, I read an article about this phenomenon. One woman in the article talked about smelling the grounds of coffee from someone else’s shopping cart. I was a tad sceptical. No way, I thought. But my friends, this is real.

If you have read about my pregnancy in my other posts, you know this made my life really difficult. However, on days when I didn’t feel like death, it was actually kind of neat. Like a strange party trick!

For example, one day my husband came home, and I could smell that he was eating an Oreo cookie…from another room.

Another time I was at the hospital getting some IV fluids and someone across the waiting room was ordering lunch from her son. She asked for chicken salad with no mustard. When the sandwich came, she opened the wrapper and started eating. “Looks like she got mustard after all,” I said to my husband. I could actually smell it from across the room. My husband thought I was full of it, until the lady said, “I said no mustard.” Thanks pregnancy nose!

Pregnancy Cravings:

Oh come on, I used to think. We all get food cravings. That’s not real. Oh, how silly I was.

A regular craving is, “Oh man, I could really go for some nachos. Let’s get some this weekend!” A pregnancy craving is, “I feel like nachos. Let’s get some NOW, RIGHT FRICKING NOW. I will do nothing else until I eat nachos, and neither will you so get me my nachos NOW!!!”

Due to my extreme nausea, I didn’t really have many typical cravings, but those I did have were pretty intense. I basically only craved two foods. Tacos and Ice cream. Not together, though that may be worth a try. My poor husband made many a night time trek to Dairy Queen for ice cream because he is wonderful and also because I couldn’t really eat anything else.

These cravings changed randomly and arrived with such force that they were impossible to resist! Will power has no hope against a pregnant lady’s food cravings. These, my friends, are most definitely real.