In preparation for my upcoming work event, a black-tie award presentation, I tried on a spray tan for our New Year’s party to pair as the perfect accessory to my event attire. You may be asking yourself if the spray tan process is safe for little Snowball… but no worries, I consulted my mid-wife and also stuffed toilet paper up my nose prior to stepping in the booth. Although I had sported sprayed on sun-kissed skin prior to toting around our impending tot, I thought I ought to test it out first in my current stretched out state to eliminate the opportunity for error. The finished product actually turned out much better than I anticipated and I even avoided looking as orange as an MTV reality show contestant. I delighted in looking bronzed as I donned my not-so-little black dress for our party and was pleasantly surprised that the fading process wasn’t any weirder than normal.
As the tan wore away, I found a strange shadow below my button that had not been present before the bronzing. At first, I believed it to be a weird residual stain left behind by the sprinkler of sun but as the days wore on, I discovered the scoop behind the stripe. The line has been drawn by Baby Brehm — I now bear a very faint linea nigra drawn from the bottom of my belly button down to my hoo haw. From the little research I’ve done on this baby made border, it is completely indiscriminate as to who gets one and even more uncertain how long it will live on your belly. As I’ve noted before, I love this whole pregnancy engagement but to be perfectly honest, it’s weird. Chalk this particular happening up on the list of puzzling pregnancy phenomena that I have encountered through the last 7 months as Snowball transforms my body into his/her own sanctuary.
