Camaraderie

I've read about the camaraderie of motherhood, especially among pregnant women. Being in the City where everyone is rushing around all of the time, I have not experienced any "connections" with other pregnant women...until this morning. I'll preface this by saying that being pregnant in New York is a lot harder than I thought it would be. For the past two years, I have always found myself rushing; running to catch trains and to make meetings, skipping stairs and maneuvering around crowds of people. And I never found this difficult or frustrating, it's just part of living in the City. I took for granted how much energy (and balance) it actually takes to get places! This week has been particularly telling in this regard, as I fell on the stairs to the subway, got drenched on my way to work because the Metrocard machine in my station was out of order, and got stranded in a dressing room with leg cramps on my lunch break. I have in fact been very discouraged and wondering if I can even make it another 18 weeks pregnant. So, back to my story, it was indeed refreshing this morning to get to experience this camaraderie I speak of. I was on the elevator going up to my office with two other people, a man and woman. The man absolutely wreaked of cigarette smoke, the smell of which these days really makes me gag even more than usual. So, I pulled my scarf up over my nose in protest of his foul odor. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the woman cover her face as well. The man got off first, and we both looked at each other knowingly. It went like this:

Woman: "I don't know how people can stand to smell like cigarette smoke!"

Me: "I know. And I am 5 1/2 months pregnant and cigarette smoke makes me want to vomit!"

Woman: "Me too! I am 6 months pregnant!"

Me: " Oh, congratulations!"

Woman: "Congratualtions to you too!"

(the elevator reaches her floor at this point)

Me: "Have a great day"

Woman: "You too, and good luck!"

I will probably never see this woman again, but it just helps to know that other women are going through the same things I am. I guess I am part of the club now :).