Pregnant in New York

We are excited to be expecting our second child at the end of winter. This will be a second little American for us, though whilst Noah was born in sunny California, this little miracle will hail from the other side of the country, arriving in a potentially snowy, and definately freezing, February New York City. My first concern when we found out we were expecting a winter baby was, "What if there is a snow storm when I need to get to the hospital?" But there have been other hurdles to overcome even in the first half of this pregnancy, which I did not experience during my LA pregnancy.

#1. Smells

Sure, all cities have a certain unpleasant aroma that pervades from the inner streets. But NYC takes city-odour to a whole other level.

Above ground in our neighbourhood of NYC there is a constant smell of urine and feces (and unfortunately not all of this is of a four-legged origin). There is the stink of rotting trash and refuse which is piled up at least weekly on the curbs. There are the fish mongers, butchers and fruitiers of Chinatown spilling the aromas of their trade onto the blackened sidewalk and down the congested gutters.

These smells have been exponentially heightened by the sweltering heat of summer, with average temperatures in June-August making this the hottest summer in New York City history. This heat served to bake and enhance and accentuate the smells and stink of a sweltering melting pot of a city.

Then there is the smells trapped in the public transport systems above ground and below. Take all the aromas on the streets and stuff them into the poorly ventilated compartments of taxi cabs and subway elevators, stations and trains.

Roll all of this into the hypersensitive olfactory organ of a nauseous pregnant woman and the result is not pretty! Gaging walking down the street. Hanging a head out the window whilst traveling in cabs only to recoil when a strong whiff of something or other passes by. Feeling generally green the entire time one has to travel underground.

#2. Driving

Not only do you have to overcome the stenches which are synonymous with NYC yellow cabs as a regular commuter, you also have to endure the stop-start-stop-start nature that is NYC driving. Sometimes, ...no actually often, this is made even worse by the driver who refuses to ever come to a complete stop, jerking forward a millimeter at a time at every red light.

On my best "non-pregnant" days I would emerge from my cab rides needing 10 minutes to recover from motion-sickness. Throw into the mix morning sickness (aka all-day-sickness) and the aforementioned stenches of the city and it is a recipe for disaster!

#3. Cravings

Pregnancy cravings now come with a whole new set of logistics and considerations that they are emerging in NYC. I do not have the luxury in this pregnancy of thinking, "Well I REALLY feel like Dim Sum for lunch" and then stepping into my nicely air conditioned clean and smell-less car. Instead when I crave Dim Sum for lunch I have to walk through smelly, hot, putrid, Chinatown to get there. By the time I arrive food is the last thing from my mind, or my stomach.

New York City's saving grace? In this city you can get almost anything delivered.