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The Baby Brain is Back in Town

The Baby Brain is Back in Town

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The Baby Brain is Back in Town

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The Baby Brain is Back in Town

I know I’ve posted stories of my baby brain antics before, but it appears they have come back with full force and out of nowhere, so I thought I may as well keep the stories coming.

Just in the last week, I have done 3 things that are utterly ridiculous. I feel frustrated and stupid at the time, BUT I can happily laugh it off later, so I’m keen to share these stories so we can have a bit of a laugh together (and if you have baby brain anywhere near as bad as I do, I hope this helps you feel better about yourself 🙂

I’ll start with the least silly story and work my way on from there…

The Cat-Astrophe

Every night before bed I give my cats a few biscuits and then shut them in the laundry/garden so that they don’t disturb us while we’re sleeping.

Last Saturday night was no different. I got up from the couch after watching a movie, gave the cats a few biscuits and a quick pat on the head each, said goodnight to them, brushed my teeth and got into bed.

A few minutes later, Sebastian (my youngest and fattest cat) jumped onto the bed, nestled himself on my legs and meowed at me.

“Sebastian!” I exclaimed, “How did you get in here!?”

His response? (don’t be silly, he’s a cat, he didn’t respond!)

So, I jumped out of bed, marched down the hallway and into the lounge to question Sam as to why he left the laundry door open. Sam was quietly sitting on the couch playing on his phone and it was quite clear to me that he hadn’t been anywhere near the laundry door.

So… the only logical explanation (unless my cats have worked out how to open doors) is that I gave the cats their biscuits, said good night to them and then just… walked away, leaving the laundry door wide open.

Except, I don’t remember leaving the door open. Crazy!

The “Where is my Purse and Phone” Debacle

The day after the “cat-astrophe” was Sunday. Sam and I were doing a few things around the house (who am I kidding, I was doing bugger all, pottering around trying to look busy and Sam was doing some actual work, cleaning the windows).

Anyway, around about lunchtime Sam bailed me up and demanded like the hard-working, starving man that he is, that I arrange some lunch for us both (not really, in usual Sam style he politely asked if I was hungry, confirmed that I was and then asked if I would mind going to the shops for food for us both).

We discussed what both lunch and dinner options would be for that night, I made a list and headed over to the shops (by the way, we created this amazing chicken dish – I will have to share the recipe with you some time!).

Sam was particularly keen on a fruit platter from the deli down the road, which meant I had to make two stops. So, the first stop was to the big shopping center to get everyday type items. I went on my merry way, collecting the things I needed, definitely buying more than my arms cared to carry back to the car, popped everything in the boot and drove off.

The next minute, I’m in the car, stopped at the lights, thinking about the phone calls and arrangements I need to make for that week, when suddenly, I start freaking out, trying to remember where the hell I put my wallet and phone.

Did I put them down somewhere at the shops?
Where were they when I packed the bags into the car?
Did I leave them in the supermarket?

ARGH!

I decide there’s no point worrying about it, I’ll need to stop the car when I get to the deli anyway, so I might as well just search the car first before getting too worried.

A few minutes later, I pull up at the deli and open the boot. I fossick around in there for a bit and then FINALLY, there’s my wallet and phone, tucked into one of the shopping bags.

I’m SO GLAD I found them… but I definitely have no recollection of putting them there in the first place!

The Peculiar Pregnancy Test

I feel especially stupid about this one.

Last Friday, after I had a positive home pregnancy test, I went to the lab and got a blood test taken.

My OB had already given me a few referral forms at my discharge appointment after the miscarriage, so I could get the blood test done the same day as my positive home test without having to make another appointment.

I was quite surprised when he then phoned on Monday to let me know the test results (all fine so far, by the way). He said the levels were what he would expect them to be for the dates I had given him, and asked if I could please do another test in a weeks’ time.

I thought it was a bit weird that he wanted me to do another home test, and asked if I needed to call him if the test wasn’t positive. He said not to worry and that he would call me.

I said, no worries, talk to you soon, and hung up.

