The pregnant nose

Warning: I mention boogers below.

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In pregnancy, I have boogers.  Like, more boogers in nine months than I have had in my almost-thirty years of life, total. 

Let me back up a little and explain that I am about to write about the nasal maladies of a pregnant lady of which there are many.  Also, Mom, if you are reading this, stop here, I know you can't deal with issues of the nose, so just scroll down with your eyes closed and you'll find a nice cute picture of Noah.

First off there is the issue of smell sensitivity.  Many pregnant women report that their nose is on super high alert from a few hours post conception and ending sometime between a few weeks postpartum and never.  Historically and evolutionarily speaking this "symptom" of being in a woman's way is built in to us humans so that we don't expose our fetus to something potentially poisonous like wild fruits or Suave shampoo.  In my first pregnancy with Noah I was flying from Florida to DC.  While trapped in a middle seat in the second to last row of a fully-booked flight, I was unfortunate enough to have someone sit directly behind me and devour ever so slowly an entire bucket of fried chicken.  I thought I was going to die.  So, to sum it up, my sense of smell is on CODE RED ALERT.  Sometimes the smell of ketchup gets to me, sometimes the smell of Marc's spray deodorant is also gag-worthy, and ditto for Lime Tostitos.  

Second, congestion.  Nasal congestion.  The hormones of pregnancy cause your soft tissues (mucous membranes) to swell.  Chalk it up to increased hormones and blood flow.  The adaptation of this joyous treat is possibly to prepare the tissues of the birth canal (ahem: Vagina, hoo-ha, girly parts) to stretch to accommodate birth.  Also affected is the nose.  Some women have a runny nose for the duration of pregnancy, I however, have a runny nose for the duration of my life.  What I wasn't expecting this early in pregnancy (11 weeks, almost) was the congestion that stems from this.  When I'm trying to fall asleep at night I am frequently awoken by a whistling sound that is actually my nose desperately trying to get a fresh breath of cool air.  I won't even begin to explain how annoying this is when bouts of nausea hit and all I want is a fresh breath of air to calm my roiling belly. 

And finally, I'll sum it up: boogers.

I guess the gasping for air through swollen passages causes my nose to dry out much faster than usual causing serious daily boogers.  I'll blow my nose and be all, "Wow! That was up there? No wonder I couldn't breathe."

Comments

[Marci]

Me too! And the boogers and snot make me gag and fight throwing up when I blow my nose because I KNOW what's in there. They had me throwing up way past when I thought the morning sickness was mostly over.

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when you are pregnant, there are many allergic reaction occur..thanks for the post.

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1158001012]

I am sooooo glad you posted this. I have a feeling Im pregnant and I have had the same booger problems. Ive never in my life had a booger problem, but i also find myself trying to breathe with these boogers. thanks for sharing you made me laugh.=)

[FishyGirl]

With me it got worse with every pregnancy. Sorry you have to go through it. Hope you're feeling okay in every other way, though.

[aimee]

I love reading your pregnancy posts because they are exactly what I am feeling. In my first pregnancy the smell of my lip gloss made me ill. I still can not wear that brand of lip gloss! And, yes, the boogers are just out of control!