10 August 2011

In an old girl's brain

I weary of the mysticism attributed to various parturitional phenomena. Why does it have to be magic*? These things just make sense. Call it hormones if it makes you happy, I guess; I'd rather imagine that I still have some capacity for a valid analytical response to stimuli.

1. Nesting: a completely rational reaction to knowing that one's house will be mostly neglected for something like a year after the baby is born. No, this shape I'm in is not the most practical for some of the random projects I find myself undertaking in trimesters 2 and 3. But if I don't do them now, they absolutely won't get done later.

2. Post-delivery "high": again, a totally reasonable and predictable reaction to having a healthy baby, having L&D over with, and not being gordo pregnant any more. Freakin duh. (Not to mention that if the alleged nursing "high" were more widely or meaningfully experienced, more people would nurse for longer than three weeks. Oxytocin, the least effective miracle hormone in the universe.)

3. Pregnant/postpartum brain: The BSG "33" sleep schedule alone accounts for this; why even mention the other variables?

*I know, it's not magical, it's brain chemistry. Magical brain chemistry!

6 comments:

Heather Best said...

The only complaint I have with this cycle of brain chemistry is that I apparently am not getting sufficient recovery time before going through said cycle again and therefore am just getting stupider and stupider with every pregnancy and subsequent year of sleep deprivation. At least my kids are cute, maybe that will detract from the fact that I have nothing to say and drool on my chin. One can hope.

McDermotter said...

I obviously still have postpartum brain 7 1/2 months later, because I definitely read "having LSD over with" instead of L&D and started thinking, wow, I've heard of epidurals, but . . . .

Haha!

Katy said...

2 and 3 are totally logical reactions; 1 not so much . Lots of logic and "I should" going on in my brain, but none of that mystical motivation or actual doing. (Isn't nesting supposed to start life 3 weeks before the baby comes, not in semester 2, anyway, Rebekah? I think you're just one of those people who Get Things Done.) I'm pretty sure my baby's going to be 24" long, and good at stretching, so that may be part of my non-nesting.

Dawn said...

Look, I'm just in it for the dopamine. Time to get pregnant; gotta get my fiiiiiiiiiix.

Rebekah said...

HB, see, you don't even need pop brain chemistry or pregnancy for that. I remember learning somewhere along the way that the human brain starts turning to cheese around 19 or 20. None of us are getting any smarter.

McDermotter, that sounds like a great idea to me.

Katy, I thought the same thing, but people keep accusing me of nesting (apparently I SHOULD be sitting around all day?). I'm not really someone who gets things done, though. I'm just driven by a terrible fear that all the good housewives on the internet will come visit and find my house atrocious. Which they would no matter how much I clean it.

Gauntlets, you're a sick freak.

Leah said...

1. The only thing that makes me believe there's really something to the "nesting" thing is the fact that for the final weeks (three, Katy ;) of each of my pregnancies I get literally "addicted" to lemon scented Pine Sol and bleach. (I mean who needs LSD when you can sniff bleach :P )

2. My post delivery high lasts all of about two weeks, and "alleged" is exactly the right word for a "nursing high". I am always tired for the entire duration of breastfeeding, and it takes all my will-power to be a "good mom" and nurse my babies for a full year (well, will power and the weight loss thing :).

3. I figure that my brain goes into "energy-saving" mode postpartum, to make it possible for the rest of my body to even function. :)


(p.s. I love being on vacation because I can just sit here and type really long comments on other people's blog posts while totally neglecting my own, or maybe I can blame this on postpartum brain too. Ya think?)