I then called my mum to tell her the good news (that the results were fine) and that I had to do a home test in a weeks’ time. My mum queried if I was sure about this. I said “yeah, he just wants to make sure the result is still positive” to which my mum replied “yes… but your test might still show positive anyway… are you sure he didn’t mean that you need another blood test?”

… and then the penny dropped. Of course, he meant get another blood test! How else are you supposed to tell if the hormone levels are going up or down? Why else would he have given me 4 referral forms for blood tests!!!???

If anything, I’m so glad I had that silly conversation with my mum… can you imagine if I’d done a home “pee on a stick test” and then had to explain that to my OB…??

Man, I’m laughing so hard my eyes are watering!
 
*sigh* It’s going to be a long 9 months, isn’t it…?

How about you? Please (seriously, I need this) if you have any stories you are willing to share about your baby brain I would really love to hear them! Alternatively, if you just want to laugh along with (or at me), that’s ok too!

Let us know in the comments below 🙂

P.S. Before you go – if you haven’t had the chance yet make sure you check out our new website – there’s heaps of strategies for common behaviour issues experienced by parents – if you get in quick enough you might manage to score a free membership too!

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The Great Anti-Climax

The Great Anti-Climax

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The Great Anti-Climax

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The Great Anti-Climax

You would expect someone who just found out they were pregnant after a recent loss to be overjoyed, right? I would have thought so too. Except… that’s just not how I felt.

OK… so rewind a few steps. The last few weeks have been fairly hectic for us. We have been to India and back, to Melbourne and the Whitsundays on “holiday”, we launched our new website, and, oh yeah, we made a baby too!

So, it’s safe to say it’s been a fairly crazy few weeks!

Towards the end of our “holiday” (I say this with inverted comma’s because I’m not sure any small business owner knows what a holiday actually is… it’s really just going away and doing a few fun things in another place… while you keep on working), anyway, while we were away I started getting an inkling I was pregnant.

You might think this sounds silly, but a few days before finding out for sure, I noticed my stomach looked and felt different… the way it looked and felt last time I was pregnant (slightly swollen and firm to touch). Anyone else would probably think I was imagining it (and it’s not the first time I’ve had phantom-pregnancy symptoms), so I didn’t bother saying anything.

A couple of days later, I started feeling a bit off. That was the same day we launched the website, so I thought that I was just so excited and nervous about the launch that the anxiety of it all was making me feel ill!

I put a bottle of champagne in the fridge ready to celebrate, but felt so sick I didn’t think I could bring myself to enjoy it properly. So, instead, I resolved to get a good night’s sleep and drifted off with happy thoughts of popping celebratory champagne the following evening.

The next morning, I thought maaaaayyybbbe I should do a pregnancy test… just to be on the safe side before polishing off some of that champagne.

And what do you know!? The test was positive.

This is the point where you would think I’d start crying happy tears. But… I didn’t… do… anything. I just felt kind of… complacent. Almost as if I was trying too hard not to care about the situation, just in case it didn’t work out.

Luckily, I had some time to myself that morning. I’m naturally an early riser, so I had an hour or so to let it all sink in before Sam got up. During that time, I just plugged away at my laptop, trying to keep distracted, willing myself to be happy, but all in all just feeling fairly numb.

Then I heard Sam get up and start bustling around the house. Next minute, I see him head outside and start tinkling with the sprinklers. I was pretty busy with the website, so decided I would just wait for him to come back in before sharing the news.

Eventually, he came back into the house, said good morning, and started giving me the latest update on the new retic he had set up and the old retic he had been fixing (married life, thrilling stuff!!)

Anyway, once I thought he’d finished telling me all about this, I said “I had a positive test this morning”.

His response? Looks at me quizzically and asks “How many new subscribers on the website?”

See what I mean? TOTAL anti-climax. To which I respond “UM… did you hear what I said?”

His response? “No, I wasn’t listening”

*sigh*

Eventually, we’re laughing about this silly miscommunication, and over-all we’re both feeling quite happy at the prospect of maybe-being-parents-again.

Then, Sam asks me how I’m feeling about sharing the news. We both agree that it’s our news, and if we want to share it, well, that’s our prerogative.

We obviously know that it might not work out and that we’re probably going to have to deal with the judgement issue from people all over again, but we agree that if we don’t have a problem with it, then other people shouldn’t either, and we’re certainly not prepared to take on board the attitudes of others just because they disagree with us.

