An Almost Lost Luxury

My close friends know that I have this top ten list of my favorite things in life. This list is not something that I threw together without thinking about, it has been well thought out and things that already exist on this list cannot be easily replaced. The criteria for this list is, there can not be anything on it that is living. It can only be items that bring me great joy to partake in.
One of the items on my top ten is a hot bath. This is something that has been almost competely absent in my life for the last year and a half. BUT last night, I had the most incredible hot bath of my life! My parents recently bought a new house and with it came this incredibly large master bathroom. And with that came the biggest, deepest garden tub of all time. Well, Heath and I have been moving for the last 6 days! It's been horrendous. I am so totally exhausted, almost every muscle in my body is sore and on top of that I now have a cold. So I went to my parents house last night and let them watch Ella as I delighted myself with an hour and a half, almost painfully hot bath with bubbles tumbling over the sides of the tub. I'm talking a Pretty Women bath!











Why do I love baths so much? I think you either love baths or you don't. If you don't, then you have no idea what I am talking about and can't relate in the slightest and are probably thinking I am crazy and how can this be when you are sitting in your own filth. And if you love them, you really love them and you've loved them from before you can remember loving them! There is nothing more relaxing to me than reading a book in a hot bath with candles lit and aromatherapy bubble bath from Bath and Body Works and letting the hot water relax every muscle in my body.
Let me explain why this was an almost lost luxury.
In June, 2005, I found out I was pregnant! What does that have to do with a hot bath? Well, if you've been pregnant you have been well warned, don't get in extremely hot water because it is bad for the baby. If you are currently pregnant you have to read the book Belly Laughs by Jenny MacCartney!! She has a chapter about her getting in a hottub after finding out she was pregnant to relax and celebrate, not knowing that it is a huge no no and a stranger yelling at her "GET OUT, GET OUT" after she told this stranger she just found out she is pregnant! It is hilarious! At my first doctor's appointment I asked him, can I take baths. He said, yes but don't get the water to hot and only stay in for about 20 minutes. WHAT?! Then what is the point of a bath, really! So for the next 9 months, I couldn't give up my baths, so I kept a thermometer on the edge of the bathtub and every few minutes I would check to make sure the water hadn't gone above 100 degrees. And I would only stay in for about 20 minutes. I guess it was better than no bath.
After 9 months, my beautiful daughter was born and I could finally take my hot baths again. Right? So I thought! First I had to wait a few weeks for everything to heal. After the healing was over, the baths still were not able to return. Why? Because I had a itty bitty baby that needed to eat every hour and a half to two hours and I was still breastfeeding at the time. I would just get in my hot bath, just beginning to feel some restoration to my tired body, when I would hear from the other room crying and then my husband coming in quietly and a little afraid and tell me, "the baby needs to eat." Shivering and sometimes crying (remember she was just born = raging hormones) I would get out, dry off and nurse my precious daughter. Sometimes I would attempt to get back in and other times I would wave the white flag.
My daughter will be a year in 14 days (tear) and I have come to the realization and begun to accept it that my bath times won't be the same until I have an empty nest. But I have been able to partake a little more the older she has gotten and the better my husband has gotten at watching her, although he still will call me out to change her poopy diaper. Don't get me started!
So last night was an incredible experience! It certainly made up for some lost time. Heath and I have just moved into an older duplex, cute but older. Which means no more garden tub, but I still plan on partaking in as much bath time as possible, until the next pregnancy and baby when it is lost all over again.