Tuesday, January 12, 2010

I Smell Dead People


One of the great things about living in Charleston was that we were only about 15 minutes from the beach. As we would drive towards the water with the windows rolled down, the sweet scent of the salt air would fill the car. The Lowcountry is also full of marsh areas close to the water-- but their scent is classified as anything but sweet. On a good day, slightly sour. On a bad day, perfectly putrid. It became a joke as we crossed the bridge to "The Edge of America" that I would say, "I smell dead people."

I have always had a strong sense of smell but this, my friends, is ridiculous.

My sense of smell is certainly my strongest pregnancy symptom other than exhaustion & sore breasts. I noticed it the day after the BFP-- we had some friends over for a Battle of the Bands Guitar Hero Night on Friday evening and there was lots of drinking going on (not me, of course). In the morning, when I passed the recycling, the smell of alcohol was so strong my stomach churned. Then I walked past the sink & the smell of the plates (which had been rinsed!!) reeked of food.

Since then, it's gotten worse-- the kitchen at work reeks of garlic, my dogs are stinky, even the cheese I ate last night had a strange scent. Last night, my senstive sniffer reached a totally new level...

Rob stayed up quite a bit later than I did and took a bath (remember, we are showerless right now) before he came to bed. When he climbed into bed, I didn't stir, but when he snuggled up behind me I jerked awake.

"What's that smell?" I said.

"I don't know...what does it smell like?" he answered.

"It smells really really spicy."

Ladies, it was Old Spice Body Wash. Just the scent of my sweet husband bathing before bed is so startling it's waking me up at night. (And the scent, I should mention is something I picked out.)

This. Is. So.Weird.

7 comments:

  1. Oh man - my sense of smell is already super strong. I smelled the wires in the wall sparking at night which was enough to wake me up from a dead sleep. (We had them replaced obviously - I was smelling small fires in our wall!) I am not looking forward to my sense of smell getting any stronger.

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  2. I think it's awesome that your preggo symptoms are in full gear!! But not the waking up at night part obviously.)

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  3. That was the first thing I noticed when I was pregnant (for the short time that I was), too! That happnened really early and it came on super strong! It was so creepy! What sucks is that I work with some people who don't realize the importance of a DAILY shower. Ewwww.

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  4. it's a good weird, though, I'm sure. Very reassuring that you're having so many symptoms already, hope things continue to go smoothly.

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  5. Hahahahaha I TOTALLY know how this feels. Still, at 11 weeks, I will open up a brand new carton of milk or cottage cheese, give it a whiff and say to Benjamin, "Ummm, has this gone bad?".

    In the very beginning, the smell thing was awesome for me. I smelled baking cookies and cakes everywhere! That quickly gave way to smelling dog pee and garbage and beer on my husband's breath a mile away.

    It's SO weird. And believe me, things just keep getting weirder! Your body is no longer what it used to be... but in a great way :)

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  6. I feel like a super hero with my super sensitive nose! Although, annoying at yucky smells, it is pretty neat being more aware of things.

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  7. So funny! That was a symptom that I weirdly never got. Hope you're smelling only good things.

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