Starting to keep track at 17 weeks =)

"Hi guys, there I was at 10.8weeks..."

I was reading an article on water birth last night and it explained the reason why pregnant women often feel spaced out and forget things. I always thought it had to do with hormones, but was unsure why.

A very simple explanation is that our brain is divided into 2 parts, the thinking part of the brain and the emotional part of the brain. It is the emotional part of the brain which releases hormones essential for your baby's development. The only way for your brain to release these hormones is to shut down part of the thinking part of the brain, thus we feel a little retarded from time to time.

This is also true during labour as your body needs to dump all sorts of hormones to help the uterus contract. I have heard of "Labour Land" the place that women retreat to in labour - this is because the thinking brain has taken a backseat for a while. It is extremly important during labour to feel relaxed and comfortable in your surroundings so you don't have to use the thinking part of your brain as it will release endorphins and adreniline which can block the hormones and cause labour to slow down.

Once you are fully dilated your thinking brain will kick in, block your emotional brain from dumping hormones and release all those endorphins and adreniline so you will feel the urge to push. After the baby is born once again your thinking brain takes a backset and large amounts of the hormone Oxytocin are dumped causing you to fall madly in love with your little bambino and at the same time helps you to birth the placenta.

It is just so cool that our body just knows how to do all that!

And I wonder how I am going to survive the next 5 months, given how blur and absent-minded I was to begin with. Hai..... XP