Complaint of the Day: My Bloodhound Nose

I'm putting my worries aside today to complain instead. Hello, pregnancy hormones! I'm only feeling tiny kicks intermittently these days and haven't felt one in a while, come to think of it … but I'm going to put that worry aside for now in favor of some bitching. How's that for progress?

Like many of my fellow pregs, my sense of smell has become insanely acute, pretty much since the day I got my positive test. And just when I thought it couldn't get any more sensitive, it did.

My husband says I should intern with police dogs.

But for some reason, my olfactory prowess when there's a pleasant smell in the vicinity does not appear to be any better. I only smell the foul stuff.

Sometimes I'll be on the subway and need to cover up my mouth and nose, so intense is the stench coming from somewhere in the car. And yet, no one else seems to notice. I'm starting to think I'm picking up an unpleasant odor from the day before. That's how sensitive my nose has become.

Take what's going on now for example. I'm sitting on an Amtrak train to Virgina where I'm visiting one of my best friends (who's taking me to register at Buy Buy Baby … I'll report back on that adventure later). After a pleasant journey from New York City to Philadelphia, my contentment has been shattered.

A woman who boarded there told me she was directed to sit in 3C. There are no assigned seats on Amtrak, mind you. I told her as much, but she sat down anyway.

AND SHE REEKS OF CIGARETTE SMOKE.

I really don't know how I'm going to make it all the way to Virginia. I feel like I'm suffocating in another person's odors … and now that I've written those words, my nausea has returned. I may need to switch seats by Delware.

To make matters worse, this is not my usual, Quiet Car-equipped Northeast Regional Train. This is a "Carolinian," and apparently, the staff think they're cops. I was directed to sit in a certain car, deterred from sitting in certain "party of two" designated seats, and scolded for putting my bag down on the seat next to me while it was still unoccupied and we were careening through New Jersey, clearly not picking up any passengers who might need the seat.

WTF, Amtrak? Where's the southern hospitality up in this car?

Update to come later when I throw this woman's stinky coat off the moving train or give these asshat Amtrak employees a firsthand look at pregnant rage.