Well maternity leave has started in fine fashion. It was my mother's 60th birthday recently and she has always wanted to go to a spa. My sisters and I colluded to arrange a day for her at the Sanctuary spa in Covent Garden. We played a little trick on her by buying one of the Sanctuary at home spa kits and giving her that for a joke. I then produced a shett of 'instructions' on how to use it which was actually a leaflet I had designed inviting her down to London for a day of the real thing!!!
Anyway Wednesday arrived and I found myself back on the bloomin' train to London! At least this time it was out of rush-hour and so was a slightly more civilized experience than my commute to work. I had anticipated a bit of a struggle on the tube what with Covent Garden being a popular tourist destination but I am obviously now so enormously pregnant that a lovely girl offered me her seat.
Having not seen me for a few weeks my Mum and sisters admired the glory of my bump and we hurried off excitedly to the spa. The Sanctuary is lovely. I had been about 5 years ago with friends from my old job and so I knew that there were certain facilities which were not going to be suitable for me in pregnancy - namely anything which raised my body temperature too much. So I settled down for a nap in the Coi Carp lounge while my Mum and 2 sisters went off to try the sauna, spa pool and steam room. I felt a bit left out and kind of wished that I had been able to try all the facilities with my Mum but the others soon returned and we went off for a swim together.
In the afternoon we were booked in for treatments and so while my Mum enjoyed a relaxing aromatherapy massage I had a facial. Challenge number one was getting comfortable on the treatment bed. After much adjusting of the bed and a dash to get more pillows we finally got me into a comfortable position and so I lay back for my relaxing facial. The therapist uttered the immortal words, 'Well, the treatment starts with a foot exfoliation,' to which I had to respond that not with me it didn't. As anyone who knows me in the real world will know I absolutely cannot stand having my feet touched and even Dad_to_be isn't allowed near them. Kind of a strange place for a facial to start anyway... So we moved swiftly on and I had a great treatment. Of course, not wanting to be left out, baby M. decided that this was the ideal time to have one of her famous tummy discos and proceeded to spend the remainder of my treatment time bouncing away!
I don't think the rest of my maternity leave is going to be quite as glamorous but it was a lovely way to start and to a great opportunity to catch up with my Mum and sisters before the baby comes.
Anyway Wednesday arrived and I found myself back on the bloomin' train to London! At least this time it was out of rush-hour and so was a slightly more civilized experience than my commute to work. I had anticipated a bit of a struggle on the tube what with Covent Garden being a popular tourist destination but I am obviously now so enormously pregnant that a lovely girl offered me her seat.
Having not seen me for a few weeks my Mum and sisters admired the glory of my bump and we hurried off excitedly to the spa. The Sanctuary is lovely. I had been about 5 years ago with friends from my old job and so I knew that there were certain facilities which were not going to be suitable for me in pregnancy - namely anything which raised my body temperature too much. So I settled down for a nap in the Coi Carp lounge while my Mum and 2 sisters went off to try the sauna, spa pool and steam room. I felt a bit left out and kind of wished that I had been able to try all the facilities with my Mum but the others soon returned and we went off for a swim together.
In the afternoon we were booked in for treatments and so while my Mum enjoyed a relaxing aromatherapy massage I had a facial. Challenge number one was getting comfortable on the treatment bed. After much adjusting of the bed and a dash to get more pillows we finally got me into a comfortable position and so I lay back for my relaxing facial. The therapist uttered the immortal words, 'Well, the treatment starts with a foot exfoliation,' to which I had to respond that not with me it didn't. As anyone who knows me in the real world will know I absolutely cannot stand having my feet touched and even Dad_to_be isn't allowed near them. Kind of a strange place for a facial to start anyway... So we moved swiftly on and I had a great treatment. Of course, not wanting to be left out, baby M. decided that this was the ideal time to have one of her famous tummy discos and proceeded to spend the remainder of my treatment time bouncing away!
I don't think the rest of my maternity leave is going to be quite as glamorous but it was a lovely way to start and to a great opportunity to catch up with my Mum and sisters before the baby comes.
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