So, for a couple of hours, I was feeling pretty good! I called our parents and sister to share the good news. Everyone was very, very excited and feeling positive!

I did a little bit more work, and then decided I should tidy up the house, make the bed, get dressed, do the dishes… all that usual house-hold type stuff.

Then… I don’t know what came over me.

One minute I was OK, and the next I had my hands elbow deep in soap suds, sobbing away about… I’m not sure what.

Perhaps a combination of things?

What if this doesn’t work out? What if people are judgemental like last time (sure, I can act like it doesn’t bother me, but the thing is, I just can’t understand why people find it so difficult to be nice about it).

What if it DOES work out?

Am I upset because I’m happy, scared or sad? I really don’t know!

Anyway, since then… I’ve been “kind of” OK.

When Sam’s around, I find we can laugh and joke together and I feel pretty good about it all!

Then there are other times (like when I went to the gym and for some reason spent the whole work out trying not to cry as I peddled away at RPM). Then, a few hours later, I could laugh about it, thinking about how I must have looked to the other riders… hoping they just thought it was the toughest work out ever almost bringing me to tears… LOL

I also feel very fortunate to have an extremely attentive and thorough OB. He called me as soon as he got my blood test results (it was literally the next working day after I had the test done) to confirm the pregnancy and was very caring and patient in explaining the next steps.

The next thing I need to do is take another blood test next week (I’m guessing to confirm the hormone levels are rising…) and now I’m just trying not to feel nervous as hell about the result.

I don’t know that there’s really much I can do, other than take each day as it comes…

If you’ve been in this situation before I would love to hear your thoughts. If you’re not keen to talk about it… I can completely understand that too.

Alternatively, if you have some words of wisdom to share, feel free to do that too!

Until next time 😉 

P.S. I mentioned earlier that we launched our website – if you pop over to the log in area you can get a free membership to access our strategies – this is FREE for a limited time only!

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The Double Standards are Driving Me Nuts

The Double Standards are Driving Me Nuts

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The Double Standards are Driving Me Nuts

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The Double Standards are Driving Me Nuts

I don’t usually say too much about things that annoy me. Not loudly and vocally in public anyway, but this is an issue that is really starting to bother me, so I thought I would take the opportunity to raise it here, and see if others have had the same experience.

People often ask my husband and I when we’re going to have kids. Now I don’t really have a problem with that. I do write a blog about our personal experience after all, so I’m pretty open to questions about it.

But what annoys me is that when I tell people WHY we don’t have kids yet, they act like I shouldn’t have told them the reason.

This drives me friggin crazy!

Seriously, you’ve asked a personal question, now don’t get all upset when you get a personal answer.

The other thing that is really bothering me is the judgment we have received from a small portion of people saying that we shouldn’t have told anyone we were pregnant.

I feel like there are two options available to ladies in this situation.

Either, don’t tell everyone you’re pregnant and have them whisper about it behind your back (you know, kind of like “oh my goodness, did you notice Sally wasn’t drinking this week OR last week, she MUST be pregnant”)

OR

Tell people, and have them judge you for telling (you know, like “OMG, can you believe Suzy just told everyone she was pregnant straight away, doesn’t she know you shouldn’t tell anyone before 12 weeks??”).

So, which is it, people?

Put up with the whispers and quietly drink your orange juice or tell everyone and deal with their judgy little stares (and sometimes, straight out comments) saying you shouldn’t have?

I wonder if anyone else thinks this is ridiculous as I do!?

Why can’t we just let people decide whether they want to share or not, and be OK with it either way?

Look forward to hearing your thoughts.

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When You Have to Wait for News You’re Not Sure You Want to Hear…

Waiting for Test Results

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When You Have to Wait for News You’re Not Sure You Want to Hear…

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When You Have to Wait For News You’re Not Sure You Want to Hear…

If you’re a regular reader of our blog you will know that in the last couple of weeks I’ve been going out of my mind experiencing strange things and really just wanting some answers as to what’s going on.

The good thing is, most of the weird symptoms I was experiencing have gone away, but the bad thing is, we now have more questions than answers.

