Blame it on Pregnancy Brain

I have to blame it on Pregnancy Brain.  It's made me scatterbrained.  It's the only viable excuse that I have.  I've shared this story with my mom, mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and some friends, and everybody has laughed uproariously, so I hope that you, too, can get a kick out of my misfortune.

I've missed my son's 2-year doctor appointment.

Twice.

The first was an early appointment on a Monday morning, and Mondays are days when I can typically sleep a little later.  In fact, I slept a lot later on this particular Monday, because my son slept late, affording me some extra zzz's.  In addition, I didn't think about--or prepare for--the appointment before going to bed on Sunday.  I woke up on Monday and had just enough time to smile at the fact that my son had led me sleep in before I realized that the appointment was in 20 minutes.  Neither of us was dressed, neither of us had eaten, not to mention that we still would have to get in the car and drive there.  I ran out to check the calendar in case I was wrong--I wasn't--and then called the pediatrician, apologizing and asking what we should do.  They set us up with a new appointment that Thursday in the early afternoon.

This particular Thursday was a beautiful day and we went to our swim lesson and then came home and played with sidewalk chalk on the driveway.  We had a very leisurely morning... and afternoon... enjoying the unseasonably warm weather and not worrying about any obligations.  Then we had lunch, after which we cleaned up the house and I started getting my son ready for bed.

The phone rang while I was getting him ready and I went over to check the caller ID.  It said "Pediatrician" and I just had a brief moment to wonder why they were giving me a second appointment reminder call when I realized that it had been due to start nearly two hours prior.

I threw my hands in the air and started cursing at myself for having missed it.  There was no good excuse this time, after all.  We'd been doing nothing but playing, and could've made it on time even if I'd only remembered 15 minutes beforehand.  I collapsed on the floor, still cursing at myself while my perplexed son watched.

At that point something else clicked in my head.  The phone had only rung 2 times.  It rings 4 times before the answering machine picks up, but it had stopped.  Had they hung up?  I got up and looked at the base and got another shock.  Apparently, when I'd thrown my hands in the air, I'd knocked over an empty bottle that had been sitting by the phone, which landed on, you guessed it, the speakerphone button.

Argh!  The employee from the pediatrician's office who called to tell us we'd missed an appointment got to hear me cuss at myself--in front of my son, though there was no way for them to know that.  I quickly said "Oh Sh**, I answered the phone.  Hello?" and got an answering click.

Well, I got my son to bed and waited for my husband to call home on his break before contacting them again, because I wanted somebody to vent to before having to admit my folly to those at the office.  When I spoke to them (they actually called again before I had a chance to call them) they set me up for a third appointment, which is scheduled for tomorrow morning.  Hopefully I won't miss this one.  It would be pretty hard to.  I'm remembering it as I type this, at any rate, and my mom said she'd call me tonight with a reminder.  I expect hubby will be helping me to remember as well.

I asked the woman who called the second time whether she was the person who had called earlier.  She said she wasn't, and I asked her to pass on my apologies, and told her what happened.  She sounded a little awkward, making me think she probably had called earlier but felt weird about it.  She asked whether I was okay and I told her I was fine, just apparently scatterbrained.

So that's my embarrassing, and apparently amusing, story.  I hope you get a few laughs out of it.  I'm still a bit irked at myself for my failure to remember, but this shall pass.