Preggo Brain

Ok, now as a (former) scientist, I know that n=1 is a totally unreliable sample size, but I am here to declare that “Preggo Brain” officially does not exist! My reckoning is this: Of the twelve units I completed for my Masters degree, I sat exams for 5 of them while pregnant. Not all just recently – this is over two different pregnancies – I was pregnant with Finn when I began, and I sat two exams at 33 and 34 weeks gestation respectively. More recently, with Small, I’ve sat exams at 6 weeks, 7 weeks and 22 weeks. The respective grades for those 5 units are as follows: 94, 99, 91, 85, 90. (That 90 was the final unit, I just got my grade on Friday ๐Ÿ™‚ )

So there, you see! Obviously it is possible for one’s brain to continue functioning while pregnant. Of course… ask me to remember what I’m supposed to be buying for dinner, and then it all just falls apart completely!

That 85 up there is the thorn in my side, lemme tell you. It’s the only sub-90 mark I have on my record. There was a thread recently on the Wagon BB discussing group projects. That 85 is the result of my only group project in the whole degree. It was a nasty experience that I have no intention of ever repeating, and the source of all my stress over the second half of last year. By some miracle, we managed to pull it together enough in the final couple of days to score 75 on the project. For some weeks, I feared that we’d fail it completely ๐Ÿ™

Anyway, that’s enough blowing of my trumpet. The point I was getting at is that… I passed the last unit! It’s definitely all over now. And my stitching thanks me for it :giggle:

4 responses to “Preggo Brain

  1. Jo says:

    Congratulations Melanie – those are awesome marks!

  2. Kari says:

    Great marks!! You should be proud of yourself!!!

  3. Jill in CA says:

    I completed my bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering while pregnant with my DS (though I missed that 7:30am class a lot, I did still pass everything!). I found a substantial extra amount of sleep was necessary though. ๐Ÿ˜‰

    Congratulations on your grades and finishing your last unit. Yay!

  4. Hillary says:

    only 12 units… you’re so lucky! We need 48 credits including 700 hours internship and a 80-100 page thesis! Congrats!

    Thanks for the insight into preggo brain, I’m writing my thesis on pregnancy dementia and I’m 23 weeks preggo. Today was the worst with preggo brain… forgot to hand in paperwork, forgot to call back my friend, forgot my client was only going to be around until 12:30 instead of 2:45, turned the wrong way on my way to the office, nearly forgot I was going to the office on the way there, and forgot the dog was outside for an hour and a half! Yet I managed an A in internship?!?!?

    It makes me believe that the problem in memory lies in a different part of the brain than “book” learning. Hm….