07 February: The kitchen. (Jen)

I have mixed feelings about the kitchen lately. I am often hungry and I know that the kitchen holds what satisfies -- and prevents nausea. However, no matter how carefully Ben has cleaned up after preparing me something to eat, I can smell things in there... things must be rotting in the pipes, in the garbage under the sink, on the floor, or maybe in the sponge? And just the sight of leftovers (which crowd the fridge because I tend to lose my appetite mid-way through meals these days) can make me feel nauseous as well. I go in there to get a quick snack as soon as I begin to feel nauseous, but I'm immediately compelled to get out the Lysol sanitizing wipes and go nuts until I'm so fatigued that I forget why I'm even in the kitchen, instead of lying down in bed, where I should be. I'm reading through the "bible" on pregnancy, What to Expect When You're Expecting (I've received two copies from good friends so far), and they say that "in some ways, your pregnant body is working harder even when you're resting than a nonpregnant body is when mountain-climbing" (Murkoff, 114). Tonight, Ben and I watched a movie and I put up my feet on the couch... and began smelling my own foot odor. So I put on a pair of socks. It wasn't long before I could smell my feet through them! So I took the socks off and complained to Ben about my wet, sweaty feet and my over-developed sense of smell. He claimed that my feet were not smelly, and then he brought out a big bowl of warm, soapy water, and washed my feet. I submit that no pregnant woman has ever had it this good.