05 October 2006

noisy red caboose

They say that when you’re pregnant your sense of smell becomes more acute. I can attest to this, as can my poor husband who hears my complaints whenever he sprays even a tiny spritz of Windex or 409 three rooms away. Amazingly, the potency to my pregnant nose is as if he dumped half the bottle directly up my nostrils. I can also detect cigarette smoke trickling through our car’s a/c vent from a driver in front of us if their window is open a crack. And we cannot forget the infamous night that Jeremy lit the Nag Champa incense in our house. I honestly thought I was going to have to check into a hotel for a few days until it cleared.

I cannot say I have ever read anything about pregnancy igniting a stronger sense of hearing. But I am starting to think my ears have become bionic along with my nose.

I hear trains all the time now.


I think we have tracks somewhere near our house, but they must be several blocks away at least, since I can’t say for certain where they are. Down by the river maybe? I have lived in this house for over three years and I have never noticed train sounds until a month ago. Now I hear them constantly. I just heard one pass five minutes ago, and all throughout the night they blast their horns in declaration that they are moving through…whee whee! Whee whee!


I have tried sleeping with ear plugs tucked inside my super-powered ears, but can still manage to hear the trains seeping in and pulling me from slumber every few hours. It is the strangest thing, and I know that I am not dreaming or imagining it. I can’t be.

Annoying as it is at times, I am also beginning to like the sound of trains. There’s something old fashioned and nostalgic about a train---the chug-chug-chug as it rolls along the track. There’s always a mystery as to what’s inside the cars…is it coal or steel, or a filthy-clothed stowaway who hopped on board to catch a ride to the next town?


Jeremy and I are driving to Chattanooga this month to take some photos, and Chattanooga always makes me think of trains. I can almost hear them now, ever so faintly in the distance.

3 comments:

Jeremy said...

I don't hear trains...just for the record.

jenni said...

Funny! I've heard of cravings, and the smell thing, but not bionic hearing! Maybe you're a superhero.

Anonymous said...

There is nothing unusual about heightened hearing and smell when you are pregnant. Just wait until you get the eyes in the back of your head.....that's when REAL motherhood kicks in.

Love,
Mom