Rewind back a bit to earlier last week. With all the weird symptoms I was experiencing I started getting worried, and, like most people these days, turned to Google.

After seeing some worrying explanations for my symptoms I decided it was best just to call my OB and see if I should perhaps get a blood test before going in to see him (if there was something wrong I really wanted to make sure we had all the information we needed ready before I saw him).

He quickly reassured me that everything was most likely OK, but with the uncomfortable feeling in the stomach, I shouldn’t worry unless there was any associated bleeding. I felt comfortable enough with that and was happy to wait a few more days until I saw him for my follow-up appointment.

Until about 5 hours after that… when I started to experience bleeding, and then worried all over again that something was probably wrong. I felt too silly to call again so just decided I could wait a few more days until the appointment. I doubted that it would make any difference to the outcome either way.

Finally, the day of the appointment came, and I was so relieved to be able to get some answers for all of this weirdness.

Except there weren’t any.

My OB was very thorough in listening to what I had been experiencing, agreed that it was very strange, and encouraged me to contact him if I experienced any new symptoms.

Although there weren’t any answers, I felt comforted by the fact that he didn’t seem to be worried.

He then went on to explain to us that he had arranged for testing of our fetus.

We were quite surprised by this, as we wouldn’t expect testing to be conducted on a first miscarriage, but we were grateful to know why we had experienced this all the same.

We were told that our fetus was missing chromosome 1 (a quick google revealed that this one is responsible for DNA development, so there was no way the baby could have developed any further). There was a long technical explanation for what this means for us, but what I could summarise was that, unfortunately, one of us could be the carrier of a dodgy (defective) gene (although this is fairly unlikely).

So, the solution, for now, is for both of us to have blood tests to find out more.

We were both eager to (hopefully) rule out this possibility, so we had our blood tests the next day, and now we’re waiting, not-so-patiently for the results.

The thing is, at this stage, I almost don’t want to know.

Except that I do… I just want to know that there’s nothing wrong, and I definitely don’t want to deal with the possibility that something isn’t right.

Both of us are pretty much just trying not to think about it.

When I do think about it, I can’t help but think of a negative result, and then I feel guilty for thinking that, in case thinking negatively will somehow change the outcome.

One way or another, we will have to wait about 3 weeks to find out…

Until then, we would really like to know. Is it usual protocol to have a fetus tested on the first miscarriage? We’re not sure if this is normal or if we just have an extremely thorough Doctor!

Do you know anything about chromosome 1 and the chances of this being an issue?

From what I have read it sounds as though most chromosomal abnormalities are unique so there doesn’t seem to be a lot of guidance around what to expect.

Alternatively, are you just as impatient as us when it comes to waiting on test results?

As always, look forward to hearing your thoughts in the comments below!

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Either I’m Pregnant Again OR I’m Going Frickin’ Crazy

Pregnant or Crazy?

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Either I’m Pregnant Again OR I’m Going Frickin’ Crazy

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Either I’m Pregnant Again OR I’m Going Frickin’ Crazy

I know this sounds crazy, but I’m beginning to wonder if I’m pregnant again? At the very least I hope I am, because if I’m not I may actually be losing my mind.

The reason I say this is because I used to think “baby brain” was just a thing people made up as an excuse for being the wacko’s they always were. Until I had it myself and realised it’s actually a thing!

Fine, I know what you’re thinking, I’ve always been a bit wacky (it became especially obvious to me one day, about 10 years ago, when one of my cousins lovingly said to me “you’re the dumbest smart person I’ve ever met” – if you can’t count on your family to just tell it to you straight, who can you count on??).

But seriously, I have never known myself to be as weird, forgetful and klutzy as I was in those couple of months when I was pregnant. Here are just a few examples of the weird-ass stuff I did:

  1. Forgot I was pregnant.

    Decided I needed a steak and cheese pie as we passed the Miami Bake House. Strolled up to the counter only to be informed they don’t have any left. Not a problem, I scan the pie warmer and see a spinach and ricotta sausage roll. Fabulous, one of my faves! Walking back to the car, I remember I’m pregnant. Not supposed to each soft cheese when you’re pregnant. Decide I’m too hungry to care, will risk it anyway and deal with the guilt later. Bite into the roll and realise it’s cold. Decide it’s no longer worth the risk, put it in the bin. Decide I’m NEVER going back to the Miami Bake House!!! (Kidding! As if anyone can drive past that place without stopping!).

