What is *that* smell???

[BrandiJK]

Most, if not all, of us know *that* smell. The smell that can wake us from sleep and stop us as we enter a room. No one else seems to smell it, but it is overwhelming to us. Sometimes the smell is pure and clean, in which case I normally don't want to leave it's source.
I can't figure out how to put this into an poll, so I thought I'd just start the questions and people could answer.
For me, I think I am smelling:
-stale breath (from stuffyness or poor air circulation)
-sickness (a different smell, comes off a person)
-stress (pungent, and icky, comes off a person)
In paying more attention after figuring out the stress smell (I mean, really, smelling stress?? What else can I smell?), I find I can pick up smells from people I can not yet identify. Calmness seems most appealing to me and I am attracted to it. It's so instinctual, I feel like an animal LOL

Does anyone else have an idea of what they are smelling? Do you feel like you can sometimes smell emotion? Am I nuts? If anything, do you at least smell that pungent smell that drives us out of rooms or houses?

[Atsie]

My mainfloor bathroom has this smell that no one else smells. When i pg I couldn't go in there bc of the smell. I have no idea what it is and now I still have trouble with that bathroom. But no one else can smell it!!

[Proudmama]

Wow, I never really thought about smells and emotion. It does make sense however. I know that one smell that made me run to the bathroom when I was pregnant was a musty smell in the hallway of my house. DH and my dad tried to fix it but nothing worked. It made it hard since they did not smell a thing . Funny thing is...I can still smell it at times but DH cannot.

[PamelaRose]

I can always smell summer coming; I think it's a change in humidity that sets off some musty, old smell in my house. I will catch the scent in May and be brought right back to HG, which was at its peak during early summer in this house. My husband thinks I'm crazy, but I can smell seasons.

[teddi]

Well, I couldn't smell emotions, but I could smell our family cat Megan from a distance, at times comforting (as she was my critter comforter) and other times she just stank to me. I could smell .. geez, how to put this delicately... the differences between skin tones. It's not a racist thing here ok, but just a fact, that the chemical differences in the substances in the coloring of skin I was sensitize too. I have not had alot of intimate exposure to african american skin (only lived w/white/hispanic ppl) so the difference in the smell was very strong to me. While I was still at work this was a BIG problem, as many of our patients are of hispanic/african american/philipino... or homeless or elderly...and to me the smells were just overwhelming. AND DH'S BREATH and FEET!!!!!!

I could smell FABRIC, drove me NUTS. The chemicals in the fabric dyes, my mom's carpet has a glue on the bottom that just was horrible (and I spent most of my time IN that room).

I tell you, I began to get an idea of what life is like for a dog or any animal who smells things at a whole other level. Now wonder dogs go crazy sniffing butts and things! I would too if I were trapped in that smell sensitive world forever!

I could smell the seasonal changes too. Like, more moisture in the air, etc.

[BrandiJK]

I can also smell seasonal changes and Teddi, I can smell that too. I think some of it is cultural, and some is lotions. I know lots of the women out here use this lotion, I can smell it all the time and I only smell it on the african american women. It smells so good, and I have yet to think of a way to ask what it is. But it has a lotiony scent.
I know I can smell lingering food smells from people houses on their person, and if they showered recently (I am in love with the clean smell of soap lately). I can also smell menstration and if a women just had sex. Can you believe that? I started experimenting with my best friends, asking if so and so has happened, which is how I know I am not nuts. The result? LOL Everyone showers before they come to see me!!! I wish I could just shut me nose off. I told hubby I was thinking more on getting that swimmers nose plug, and he thinks I really am going crazy!

Oh! And I can smell his cigerettes and it has been making me crazy. I have actually been telling him he has to quit, and now. And as an ex-smoker, that is not something I would normally say.

[aaronsmommy]

Our house had this horrible smell, I couldn't even describe it to anyone. My husband would search for it asking "what does it smell like?" But that was the problem, it didn't smell like anything, it just smelled awful, and made me puke every time I walked in the house.

Lots of things had smells like that, that I couldn't describe, that would send me reeling. They smelled nothing like their non hg smell (I remember puking after a frozen dinner my husband cooked, I couldn't believe it was food making that smell), and sometimes they would make me puke first, before even noticing the smell. I could distinctly recognize the item from across the house once I knew what made the smell, but I would have to know first. Thankfully, all of those smells went away for me when I delivered.

Last year we had a lot of rain, and I got the faintest reminder of the house smell, so maybe it was some kind of mold or something.

[Trudy]

I think the worst smell for me this time has been ants. I know most ppl say they don't smell but even when no pg I can smell them. We're now in spring and for the last 2 months we've been invaded with them. At first they can in withthe rain but now its for no valid reason. The drive me nuts so now there's bait everywhere.

