Super-Smell!! This is definitely both a blessing and a curse, and more often a curse. Saying that suPer-mom (capital "P" for Pregnant) has heightened smell doesn't quite depict the level of acuity we're afflicted with. It'd be amazing if the world was made up of flowers and fresh breezes, but sadly, that's not the case. When caught in the same room with stomach-turning foods, cigarette-smoking-fiends, and ghastly trash goblins (keeping in mind that we also have a side of morning-noon-night sickness already pushing our stomachs into our throats), it's a wonder all pregnant women don't lose 10 pounds in the first trimester.
On the plus side, I can smell a cigarette burning from 3 floors away; I can smell if foods are bad even without an expiration date; and who needs smoke alarms when the slightest smell of burning can wake you from a catatonic sleep? And, that's all through the 2-months of sinus funk I've been constantly breathing through. I got into the elevator last night after another guy got off, and yeah...totally smokin' the bud...I never would've guessed had I not smelled that green, grassy smell. Maybe I should go apply at the airport; I could be a freakin' drug-sniffing-dog if I needed to be right now.
"With power comes great responsibility" - and foes, and weaknesses: The obvious down side to super-smell I covered briefly above...trust me, you don't want the explicit detail (cigarettes smell like rotten peanut butter). But, there are many more things un-thought of that rival the suPer-mom on a daily basis: nemeses, kriptonite, and even keeping a healthy disguise in certain situations.
The disguise is definitely necessary in the first trimester for a few reasons: waiting until the "safe period" is over; not letting work know too early in case they decide to find replacements for you earlier than expected; and even simple pride - that desire to still be able to do everything you did before being pregnant. "I can totally still go on that hike this weekend!"...(ffw 3 hrs).../wheeze/dizzy/cough/"water!!", annnnnd maybe not so much. Keeping up this disguise in the face of morning-noon-night sickness is about as easy as hiding that red cape under a business suit.
Weaknesses: migraines, fatigue, super-smell (also counts as a weakness, even though it's our super-power), uncontrollable volcano of emotions, fatigue, and more (mentioned in previous posts). I don't think these really need detail...plus I'm getting tired of writing. Did I mention fatigue?
Nemeses: People who smoke & eat stinky foods otherwise perfectly acceptable by normal society; Sappy commercials, movies, and tv shows which completely blind us by watery-eyes ("curse you!!!" /fist to the sky/); Idiots (because they help perpetuate the volcanic explosion of "GRRRRf#*%@*^!!!", which in turn perpetuates migraines & fatigue); and our bladders (because they seem to work overtime in our sleep causing us to get 3 hrs at a time between mid-night potty breaks).
Responsibility: Through all of this, pregnant women face the added responsibility of keeping themselves healthy, vitamin-rich, and emotionally-happy/low-stressed so that the internal bubble of baby is encouraged to grow big and strong. There's numerous tricks and tools: multivitamins, yoga, special-food-lists, baby-Mozart, etc. I'm planning on singing a lot more and listening to more relaxing music starting next week to balance out the stream of obscenities, "RAWR", and Taco Bell I've already afflicted on this poor little sprog. Note to self: go to yoga next week, work on music & singing, sing when angry instead of yelling or holding it in, start going to the pool to relax, and finally - breeeeeeathe....and buy flowers so breathing doesn't offend the nose so much.
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