Читать книгу Stand and Deliver!: And other Brilliant Ways to Give Birth - Emma Mahony - Страница 27

One friend bought pregnancy massage oil, ostensibly to massage the area under her bump that became sore at the end of a working day (the hormone relaxin softens the muscles and can sometimes cause a bit of grating around the pelvis). Asking her husband to do it as an evening ritual, she found one thing used to lead to another. (For pregnancy massage oil visit www.activebirthcentre.com.)

Another bought a good push-up bra to accentuate that great pregnancy asset – big boobs. Even if you have always been a firmly buttoned-up sort of girl, try leaving one more shirt button undone around the house, à la Sophie Dahl, during these nine months just to experiment with your new curviness. At the very least it will get you in training for breastfeeding.

Allegra tried perineal massage during pregnancy, done with her partner, using olive oil. (The perineal area is between your bum hole and your vagina.) Not a very British thing to do, but she admits: ‘We just ended up laughing, it was so funny, I would kind of lie on the bed and he’d watch TV over my shoulder. That was towards the end, during the last month.’ (For perineal massage oil visit www.activebirthcentre.com.)

Pregnancy tights are difficult to find and uncomfortable at the worst of times, so buy some stockings or lacy hold-ups instead. Emma did this during pregnancy and used to flash her husband as they walked out of the door in the evening, and then enjoy his extra attentiveness in the cab and during dinner. All men live in hope.

Rosie suggests buying one really sexy evening dress for the pregnancy. She invested in a designer dress, and found the designer adored doing something different for her shape. The final outfit was a skin-tight satin under-dress with a cutaway claret velvet dress coat over the top with extra emphasis in the cutting on the cleavage. Says Rosie: ‘It made me feel so sexy, and everyone said they wanted to be pregnant to wear the dress.’

Exchange your dad’s-old-shirt-as-a-nightie for a grown-up satiny or, if someone else is buying, silk negligée. While your gamine legs might have looked great from under the shirt before pregnancy, winceyette won’t work if the legs become tree trunks. The negligée may only need to make an appearance when you are feeling in the mood, but just wearing it usually produces a male Pavlovian reaction.

Lying in bed in New York, pregnant and waiting for her husband to come home, Lois found that surfing the channels for the soft porn became a useful evening ritual. ‘The sight of all these nubile young men parading around in my bedroom always seemed to get me in the mood,’ she admits.