an ode to baths I suppose

It's official: taking a bath is not what it used to be.

You'd think that something like bathing wouldn't really be one of those things that are taken for granted. Well, at least that's what I think because I have always been an avid bath lover.

I am someone who grew up with a huge soaker jacuzzi tub (that was a mauvey shade of pink and was fantastic). I took baths at least twice a week every week for most of my life. Bubbles, drinks in fancy glasses, bath bombs, bath pillows, music, candles, i had the works.

When I moved out on my own I did my obligatory time on the circuit of Crappy Apartments and Rentals. My first stop on the circuit (aside from college, of course) was a very run down house which i shared with boys so obviously, there was no bath-taking there. I then moved on to the second floor of a duplex apartment with my then boyfriend (now husband) which had the Standard Apartment Style Bath in the only bathroom it had. That bath was okay but it was shallow and admittedly, there was just something a little *off* about it. You know what i mean, the bathtub that LOOKS clean and has been scrubbed but still somehow just feels grimey no matter what. That was this bath. 

After THAT place i lived in a scaled down one bedroom which barely had a bathroom that was large enough to stand in and only possessed a stall shower.

Yup, you read that right: No bath at all.

This was distressing to say the least and how i made it for more than a year without a bathtub is beyond me.

When i got pregnant, my husband and I were living in a really nice, new apartment with a gorgeous bathroom with upgraded features. Upgraded, that is, except for the size of the bathtub. It was that Standard Apartment Style Bath again. Nothing too exciting about it. But it didn't matter, I would still find myself sitting in it at least once a week with my little cat perched on the edge fascinated by the water. I loved it.



Since I've become pregnant, my husband and I have moved yet again, this time we're back at my original location: home with my parents. We're living here for economical reasons (the starry-eyed hope that one day we will be able to afford a house of our own) but in the meantime we have a great deal: we've got our own bedroom, bathroom and second bedroom that we've converted into our livingroom/office. We have our couch and TV all set up, i think we have as much space here as we did in that scaled-down one bedroom i mentioned. Only this time: we have a bath!

Now, admittedly, the bath in our bathroom is an average bathtub. BUT my parents have the holy grail of all baths in their bathroom. Its a gorgeous Jacuzzi style soaker tub like the one of my youth that I have such fond memories of. And while it's not the same exact one (this is a tasteful ecru colored tub) it is still wonderful and fantastic and amazing and all the adjectives that mean perfection in bath form.

There's just one problem: I'm not allowed to use it.

Yup. It's true.

and no it's not because my parents are mean or punishing us for living with them lol.

Like all things I am currently restricted from, it's because I'm pregnant. And part of pregnancy means: "no taking baths that are too hot". This is because the baby can't regulate his own temperature yet and if I were to get into a bath where the water exceeded 100 degrees, bad things could happen for both of us.

and since there is no point whatsoever in my world to taking a cool jacuzzi bath (and since i would be endlessly paranoid that the temperature was too high for my submerged little baby belly) i have abstained from dipping my toe into that gorgeous specimen of a bathtub.

Instead I have stayed to the bathtub that we have been given in our bathroom: the standard sized tub that i've grown to love and appreciate over the years.

I take a cool bath every night now and i read my book while the water pools around the giant volcano-island like mass of my stomach that rises from the water. I take my cool bath and I smile while the baby kicks when the water runs because he likes the sound. I reach my hand over the side and pet my cat who loves to lay curled up on the towels i keep next to it. I read and i refill the water when it gets too cool and i love it. And occasionally i daydream about the day when i can get into that jacuzzi tub again.

but i have a fear, and it's becoming more and more legitimate every day...

I don't know how much longer i can take my nightly baths at all; even these compromise baths in the littler tub.

See, getting in and out of this bath just ain't what it used to be and each night i get worried that I am going to end up like that old lady from the "I've fallen and i can't get up" commercials. I literally have to hoist myself up using the knobs and the side of the tub.

And getting down requires some crafty maneuvering also. My knees don't seem to know where to go while I lower myself. I end up basically just giving the job over to gravity at a certain point and after I land with a splash every night I think to myself, "well, I hope i can get back out of this."

I know my husband will help me if i'm ever stuck but I also know that that will be the end of my nightly baths. And i don't want them to end, i love them.  They're the only baths i have!

Weird how so many things change just because someone takes up residence in your body. Who knew that taking a bath would simultaneously be so great and so difficult?  Who knew that the idea of not being able to take one, even in the littler bath, would be so sad?

I guess a lot of things are bound to change when your stomach is the biggest part of your body and someone is living in it, huh? Duh. Too bad that getting in and out of the bath is one of them. I guess my job now is to soak for as long as possible while I still can because something tells me that even when I am allowed to get back in a nice hot jacuzzi that I won't be able to do it for very long once the baby is here. Just a little notion i have. I haven't heard about newborns being particularly sensitive to their mother's schedules, not even when it comes to luxuries like spending a few hours reclined in a bubbly paradise.

oh well. at least i know that when my time in the jacuzzi bath does come, i will revel the entire process: from being able to sit down with ease, to being able to climb out all on my own. I guess it really is the little things in life, huh?