  2. Put Sam’s shirt in the clothes dryer.

    This might not seem that weird, but, the rule in our house is that NONE OF SAM’S CLOTHES GO IN THE DRYER (because they shrink). So on this particular day, it had been raining, and I had hung all of our clothes inside. Towards the evening I realised they weren’t going to dry, so I collected (what I thought) was my clothes and put them in the dryer. It wasn’t until about an hour later when I pulled the clothes out of the dryer and was folding them that I realised one of Sam’s shirts was in the mix. I’m sure for most couples it wouldn’t be that weird to mistake one of their partner’s shirts for their own. Except in our house, it is a crazy arse mistake, because Sam is 6’1 and wears the clothes of a giant and I’m only 5ft tall and wear clothes the size of small child, so there is NO FREAKING WAY you could mix our clothes up (not under ordinary circumstances, anyway).

  3. Got the date of Sam’s Birthday wrong.

    Now this one really takes the cake. Our friends had invited us over for dinner, and I was frantically looking at the calendar trying to find a date when they were free and we were free so that we could all catch up. I listed out to Sam all the dates we couldn’t go and then went “Oh good, the 1st of September. We’re free – we can go then” following which very quickly I said, “Oh no, hang on, we can’t go that day, that’s your birthday”. He gave me a very strange look and very quietly (the way you might speak to someone you thought was a little crazy) and said “Dominique, you know that’s not my birthday. Since we also got engaged on my actual birthday, you really should know the date.” I apologised profusely, claimed it as baby brain and tried to get him to agree that the 1st of September would be an excellent day to catch up with our friends. He responded by saying “we could go that day, but I’m pretty sure that’s our anniversary… no sorry, that’s right, it’s my birthday, no hang on, it’s Christmas that day” … and so on and so forth until I was certain there was no way I was ever going to live this one down!! (Plus he now thinks he is off the hook for remembering any dates of significance in our lives)

    So anyway, back to why I think I could be pregnant again… earlier this week I vacuumed and mopped the floors in our house. Once the floors had dried, I moved everything back and decided to go have a shower (I was starving and had just convinced Sam we needed to go out for an early dinner at 5:30 pm so I was in a hurry to get ready). As I was walking towards the bathroom, I noticed the mop and bucket sitting in the hallway. I have no idea how I managed to walk past it without tripping over, let alone leave it sitting out in the middle of the hall! Since I had already thrown my clothes in the wash, I yelled out to Sam to ask if he could please empty out the bucket, rinse the mop and put them away. A couple of minutes later, Sam bursts into the bathroom (where I’m mid-shower at this point) and asks if he should also pack away the open tin of cat food I’ve left on the bench – or just let the cats continue to eat straight out of it. I’m feeling quite baffled at this point as I have no recollection what-so-ever of feeding the cats in the first place!

    Now I know in my mind that it is probably highly unlikely that I would be pregnant already (I feel a bit silly even suggesting it) and even if I am, I have no way of telling this early on anyway.

I never really had many symptoms the first time, but in the last week I have noticed:

  • I’ve been putting on weight
  • My stomach is bloaty
  • I’ve had a metallic taste in my mouth (very weird, never had that the first time…)
  • I could smell the sweat (yes, you heard me right), the sweat, on the guy in front of me at the gym the other day
  • I’m very thirsty and need to go pee a lot (I know those two things go together, but seriously, it’s like before when I just couldn’t hold it if I tried)

So…maybe I’m pregnant again, maybe my hormones are just trying to sort themselves out, or maybe I’m just going crazy! No point getting excited until we know for sure.

Only time will tell I guess…let’s stay tuned and see what happens next!

What are your thoughts? Do you think it’s even possible to know you’re pregnant at a really early stage? Can you get pregnant so quickly after a miscarriage? Is it just the hormones sorting themselves out? Alternatively, if you think I’m just going crazy, feel free to comment on that too…

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