Question about Paint from the Paranoid

[same_sky]

I came home on break in part so I could ask the internets about my paranoia. (Because, I do not write posts at work. Personal rule.) They are remodeling at work. The large room I'm in has a door on each end of the room, and the area they're working on is across a hallway from us (near, but not directly across from, one of the two doors.) Yesterday, it seemed like they were beginning to paint, and we decided not to sit in there (it's the break room) during the afternoon because of a paint smell. This morning, I can smell it from my desk. It's not exactly a strong paint fumes sort of smell.. just the fairly faint smell of new paint. Three people that I asked couldn't smell it at all. I can smell it, and so could D. I thought maybe I was imagining it because I went in there this morning to put my water in the fridge, and it IS very strong in there, so I thought maybe it was just stuck in my nose.. but I went outside later for a few minutes for fresh air and came back in through a door on the opposite end of the room from the work, and could smell it again. It may also be that when I arrived this morning (45 minutes before work starts officially--I was the first one there in our area) that it was just stronger than it is now that a bunch of people have had the outside doors open (both of which are close to the two doors to our section) while arriving.

What do you think, internets? Is it okay that I am sitting in a room that smells somewhat of new paint? I convinced myself that it is but I am still worried. Of course I'm worried, it's me. What else would I do? I feel like a dope for even asking this. It's really not a strong smell (like I said, 3/5 people in my survey couldn't smell it.) My throat has felt very dry, though, which could be random, or it could be psychosomatic, or it could be the fumes irritating me. What do you think? Am I causing irreparable damage to Ducky? Will she be born with eleven feet because I went to work today? (Okay, that last one is unlikely even for me to suggest because I am in the second trimester now and she has already grown her feet but still.)

I know that no one can really tell me what to do but I SURE WISH YOU WOULD.

Comments

[helloheather.livejournal.com]

I can understand why you're worried, but I think you and the baby will both be okay. :) We painted three rooms in our house while I was pregnant, so I did a bunch of research about paint fumes. (Not that I'm claiming to be an expert or anything.) What I found said that if you were exposed to paint fumes every day, like if you worked in a paint factory or something, then that would be something to worry about. But the occasional exposure to paint fumes while pregnant has not been found to do any harm to mother or child. ESPECIALLY if it's latex paint, which I am going to guess it probably is.

Also, and I think you know this, pregnancy can make your sense of smell more accute, so you probably ARE smelling it more than the other people in your office. Ergo, it's probably not as smelly as you think.

So, if I were you, I'd worry about it as little as possible. :)