Trudy

[Guest]

I could always smell snow coming when I was pregnant.. My family jokes that its the smell of fireplaces and wood burning and not really snow - but I disagree. Another thing that was just horrible to me was the smell of the house I was living in while pregnant with my oldest. It never smelled bad to me before I got pregnant but it made me gag while I was. I would actually walk around with a bottle of Ferbreeze and spray before I walked. I would also spray the furniture before I could sit on it.....I also recall spraying my ex's clothes and well...him...because I hated the way he smelled. My poor family thought id lost it

[BrandiJK]

Jennie, sounds JUST like me!!! I sleep with Oust next to me, and the smell wakes me up enough that I must spray that stuff a dozen times a night. And there are several bottles of fabreeze in every room. I can't take the smell of anything in the house, and smells stick to everything! Glad to know I am not the only sprayer!

We also have air fresheners (currently apple/cinnimon) and dh burns incense when I am out of the house so I can catch the lingering smell.

[sickofit]

my worst smell is kitchen, it is new and there is a strange smell that no one else can smell..it is either glue or the granite, or maybe new cabinets..im not sure but when there is coffee brewing..watch out..i have puked in every corner of that kitchen! on a different note..i was so nauseous this a.m and hadnt puked yet(morning routine) i leaned down and smelled dh's breath and ran to the bathroom for my relief!

[BrandiJK]

LOL That is too funny! If I need quick relief, I hug dh after he smokes. That's all I need!

We have a room we are building (slowly) and I know that new smell. I can smell the dry wall and the insulation under it. EWWWWW!!!

[bird_verde]

I never smelled emotions but, I could smell the seasons changing.
I defintiely had "those" smells.
Even though DD is 11 months old, I think HG has heightened my sense of scent as I can still smell things that others can't.

-- I could tell DH what he had for lunch everyday as soon as he walked into the house (I can still do this now)

-- The office that I worked in had a terrible smell that made me vomit immeidately every time I walked through the door. I could even smell it on my clothes, jacket, etc. when I went home.

--The smell of paper especially newspaper with lots of ink

-- Anything inorganic, polyester, plastic, etc.

[carla]

OHHHHH I need to post!!!

I can smell so many awful things that people around me think I am nuts. One thing I can't stand is boiling water on the stove. It smells like cooking to me! I also can't stand a certain smell that I have picked up in my kitchen, BUT it is only when I sit in a certain chair facing a certain direction. Being the super sluth that I am, I have tried everything to figure out what it is. NO LUCK! Of course I am the only one that can smell it.

I can't stand it when my dh makes a mistake and cooks in the house or something and then tries to cover it with air freshner. That just makes me double barf!!

MY CAR stinks, but I am not sure of what!

MY DOGS stink, I feel so bad about ignoring them, but I can't go near them.

I can only stand certain shampoo, and soaps, others make me gag.

When oh when will the stench go away?

[poutyangel]

I also have mysterious odor in my house taht only I can smell. Its just a not fresh,stale weird smell. Oh and my smell is heightened. I cleaned out my refrigerator and about fainted. Since the smell bothers only me Ive taken to scrubbing everything with lemon pinesol and opening the windows every day.

[poutyangel]

I guess I should have just dealt with the smell. I openend the screenless window in the computer room and I think during one of my frquent bathroom visits my cat,Cookie, jumped out of the window . I havent seen her in about 2 days now. I hope she is ok.

[BrandiJK]

Oh scary! Was she an indoor cat only? I freak when I can't find mine.

Check your neighbors roofs, I had a cat missing for 2 days once, she had gotten stuck on a roof.

Good luck. As a fellow cat lover, please let us know if you find her!!! I hope she retruns very, very soon!

[Ivydragon]

Very interesting question!

I was smelling italian dressing. The garlic would effuse my entire dh's body - I banned it from his diet for two pgs, poor man.

When we were pg w/ Anna, we were living in this small little house near a creek that was cold and shady - there were tons of pine trees, hardly anyone ever drove by, and we hardly knew our neighbors who were way to far for me to walk - I couldn't walk down the driveway to get the mail! My first memory of that house is the smell - that old house smell. I usually remember visual things first - but that house had an odor to it. We were only there for a little over a year - and I don't even want to really drive by it, and it's only an hour away, but that smell. Ugh!

Anna turns 8 next week.

Andy

[poutyangel]

Yea we found our missing cat at last!!!! she was only and indoor and Me and dh, dd had been walking up and own the street yelling for her and nothing. Finally 2 nights ago dh went out and said she was just sitting outside withh the other cat and the dog. We bathed her and now am trying to fatten her up again.

[nomore]

I can smell the seasons..... I dont really smell emotions... but I can smell the after sex and AF smells you can Brandi!


But- HG wise, its the smell of heat..... humid hot SUMMER heat that disturbs me..... that and the smell of toast... either will send me into a fit of nausea or vomiting.....

My smell hasnt been as pronounced as past pregnancies.... where I swear I could smell the Freeon cooling agent in the fridge..... eveyone thought I was NUTS...... When I was prego I made poor DH scrub the inside of the fridge on a REGUALR basis.... and I still had to hold my breath when I opened it up (to get meds, etc).

Earlier in this pregnancy I could smell garlic like NO tommorow.... but now it doesnt bother me.....

Robin