This afternoon I had my closest Waterloo friends over for a belly casting party. A belly cast is a popular way of preserving a pregnant woman's shape. It's usually done in the few weeks before birth. The basics are that the pregnant woman, with the help of friends/partner/professional belly caster (not necessary but I presume they get a really smooth finish on the cast), gets naked, slathers her body in Vaseline and then applies pre-plastered bandages (the kind doctors use to make casts for broken bones) to the torso, chest etc. You wait for it to dry and then wiggle out of it - the belly dance. After letting it dry for a few days, I can decorate the cast if I want. That will be a project for the girls and I in a few days.
My friends (Tamara, Jewel, and Sue (John's sister) ) arrived and we bunkered down with food, drink and chatting. My girls were so excited to have everyone come over; they could barely contain themselves. To the point of annoyance of their mother in fact. But, when the first crew arrived, with cousins in tow, they took off playing. We visited until Marnie arrived and then we got down to business with the casting. I stripped down to just my underwear and then we all started plastering me. The kids each had a turn as well - Emily was the most keen and kept putting more plasters on. Kennedy, the oldest cousin, hid behind the couch until my naked body was well-covered and then she started to peek over the top. It was really fun and really meaningful for me to have all my wonderful women helping me preserve these last few weeks of what will be my last pregnancy. I was glad that Julie arrived in time to stick on a few plasters.
It didn't take long to dry. After it was sufficiently hardened, I wiggled (what Emily called my belly dance) until I could pop out of it. It was nicely glued to my underwear so I had to pull and pry at those until I could unlatch it and then I was out and into the shower.
After the cast was done and I was clean, we went back to visiting, laughing, drinking and eating while Jewel gave me a heavenly foot soak and massage. Can you see why this was such a special afternoon?
I'll put up more photos as I get them. I'm going to remember this day for a very long time.
3 comments:
That is really awesome. I wish I had done one, although I never seriously thought about it. I guess because I'd never known someone who did it. I'm glad you did it and had such a great afternoon.
sounds like a wonderful afternoon. and the cast looks great. my sister has mine. still. she said she was going to paint it. that was three years ago. i wonder if i will ever get it back!
At the point of this blog, you had only three days to go....funny eh? Little did you know...how wonderful to have that memory so close to the date of birth!
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