At the risk of sounding sexist, have you ever heard of the “Pregnancy Stupids”? A woman Andrea works with introduced her to the term, and it denotes the general loss of focus and forgetfulness that comes with the third trimester. I honestly can't call this idea sexist, because I've got it too. Note the present tense; nearly four weeks after the birth, we're still losing our ever-loving minds.
Last night (or maybe the night before. As I've hinted at, you can't expect much from me right now.), as we were getting our shit together to go to bed, I asked “Where's the dog?” She didn't know. He was looking in through the patio door. She didn't remember letting him out, and neither did I. In hind sight, I think it was me.
Then I found the fridge door sitting open. Andrea had moved onto another chore, forgetting whatever she'd been doing in the kitchen.
And the list goes on. Our dear child is in the care of a couple of Witless Wonders (add that to your Road Rage vocabulary, if you care to). Naturally, we're blaming the sleep-deprivation. But I also must consider the massive shock to our mental systems as well. All of a sudden, we have to stop playing Grown Up, and actually become responsible adults! For the time being, I can't sit up sucking-back Wobbly Pops and playing computer games. If I'm not working the next day, I'm responsible for overnight feedings. That, and our present co-sleeping situation makes it unwise to go to bed polluted.
This brings to mind something I read in Marilyn Ferguson's “The Aquarian Conspiracy,” a book about how New Age thought sounded a lot like the Quantum sciences. It was first published in 1980 – WAY ahead of The Secret. The book introduced me to Prigogine's Theorem, which states that when something new is introduced into an existing system, it will either be absorbed into the system, or will rattle the system enough that it must re-organize itself into a more complex state. To illustrate, Andrea & I are The System. If I make a new friend, he'll stop by for burgers & beer every now and then, but our lives remain pretty much the same. The arrival of Callie, however, has re-arranged our schedules, our priorities, our finances, etc, etc.
And this is why, I believe, we're losing the dog and mishandling large appliances. A Nobel Laureate decreed it!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Very funny and VERY true.. I can't tell you how many times I locked myself out of the car or the house when my first was a baby. Luckily she never got locked on the other side. Childbirth is proven to cause brain damage. Luckily temporary... I read it was so you forget how horrible birth is and will be inclined to have more children. So not true, even all these years later I remember every painful detail.
ReplyDeleteAs for co sleeping .. dont let that be a habit tool long or you will never have more children.. or attempt to... just sayin"
Loving the blog. xx
my wife likes to refer to this plight as "Mom-nesia"
ReplyDeleteI read somewhere that it takes a woman a year to get over the "pregnancy stupids". Grace is 12. Max is 7. I'm still not over them. Just last week I searched for 20 minutes for my car keys. They were in my hand the entire time. See what I mean?
ReplyDeleteBTW, all th laughing I was doing while reading this was totally with you-not at you.
VL Hope your '1 year' prediction is right; much more optimistic than Candances 7-12! We're hoping to be done co-sleeping...we're not sure when.
ReplyDeleteTQ Love 'Momnesia' The term, not the condition.
C Like I said, hope this doesn't last 12 years! Laughing with you, 'cause car keys is way funnier than looking for the glasses on top of your head, yet not that far-fetched.
Great post! I just called them the "Mummy-Dummies"...and I too, blamed the sleep-deprivation...
ReplyDeleteIt's been nearly three years, and it has abated somewhat...but man, when you're going through it...groping around for a word like "drawer" can be really frustrating!
Too funny! I'm just glad I'm in a pretty witless dept @ work for a few weeks and not handling money.
ReplyDelete