Just Too Little Time » Pregnancy

So Are We Getting Smarter Or Stupider After Having Children?

elna — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:51:50 +0000

I found two interesting articles concerning pregnancy and having children. I quote the articles here and let you decide which one you want to believe

First, a five-year study run by Indiana University’s Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction proves what many in the scientific community have always suspected: having children significantly lowers the IQ of both male and female parents.

Dr. Hosung Lee, director of the study, was not surprised with the findings. “The research proved that our hypothesis was correct. Having children does retard one’s brain activity, and since both parents lost intelligence, we must assume that this loss has a psychological rather than biological cause.”

The IQ tests show that when a child is born, the part of the brain that makes one think objectively takes the biggest hit when it comes to losing brainpower. “This explains why every parent thinks their child is the smartest kid in class or the best athlete, even if that child is as dumb as a box of rocks or needs a calendar to time their forty-yard dash. People who before were intelligent and open-minded turn into raving lunatics who want to blame a teacher or coach every time their mediocre child fails,” said Lee.

Lee says the Kinsey Institute will continue to test the couples participating in the study to determine if the loss of intelligence is reversible once children grow up and leave the nest and if parents who continue having children lose even more intelligence.

Second, a recent study performed at the University of Richmond and Randolph-Macon College in Virginia illustrates that pregnancy brainpower actually doesn’t decline at all during pregnancy.

Neuroscientists examined the activities of pregnant mice, rats, and humans and found that all three showed significant increases in mental acuity and memory throughout pregnancy and after giving birth. Human subjects in the study showed increased brainpower. Specifically, the pregnant women showed:

* increased visual acuity
* improved sense of smell

Is this Improved Memory Permanent?
One of the most significant findings of this and other pregnancy and memory studies is that the added brainpower caused by pregnancy appears to be permanent. Increased memory retention and improved cognition appear to continue throughout motherhood; in fact, parenting only seems to contribute to a woman’s brain power, allowing her to become:

* increasingly motivated
* less fearful
* more empathetic
* better able to multitask and prioritize

What About Men?
Women aren’t the only ones who appear to benefit mentally from pregnancy and parenthood. Men also appear to show increased mental performance, however, this occurs on a much lower scale than it does in women. In particular, men seem to show an increased ability to empathize with others. This is believed to be the result of an increase in estrogen and prolactin that occurs in men just prior to labor and delivery.

While the first finding already been discussed at my office since years ago, nobody ever mention about the second one. This issue was brought to the surface again lately as the company tried to change the company’s policy regarding female employees. The proposed policy will limit the number of employees allowed to be pregnant each year!

I was so upset when I heard this. I was even more upset when I heard that the policy was proposed by our HR manager whom is a woman, a 45 years old divorcee with no kids. I feel like wanting to slap her face whenever I meet her.

Anyway, which study do you want to believe?

Get In Shape After Having A Baby

elna — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 19:49:57 +0000

A friend of mine recently commented on my albums on Facebook. She said something like how I still look great/amazing/gorgeous/beautiful even during pregnancy days. Note: you can choose any word you want because I forgot her exact words and it’s not really important . Basically she complimented me. Then she continued ranting about how miserable she looked like when she was pregnant with chubby cheeks, pimples, big feet, big tummy (of course), etc.

Normally, I would take some moments to enjoy the flattery, but not this time. I immediately gave a short reply, “Thanks, that photo was taken last week!”

Yup, my friend complimented about how great I looked when pregnant based on my after-three-months-delivery picture, lol. Oh I really need to get in shape soon.

What? Oh no, you thought I would share some diet or exercise tips here? So sorry the title mislead you. This is just my rants, and a reminder for myself .

Will be Offline for Awhile

elna — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 03:11:32 +0000

The baby is getting impatient, he’s already been looking for his way out. I think he’s gonna be out sooner than the schedule.

Thank you everyone for dropping by here, I’ll be offline for a few days preparing for the new family member

Got A Full Term Baby

elna — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 04:46:20 +0000

Starting this week I’m already 37 weeks pregnant, that means my baby is officially full term now. According to mybaby.com he can arrive at any day, yeay! But I hope he will wait for another week or two as my OB/GYN expect me to carry him inside me at least until I pass week 38.

I got my three months pregnancy leave permission letter yesterday, it will be effective starting Wednesday next week. Means I have about a week left to transfer my work to my coworker and starting today I will not accept any new task

Here’s what a 37 weeks baby looks like according to mybaby.com:

Congratulations — your baby is full term! This means that if your baby arrives now, his lungs should be fully mature and ready to adjust to life outside the womb, even though your due date is still three weeks away.

