My birthday on 4 April, I was asked what I wanted for it (ever practical, I see no point in giving or receiving gifts that will be wasted, and would much rather the gift of time with friends.) Anyway, there are a few pieces of background info that you may need to know before I move on.
There is a pregnancy hormone called relaxin that can be present in your body for up to a year post-partum, and starts to build when you first fall pregnant. I am quite physically active, and I learn and teach aerial silks/trapeze/hoop/rope/any other aerial apparatus I get a chance to! Ok, so I don't teach past trapeze in that list, but you get the idea. The two weekends before my miscarriage I was at a silks teacher training course. Probably about the week I fell pregnant I was in an aerial show. I really needed a massage.
The importance of point one is that when pregnant, you are supposed to avoid massages unless specifically designed for pregnant women. Also, as the hormone hangs around, you need to be careful afterwards too, so you don't damage yourself!
For my birthday, I asked for a really good massage. I got one! Lee bought me a voucher for "The Good Hour" a Lush massage that is a mixture between deep tissue and the less painful relax-y types. When I got the voucher, I was at that time unaware that we shouldn't start trying again straight away, so I booked an appointment for the first available date that worked for me. That happened to be 30 April 2017. I made a few arrangements to catch up with friends before/after my appointment, but life being life, one or two were visiting family, others already had plans, and one hadn't got back to me; although that can be attributed to my complete inability to make plans in any sort of decent timescale. I think part of me wasn't sure if I would want to see anyone by then, do the catch up thing, in case they acted as others had, like I should be over it already. I got over that worry as I knew my friends would support me, and managed to arrange some stress-free catch ups!
I did a spot of shopping, then made my way along the busy shopping street into the sanctuary of The Lush Spa! When I was completing the history form that helps them treat you properly, I shared that I had had a miscarriage, and the question about likely to be pregnant was a hard one to answer, and I left the question blank that asked if I was currently trying to get pregnant; technically the answer was no, but that's not strictly true. I spoke a bit about what muscles might be tense, and what I get up to in my spare time. We smelt the different massage bars I could choose from, and chatted a bit about things I had used. She noted that one of the bars had almost the same scent as a bath bomb, but I wasn't familiar - I told her I preferred bubbles to bombs!
Then the massage. What a wonderful massage! For those of you who don't know, having a massage in a Lush Spa is not like an ordinary massage, it's a whole other experience! There was the smoke floating across the floor like waves on the shore. Then there were the smells! I love the sea, and the seaside, and fresh smells, and that was what I had in the basement spa in the centre of Edinburgh!
When I had gathered my belongings and my senses (which had been massaged into mush) the therapist came to me with a cup of tea and it was almost like she apologised for not getting all the knots out! She acknowledged that there is only so much can be done in an hour! After I sat for a while with my tea and shortbread, I was shown back upstairs, and right before I left, I was given a treat, of a bubble bar, in a scent she knew I liked, and an instruction: to go home and treat myself further, as I'd had a rubbish start to the year! Although I had been thinking more about it through the day, as I was sharing the shandy part of the news with a friend, and having the massage that would not have been possible, it was only then that I was close to tears, it was just a lovely and unexpected gesture and when I did eventually have that bath, all I could do was smile.
I managed to get hold of another friend for a catch up after I left Lush, saw her new place, chatted to her and her dad for hours, as I left, I had this overwhelming sense that the visit had been good for the soul.
Sometimes, it's the little things!
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