Beauty therapy and hypnotherapy.

Today I cashed in my beauty salon voucher and had a half day of pampering. I bought the half day as a treat to myself, shortly before N and I had a 'chat' about our household budget. Unfortunate timing - but I'd already paid in full, so there was nothing for it but to go and enjoy myself - we can live without food for a couple of weeks...

So I had a mani/pedi, facial, neck and shoulder massage and a set of eyelash extensions. I didn't really know what the eyelash extensions entailed, but it sounded interesting. Turns out it involves sticking individual fake eyelashes to your existing eyelashes - one by one - for two hours - while a woman tells you to stop flinching. I had no idea - I hadn't
prepared mentally or physically for that sort of experience. For a start i'd brought a book to read (Anna Karenina for the benefit of my book club colleagues) - that was no good. She told me to try and go to sleep, but that's easier said than done with strips of plastic stuck to your lower lids, glue being applied to your upper lids, a bright light shining in your eyes and a woman in a mask looming over you. I did about forty sets of pelvic floors and practised my labour breathing, then I tried to hypnotise myself - but basically it was torture. I've got lovely eyelashes now though - I look like one of those dolls with the freaky moving eyes that cries.

I was trying to hypnotise myself because on Christmas day my hypnotherapy birthing CD arrived. I have to listen to it three times a week, then i'll be like, all calm and blissed out during the labour. It said in the accompanying booklet that a woman in a coma can give birth naturally. N looked it up online and it appears to be true. We're looking into the viability of that approach for me - that way i'd get the natural birth, without having to be conscious. It's a win win.

I've listened to the CD twice now. The first time I fell asleep. All I could remember afterwards was something about the baby 'sliding out effortlessly' - it's an image I haven't been able to shake since. The second time I struggled to retain the proper state of hypnosis because the baby hiccuped the whole way through. But i'm a firm believer in hypnotherapy so i'm sticking with it. I'll report back on how it goes.