Wednesday, 17 June 2009

  • My Sixth Sense - A Mother's Intuition


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    No, I do not see dead people.  (Yes, I know that joke is so 5 years ago.  Do people even still get it?  Is Bruce Willis even still alive?)

    My sixth sense started developing at precisely the same moment that my oldest child was conceived.  Well, that may be pushing it a bit, but in all fairness -- it was quite early on.  Before experiencing even the slightest symptom of pregnancy, I already knew that I had a bun in the oven.  There was no anxiety while waiting for the two little blue lines to appear on the pee stick.  Don't ask me to explain it; I just knew.  It would not be until many more gut instincts later that I would recognize this heightened awareness as what I like to call the Mom Sense.

    I believe that we mothers begin nurturing our Mom Sense in those first few weeks, typically around 4 am. This is when our newborns have stopped screaming and are finally sleeping soundly in their beds.  Instead of "sleeping when the baby sleeps," we're more likely to be found pacing nervously outside of their bedrooms (What is going on in there?  Why aren't they crying?!) until we give up and burst in, straining our eyes in the darkness to see the rise and fall of their chests and jamming our fingers (ever-so-gently, of course) under their tiny, unsuspecting noses to make sure that they are still breathing.

    Admit it.  You have done that!

    It's okay.  Just exercising the 'ol Mom Sense.  It's like a muscle, you know.  The more you use it, the stronger it becomes.  Sooner or later you'll be using it without even thinking about it.  For instance:

    • The cat-like reflex that allows you to grab the cup of milk that is teetering dangerously on the edge of the counter with one hand, phone in the other, and baby balanced on your hip?  Mom Sense.
    • The one split second that your crawling baby is out of your sight and you just know that he is reaching for the dangling cord of the iron that you forgot and left sitting on the table?  Again, Mom Sense.
    • The ability to tell when your child is getting sick before the first bubble of snot or spew of vomit ever appears?  Yup.  Mom Sense.
    • How you suddenly become VERY aware the minute things get quiet... too quiet?  You guessed it:  Mom Sense.

    I could never figure out how my mother always found out about EVERYTHING.  She used to joke that she had eyes in the back of her head that could see through walls and around corners.  Try visualizing THAT when you're 6 years old and trying to fall asleep at night!  Sheesh.  :shudder:  Still gives me the heebie jeebies!  The truth is, I wouldn't have understood the truth.  The "eyes in the back of the head" was a pretty effective scare tactic.  Until you are a mother yourself, you just don't get it.  We moms DO find out everything.  We just know.

    But, shh... don't tell everyone.  It's our little secret. 

    Do you have the sixth sense?

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Comments (14)

  • JadaFish@xanga

    good post  I knew I was pregnant before I took the test too....such a neat/weird feeling!  My daughter is nearing a year old now, so I'm developing more of the "Mom Sense" every day! Oh, and I still check on my baby when she's sleeping!
  • Luv2BMama@xanga

    I love my ability to catch a falling pacifier, only seeing it out of the corner of my eye, when, I can't catch large ball, thrown directly at my chest.  :)  Mom sense is pretty cool!
  • alternative_mom@xanga

    I definitely have that Mom Sense.  I'm the oldest siblings with my other siblings being 14 months, 6 years, and 10 years apart from me.  And I was always helping my mom out.  But my sense did heighten when I got pregnant.  I always know where my fiance and kids stuff is, for some reason I always manage to find the right baby [out of the nine my step daughter has] for her to go to sleep tonight, I can always tell when something seems not so right, and I love my ability to do anything one handed with a four month old in hand.  I'm getting used to it but my mom laughs to herself when she sees me in action sometimes.  Mom are so many things and its awesome how much comes with just getting pregnant.
  • quotes3085@xanga

    I did not read your post... but that first line you wrote cracked me up!
  • KimisBarbie@xanga

    my mom still has very strong "mom sense"
    she had a dream that I was pregnant before I told her.
  • javamommy@xanga

    lol my brother used to look for my moms eyes in the back of her head.I agree momsense we all have it we just have to tune into it
  • LetMeGoToo@xanga

    now if we could just pass some of that mom sense over to our children's dads who seem to never see it coming until after the fact ... LOL
  • still_xxhurting@xanga

    I have "mom sense" and I'm not even a mom yet.

    My mom's "mom sense" is strong - she knows exactly when I'm in trouble, even when my phone isn't working when I try to call her.
  • iTazoTea@xanga

    I think I was in a bit of mom-sense denial. I knew my body was different but I refused to believe I was pregnant. I knew I was having a girl from the moment I thought hard enough about it (though that was 50/50) and could feel my baby moving at 10 weeks (confirmed via ultrasound). Not exactly what you're talking about but promising to live up to it!
  • Btrfly_Wngs@xanga

    I have a feeling that I will have Mom Sense. I already have Wife-Sense and Puppy-Sense. I know where any given thing of my husband's is at any given time.
    I know when our puppy is about to do something or when she's attempting to sneak off to find something to do something to. I know when our older dog is sick or sad and why he's sad.
    @Luv2BMama@xanga - 
    I absolutely love that :) I did that once and it was the neatest thing. Except instead of a pacifier it was an 8 week old puppy experimenting with the stairs. *Shudder*
  • Mangonese@xanga

    I don't have mom senses (I suppose I should try having a kid first! Haha!), but I do have animal-senses like @Btrfly_Wngs@xanga.
  • Fairywife@xanga

    Yes!! People are always amazed out how I catch my daughter (13 months) right before she falls off the couch. The other day I felt like a super hero or something cause i caught her by her leg before she hit the ground. She was danging like an inch from the floor.


    I do stuff like that all the time though. I tell people not to get scared when they think she's about to fall because I have the mommy instinct.

  • Jackee0779@xanga

    LOL yes, I have the mom sense. never thought I'd have one of those. Great post!
  • anonymous

    Actually, I strongly believe (and have had extensive proof on this matter) that Humans and most mammals already do have a sixth sense. Wolves are a great example of telepathic abilities and dogs, though much less refined than their ancestors, are often seen eagerly expecting the return of their owner well before they could be seen, smelled or heard. Rupert Sheldrake has done numerous studies to better understand this phenomenon.
    With regards to humans, our capabilities are similar. We can all be telepathic, intuitive, clairvoyant, etc. The question is whether or not we embrace this part of our abilities or neglect it. In our society, where logical reasoning using the left hemisphere of the brain is considered a great necessity and path to success, the more intuitive right brained activity or the use of subconscious processes is largely ignored.
    There's a book entitled "The Evolutionary Glitch" in which the author, Albert Garoli, clearly explains how our evolution into highly intelligent beings has essentially become a double-edged sword. We have increased our ability to learn and nearly lost our ability to follow our natural intuition. However, techniques to retrain ourselves do exist and I encourage people to try them out and you don't have to be a mom first.

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