Heavy Machinery

I really should not be operating heavy machinery. I'm not sure why so tired/braindead except that I'm kind of stressed and I'm only 9 weeks post-partum. I am getting good sleep (at 6 hours, usually 7, and sometimes 8 hours in a row). I know I have nothing to complain about in the sleep department, especially with such a young baby and two others under 4, but I'm still tired and feeling a bit fuzzy headed.

Two examples from today of why I shouldn't operate heavy equipment:

-Tried to put my iced chai tea in the microwave instead of my frozen veggie burger. Fortunately, I realized this before I turned on the microwave.

-Tried to the shut garage door before my husband backed out (We were both leaving at the same time and I had already backed out, but he hadn't. I was looking at his car with his back up lights on while shutting the door. I realized my mistake and tried to open the door but it was half-way down already.)

I know there are more examples, but I just can't remember them. Sigh.

I remember after N was born that it took 6 months before I felt like me again. I remember at the time thinking how wrong it was that maternity leave was only 6 weeks long and that the Family Medical Leave Act only guaranteed your job for 12 weeks. I remember thinking it really should be 6 months. (I did take 3 months off before going back and then I only went back at half-time.)

I don't remember how long it took for me to feel like myself after K was born, but retrospectively, I'm guessing I felt pretty good by the time she was 4-5 months old. I know I was doing a lot at work before she was 6 months old.

I'm guessing I'll feel more cognitively normal in another month or two or three. My speculations on this are supported here (the full abstract is copied below in case that link goes away). It basically says that women show temporary cognitive deficits for about 3 months and get better by 6-12 months. That is pretty much what I observed in myself previously (gotta love introspection!).

Temporary peripartal impairment in memory and attention and its possible relation to oxytocin concentration.

Silber M, Almkvist O, Larsson B, Uvnas-Moberg K.

Dept of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Huddinge University Hospital, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.

The aim of the present study was to investigate peripartal performance on cognitive tests and its possible relationship with plasma oxytocin concentrations. Twenty women (cases) were tested on five experimental occasions, the first toward the end of pregnancy and the last 12 months postpartum. On each experimental occasion performance on cognitive tests of memory and attention was recorded and oxytocin concentrations were simultaneously assayed in plasma-samples. Twenty non-pregnant women (controls) were investigated at similar intervals. Cases were found to have improved their performance on some cognitive tests significantly more than controls when results at 6 and 12 months after delivery were compared with those from the end of pregnancy and up to three months after partus. This observation strongly suggests impairment in cognitive performance during the peripartal period. Cases had significantly higher oxytocin concentrations than controls in plasma samples up to three months post partum. No correlation was, however, found between cognitive test results and levels of oxytocin concentration.

PMID: 2388518 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]