Mummy Brain

Yesterday I stumbled upon this pin on Pinterest. I found myself nodding and smiling. I also found a little bit of resentment in that nod and smile. Before I had my boys I was a psychologist. I had a diary but I rarely needed to check it because I rarely forgot things. I knew dates and times and places of clients, of appointments, of meetings, of social catch ups. I knew birthdays and anniversaries.

Now, after 2 children, I am forever thankful that my iPhone calendar comes with the option of multiple alerts and reminders. I now set reminders for everything. I set a reminder 1 day before the event and I set a reminder for 1 hour before the event. Even this does not equal a foolproof, mummy-brain-proof equation.

When I was pregnant with my first son, my boss at the time told me about his colleague who had worked on research into Alzheimer's for a large company in the USA. Over many years he apparently found consistently that one of the best predictors of developing Alzheimer's was time spent breastfeeding. The more a woman breastfed her children, the higher her risk of developing Alzheimer's. My boss informed me that his friend had serious doubts about this finding for many years, but it continued to play out in his data. He also told me his friend had serious reservations about his personal safety if he published these findings. So he resigned instead of publishing, fearing the Le Leche League  reaction to such research findings.

At the time, I rolled my eyes. Shrugged it off. 4 years later, I am beginning to see some merit in these findings (& also perhaps in the researchers reluctance to publish them). I have no doubt that I could still function as a professional and effective psychologist if and when I decide to return to the workforce. I just doubt I could have quite the level of memory recall for details I had prior to the birth of my 2 sons.

I would like to include some witty recollections of when my Mummy-brain has failed me, but ultimately, I can't remember many. I do remember when I was pregnant with my second son, I completely forgot that I had arranged to catch up with a colleague from Los Angeles whilst they were visiting New York. Poor Laurie sat for an hour or more waiting for me to turn up. I have never felt more terrible than when I finally remembered hours later. The fact that I had spent most of that morning suffering morning sickness and trying to keep my 1 year old away from the toilet really didn't make me feel any better.

How about you? Do you suffer from Mummy-brain? Do you feel you traded in your functioning brain cells for children?