3.04.2008

Mind Matters

I’m not a crazy chica. I just play one in my real life.

And all this time, I was just chalking it up to an age-induced case of CRS.

CRS = Can’t Remember Shit.

However, per an article on USAToday.com, I’ve now got another go-to excuse for being more than slightly scatterbrained.

Babies can cause “momnesia”.

Hmm.

I like CRS as a term more than "momnesia." But who am I to quibble over the name of something that’s giving me a flake-out out.

Here's why... and I quote:

Few parents enjoy feeling so scatterbrained, says neuropsychiatrist Louann Brizendine, author of The Female Brain. And momnesia can be dangerous, such as when moms forget to fasten the straps in an infant's car seat. Yet momnesia may give modern mothers an evolutionary advantage, Brizendine says.

"It turns you into someone who serves that little infant, to keep it alive no matter what," says Brizendine, founder of the Women's and Teen Girls' Mood and Hormone Clinic at the University of California in San Francisco. "Other parts of your brain that are usually on high alert are sort of taken offline."...

...Mothers' priorities often change dramatically while caring for a baby. They need to be "hyper vigilant" about their infants, who may develop symptoms of illness that are apparent only to those who have scrutinized their every coo and cry, Brizendine says. "You're on the mother beat all the time. It requires certain parts of your brain to work hyper, hyper, hyper well. But it requires other parts of your brain to play second fiddle."


I live my life in “hyper vigilant” mode. Watching Will like a hawk for any abnormal behavior. After our last go-round with the shunt malfunction taking several days to diagnose, I’m even more tuned in to things. It’s what kept us going back again and again to the hospital -- we just knew something wasn’t right.

I suspect that I have a heightened sense of vigilance because for most of the time, it’s only me on parent patrol, as the mister is on the road, Monday through Friday, for his job. Every. Single. Week.

So I watch and process and think. Every moment Will and I are together. And most of the ones when we’re not. But I’ve had to develop a sense of trust in his entourage (teachers, therapists, assistants) to take good care of him and his needs when he and I are apart. And I try to lift up my concerns to God -- He can take care of Will best of all.

This ‘momnesia’ theory makes sense, in context of my life. And helps me to have a better understanding of myself.

Now, what were we talking about?

1 comment:

Marissa said...

I've had this theory rattling around in my brain for many years. Thirteen, to be exact. I'm so glad it has finally been scientifically proven. Whenever I meet a new mom and she complains that she's scatterbrained, I tell her, "You're a mom. It happens. It's part of motherhood."
Woot!