Pregnancy brain!

It didn’t really happen when I was pregnant with August, and not at all when I was expecting William, but this time around, I’ve got it bad: pregnancy brain. A little creature has taken over my mind, and I can’t remember things. It happened already before I knew I was pregnant. I was going to run an errand with the boys, and left the house without a thought of bringing my keys. Now this may sound normal to a lot of people, but in my case, this is quite out of character, believe me! Since then, gradually, I’ve found that I consistently forget things, and not even things that are hard to keep in mind, but ordinary routine things.

On Wednesdays the family has two appointments to keep in mind (as opposed to one on other days): August has Taekwondo at 5 pm, and I have choir practice at 7 pm. The week before last, I was so focused on going back to my choir practice (it was my first time after being back from the US), that I totally forgot about August’s Taekwondo. I had to apologize to the teacher, and there was no excuse! Last Wednesday I was focused on making sure that August didn’t miss another Taekwondo practice, and I did remember that afternoon that I had choir, but when I came home with August about 6:30 pm, the existence of anything else was gone from my mind, completely. I helped finish dinner, enjoyed a long meal, sat back on the couch with a cup of tea to relax ( I was very tired), and then froze when I saw the clock: it was past 8 pm, and I had totally forgotten my choir!

Today, because the clock on my laptop had suddenly set itself forward an hour (why does it keep doing that?!), I rushed the boys to Taekwondo at 4 pm instead of 5 pm. We noticed when we got there that we were an hour early, and there was nothing else to do but to go home again. Once we got home, the boys suggested we go practice soccer instead for a while and then go straight to Taekwondo afterwards. It seemed like a good idea since the soccer field is very close to the CSA, which is where the boys have Taekwondo. When we got to the soccer field however, I realized that I had left William’s Taekwondo suit on the table at home! There was nothing else for us to do but to return home again to pick up the suit, and then trail all the way back to CSA. Needless to say, when I got home, I was exhausted; physically and mentally. I’m not used to being this harebrained, and I’m certainly not enjoying it!

There’s a saying in Swedish that tells you “what work your head doesn’t do, your legs will have to make up for” (or something like that; word by word it’s “that which you don’t have in your head, you’ll have to have in your legs") but since I’m pregnant, this is not exactly well balanced; running around Maadi with kids is strenuous! It’s hot, noisy, dirty and a little too high impact for me.

My remedy for all this? I’m keeping at least two calendars within constant sight, write lists for everything, and I’ve bought a pack of post-its. I always hang my keys on the door when I’m home and around my neck when I’m out. I’ve asked the boys to help me remember things, and when I’ve made an appointment with someone, I ask them to call me just before to remind me. If you have any other ideas, please let me know. I’m not this person!