Your baby weighs 6 1/3 pounds and measures a bit over 19 inches, head to heel (like a stalk of Swiss chard). Many babies have a full head of hair at birth, with locks from 1/2 inch to 1 1/2 inches long. But don’t be surprised if your baby’s hair isn’t the same color as yours. Dark-haired couples are sometimes thrown for a loop when their children come out as blonds or redheads, and fair-haired couples have been surprised by Elvis look-alikes. And then, of course, some babies sport only peach fuzz.

Pregnancy Update: End of Second Trimester

elna — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 04:47:34 +0000

27 weeks pregnant (source: babycenter.com)

It’s been a while since I posted about my pregnancy. This week is my 27th week of pregnancy or the end of second trimester. According to Baby Center, this week my baby weighs almost 2 pounds (like a head of cauliflower) and is about 14 1/2 inches long with legs extended.

Everything is doing fine both me and the baby. I still go to work everyday and occasionally going on a business trip. The only difference is starting this week I will need to see my doctor before having a business trip because most of the airlines here require a doctor’s letter of permission for a woman who is 28 weeks (or more) pregnant.

I haven’t found out about the baby’s gender yet because on my last check-up to OB/GYN last month the baby’s position was blocking the view. We’ll try again this month to see if the baby will reveal his/her self .

When Is The Time To Tell Your Firstborn You’re Pregnant?

elna — Sun, 24 May 2009 03:45:42 +0000

Most pregnancy guides I read on the net say it is best to wait until the pregnancy is well established before we tell our firstborn that means sometime after the first trimester. Others recommend waiting until you start showing the pregnancy, or at least until you are ready to tell the rest of the world you’re pregnant. Well, if your tummy starts to grow it’s kinda hard not to tell everybody you’re pregnant, don’t you think so?

Anyway, I started having conversation with my son about having a baby shortly after my OB/GYN confirmed my pregnancy. I didn’t tell him right away, but started by asking questions like whether he likes to have a younger sibling, or does he want to have someone to play with in the house, etc. And his first reaction was NO! I guess he’s been comfortable enough being the only child in the house.

Thankfully, as I always talk about having little sibling, now he starts to accept my pregnancy. Every morning he will say good morning to my belly and when I go to work he will hug me and says “Bye bye mama, bye bye little baby!” As about sharing his favorite toys, Thomas the Tank Engine, with his future sibling, he said, “The baby can have Diesel!” FYI Diesel is his least favorite engine, lol. I think he’s not ready to share his favorite toys yet.

So in contrast of the experts said in the net, I will say I’m glad that I told my son as early as possible because obviously he needs sometimes to accept it. If I waited until my second trimester (means now) before I told him, I’m not sure if I would have enough time and energy to talk about it.

Chinese Calendar Says It’s Another Boy

elna — Fri, 22 May 2009 10:40:20 +0000

I was browsing for a pregnancy countdown widget the other day and found an interesting information about Chinese calendar. It says that Chinese calendar can tell about our baby’s gender based on the mother’s age and the conception month. So I entered my own data and they said it’s going to be another boy. Curiously, I entered data from my first pregnancy and it predicted right, it’s a boy. Interesting! Is it accurate?

Since my first born is a boy, naturally everybody in the house is hoping for a girl for this second pregnancy. Even my coworkers said it’s a girl because I’m more moody than before, lol. I said, “What’s the connection?”

My OB/GYN said it’s still a long way before we can see the baby’s gender, perhaps another 6 weeks from now. Let’s see whether the Chinese calendar is correct. As for me it doesn’t matter whether it’s a girl or a boy, I’m grateful enough that God rewards me with another baby this year. In fact, if it’s a boy, he will inherit all of his older brother’s belongings. Trust me, it’s gonna save a lot of money, lol. Anyway, if you curious about your pregnancy, here’s the calendar.

Chinese Calendar for Baby Gender

Pregnancy Update #1: Second Trimester

elna — Wed, 13 May 2009 18:54:46 +0000

I went to my OB/GYN after work today to check on my pregnancy. He said everything’s fine, praise the Lord. However, I was a bit confused when he said that I was on my 14th week or just entering the second trimester. As far as I can remember my last period was January 19th, so this week is supposed to be my 17th week. And I think I told him that. Did he calculate it correctly?

Anyway, I was not really in the mood for asking questions today so I didn’t say anything to my OB/GYN. I’m just be thankful that my baby is fine and I could hear her/his heartbeat so clearly . I didn’t print out the ultra sonogram result since it still hard to see the baby’s form, maybe later when we already can see the baby’s gender I will print it and post it here. By the way, according to the Chinese calendar, it’s gonna be another baby boy. Though we expect a girl since our first child is a boy, we will happily receive whatever God gives us.

I’m going to post about my pregnancy update here from time to time, so I’m able to track down my pregnancy growth. Maybe I need to put a baby ticker widget on my sidebar later.