How to Stay Sharp-Minded in the Third Trimester

It's true that absentmindedness accompanies pregnancy. And clumsiness. Lots of "ness" words in fact. So I go about my day holding rails, staying far from the curb, using the handicapped bathrooms, walking slowly in the apartment. I also read small print owner's manuals, study bond duration problems, and figure out how to use new features on my cell phone - things I wouldn't normally be inclined to do - all in order to keep the brain functioning. Crossword puzzles are something I plain just don't do.  Never could, never will be able to! But maybe I should try?!  It's easy to get into a little daze when the belly is protruding and getting kicked from the inside and your four year-old is jumping all over you.  On the subway I must read something or I will go into a fog of oblivion and miss my stop. At home, I could just pet my cat continuously and forget to go to bed. I need more action.   I wish I could train for the New York City marathon next month. Or join a rowing team. Or do the flying trapeze on the West Side Highway.  But I'm stuck in this aimless, engorged body that keeps me mindlessly complacent and physically stalled.  Today I walked three avenues to the west and wondered how I was going to get back to the train because I was already fatigued. And the swarms of office workers on the Avenue of the Americas - of which I was once dynamically part - overwhelmed me as I walked through them. Doesn't anyone see this noticeably slow-walking giant coming towards you? Go around me, not into me. I made my way through the human traffic by diagonalizing to the left where some benches awaited me.  I sat on one of them even though it was wet from the constant rain we've been having. But being in a pack of frenzied commuters is not a good place for a spacey, immobile pregnant woman to be. I got out my book on bonds and started to read. Soon enough I conjured up some physical strength to get back on the subway. I have to re-think these excursions if I'm going to be at a turtle's pace. There are just too many obstacles out there on the sidewalks. You have to be sharp at all times.  In movies and sitcoms based on New York, there is no way you can carry on a leisurely conversation the way the characters do and walk two abreast on any sidewalk in Manhattan.  First of all, you cannot hear each other because there is so much background noise of people in front of and in back of and to the sides of you. There are constant sirens and car traffic whizzing by. The sidewalks have cracks and potholes and manholes and underground loading docks all over them. You have to watch where you are going or you'll meet up with some kind of accident soon enough. Having a conversation diverts your attention from simply trying to stay alive. Don't have one!  In Sex and the City, Carrie and one of her friends are always chattering away. Impossible Ain't gonna happen.  So, for a third trimester 46-year old on the streets of Manhattan,  absentmindedness has to be thwarted. Clumsiness has to be avoided. Socialization can't be had. Only purposeful, steady, slow, mindful, and silent walking is allowed.  And when I get home, more reading and brain exercises need to be done because in two months' time, I had better be the most alert I have ever been in my life.