Memory. What we take for granted.

Memory is one of the things we take for granted... until is no longer there. I felt it for some time, but know is no way of kidding myself: I do have a short-term memory loss associated with my pregnancy. However, this is not unusual - about half of the pregnant women report increases in forgetfulness during the latter part of pregnancy and in the postpartum period. So I'm not the first one, definitely not the last one, and the fact that I'm aware of it makes things much easier. I even installed an organizer-reminder software on my computer to help me keep track of the tasks. Anyway, according to research, it will all soon go away : -)
One possible explanation is the high level of oxytocin, (a natural hormone produced in women during pregnancy and while nursing), during the third trimester. As Dr. Keenan notes, "Oxytocin is known to have an amnesic effect, which may contribute to a weakened memory." But that's not all. According to Dr. Keenan's studies, the third trimester of pregnancy, when estrogen levels peaked, was also characterized by greater levels of reported anxiety and depression. "This was surprising, especially because pregnancy is so often described as a blissful, almost euphoric time," said Dr. Keenan. Curious about the validity of the anxiety and depression measures of the study, Dr. Keenan divided the questions into two categories: cognitive concerns and somatic (or physical) concerns. She found that the category that women felt most anxious about, especially toward the end of their pregnancy, was physical: fatigue, weight gain, inability to work, altered appearance, and disinterest in sex were all concerns expressed. All the symptoms of their depression she found, really had to do with simple physical concerns of pregnancy rather than genuine feelings of sadness.

It would have been nice now to have a steady job - preferably a repetitive one. As an independent, I have to innovate and come up with new ideas - and most of the time ideas come from various memories being linked in a unique way...

I came to realize how much I was depending on my memory - I remember all this trainings where there was no problem for me to remember all the names of the other participants... My short term memory was a gift I was so proud of, and I've been making an extensive use of it for as long as I can remember - for school exams, for mingling, for almost everything... I never depended much on my long-term memory, I would rather preferred to know where I could find information on a subject than to actually know it by heart all the time...

What else I've been taking for granted in my life? I can't remember now, but I'm sure I'm about to find out, and most probably the hard way... The truth is out there ;-)

By the way, did I mentioned that my skin is itching? I fell like a cat in need of a big scratchpad... someone should have invented that for pregnant women also... (or maybe they did!).