I have two friends who recently gave birth to their third child (each of them). We have many ideas in common, but one we do not share is the idea of a specific malady they generally refer to as “pregnancy brain.”

The symptoms of this affliction include clumsiness, scattered thoughts, and forgetful or foolish behavior. One husband swears they knew his wife was pregnant this latest time because she began dropping things. Their 5-year-old recently questioned whether his sister (2) was pregnant when she began dropping things ( I assume more than usual).

This appears to be something they talk about at home quite a bit.

I actually resist the idea of pregnancy-brain.
My physiological explanation (especially since I have two small children as well as being pregnant) is simple lack of sleep. That does all sorts of weird things to you, even imitating (physiologically) drunkenness.

I figure people do plenty of stupid things when they’re drunk, so why wouldn’t we get that way– needing (possibly) more sleep, and definitely getting less.

Having something to blame our natural scattered-ness on probably feels good though:
For nine months (give or take) I have an excuse for anything embarrassing or stupid I might do.
Maybe I should buy-in. Hmmm…