Excerpts from New Mothers Journal: 2007-2009

July 2007:
It started before I even left the hospital. From the moment my son was born my ability to recall the simplest information was gone.

It took me aback really. I’d heard about mommy brain but this was ridiculous. A week ago I was managing hundreds of relationships and the top sales person in a fortune 500 company.

I thought it would get better when I got home and I was in my own surroundings. The log book I was trying to use to keep track of the feeding time the doctor had suggested I monitor was always 2 floors away, which might as well have been 200 miles away in my sleep deprived state. I felt like a pacifier too but really couldn’t remember whether it had been 15 minutes or 2 hours since his last feeding so the easiest thing to do was simply feed him again.

Fast forward 4 months and I am back to work. Somehow I am always running late. Traffic, one more client. As I am rushing in my babysitter is rushing out and I am left wondering why exactly the baby has started crying. Has he eaten recently? How much? Enough? Is he tired? Did he take good naps today? Should I put him down or let him stay up a bit? The questions swirl around in my head. Without any information it is hard to know what course of action to take to calm your little baby’s cries. Once teething started it just complicated things more as I never knew when he had last been medicated. We would all TRY to write these things down, but apparently it takes a much more organized group of people than us to do this consistently. I keep wondering are WE the ONLY ones???

to be continued.....