I still have my brain, but it isn't functioning quite the same. I am pretty sure my mind is floating around out there somewhere. The one that graduated valedictorian, magna cum laude, and got her Master's. I am pretty sure it is next to that flip flop I can't find for the life of me.
I recently read (or maybe it was a while ago...again, my mind is missing. It could have been years ago, really.) that everyone talks about how your mind goes to mush when you are pregnant, and you get pregnancy brain. And what they don't tell you is that YOU NEVER GET YOUR MIND BACK. (If the person that said this is reading this, let me know. You are my hero.)
IT'S TRUE.
Sometimes I wander into a room and forget why I came in there. Oh wait, it gets better. After a couple of dumbfounded minutes, I give up and go back to what I was doing. Then I will remember and go back into the other room, only to realize...I have forgotten again. After about the third time, I give up. Sometimes I am determined, and I will let it go to 6 times. True story.
So I am pretty sure that when that baby popped out, my mind popped out with him and rolled under the hospital bed. In all the commotion, I am pretty sure it got thrown out with the bedsheets.
And you know what went with it? THE ABILITY TO RELAX.
I used to enjoy filling up the tub with bubbles, pouring a glass of wine and watching SATC episodes on my laptop everynight to unwind. (Relax, the computer was always on the closed toilet or counter. I wasn't THAT tipsy.) I can't do that anymore. For several reasons.
First, I can't go anywhere in this house while Isaac is here and in a different room without hearing him cry. He is most times not even crying. But I hear him in my mind. I am constantly listening for his cries, so subconsiously, I rush through whatever I am doing. Monitors don't help. I have tried.
Second, our bath tub here is ginormous and I would drown. I can't get comfy or I will drown. Plus you know, I can't consume as much alcohol while I am nursing.
Even when I am in the house by myself, I can't relax. I try to catch up on some DVRed shows (because I can never watch shows when they are airing. DVR was invented by a mother. I am sure of it.), and I can't focus on them because I am thinking about 10 million other things that I should be doing instead of watched the DVRed shows. Every time I close my eyes at night, I see things I should be doing. If I wasn't so exhausted\, I would probably haul myself out of bed to do them. Really.
I must need to try some meditation classes or yog or SOMETHING. I need to learn to shut this busy mind off and escape somewhere where I don't hear imaginary baby cries or see dust bunnies blow across the floor amongst the crushed kitty crunchies and gerber puffs. And where I can cut out of work a few hours early without having to recrunch our budget in my head to see if I can actually afford to do so without forcing my hsuband and baby to eat ramen for dinner. I am pretty sure this land doesn't exist.
How do I know this?
Um...because I am a mother.
So fellow mommies, fellow bloggers, ANYONE. HOW DO YOU RELAX? HELP ME!!!!!!
I will say I do enjoy naming all the things I can now do one-handed though. It's staggering and impressive.
3 comments:
Gosh, that's a hard one... I find myself really chilled out when I get some time to blogg/check people's blogs, just relax that way when hubby watches BB. Otherwise, I totally know what you're going through, it's a 2 person in 1 life sort of a thing when you have a baby, even if you can have a bit of your own time to do whatever you want, it's not that easy to just relax... And I know, with the brain, mine is gone too!
Lists.....appointment book. They have taken the place of my lost mommy mind (which can't possibly be attributed to my now lack of reading and overabundance of stupid tv show watching- ex. days of our lives, every realy pathetic reality show). And I know what you mean about hearing him cry. Whenever I am frustrated and declare it is Tom's turn to parent- I go off to shower or nap or relax and hear Tommy get hysterical. It is impossible to ignore.
http://www.rescueremedy.com/ "yoga in a bottle"! I haven't tried it - i have the lozenges, but they might be worth a try. This brand is quite widely available at health food stores.
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