Even Water Has a Smell

I remember the morning after Rich was born, I was full of so many different emotions. After all, he'd just come five weeks early. He was healthy and doing well, for which I was thankful. But he wasn't coming home with us, and that made me so sad. I cried and cried and cried when I thought about leaving my little baby at the hospital. (I'm sure my hormones didn't help, either.) 

But the feeling that was so prominent that morning, was that I missed Rich. I missed having him with me all the time. Safe inside me, protected from the world, still shielded and cared for by my body. And frankly, I felt a little gypped. I was supposed to have a month more with him. More time for him to grow. I was supposed to get (even) bigger, and (even more) uncomfortable. And I remember thinking, "Man, I can't wait to have this chance again, to have my baby with me, to be pregnant again." (Those hormones are killer, I'm telling ya.) 

Well. I'm here to say right now, on the record, so that I don't forget this the next time we are thinking about having a baby, that pregnancy (at least for me) is hard. I think that I really really forgot what a hard time I had with Rich.  

And one of the hardest things for me is that EVERYTHING has a smell. And every smell is so overwhelming. 

And this time around, one of the hardest smells that I have to deal with every day is the smell of the water here in Logan. 

Now, let's be clear. Before I got pregnant, I probably bragged about how good our water is. How fresh. How it comes from an aquifer and is one thing that the city of Logan is very proud of. (I mean, you should see our water bill.)

Maybe it's the winter pollution that we can't seem to shake. Maybe it's the fact that we're so close to the industrial part of Logan. But the water that comes out of our faucets, sits in our toilets, pours out of the shower heads, all smells. And it smells bad. 

Bad bad bad. 

Like, it's made me throw up many times. Too many times to count.

Showering is no longer a relaxing getaway. It's a how-long-can-I-stand-the-smell-combined-with-suffocating-heat-before-I-hurl adventure. Every time. 

Thankfully, when my mom was visiting, she had the foresight to buy us some water bottles. You know, for emergency preparedness. 

Well, I'm calling the smell of our water an emergency. 

I mean, I've had bad water before. I grew up in Texas. Where you could taste the lake the water came from (and not in a good way). 

But this--is torture.

I really think that once things warm up it'll improve. (The bitter winter cold seems to have trapped the pollution smells into the snow and city.) But till spring and summer come to my rescue, I'll be sticking to my bottled water. And holding my breath whenever I have to deal with Logan water.