According to The New York Post, Manhattan expectant moms have a very important item on their pre-delivery to-do lists: primping. Manicures, pedicures, waxing and hairstyling are de rigeur before they head to the hospital for delivery.
Celebrity magazines have been delivering the "hot mama" trend for a while now, featuring glammed-up, pregnant celeb moms-to-be (bump watch, anyone?) toting their bellies with the pride once reserved for their oversized YSL Muse bags. But this doesn't just apply to the uber-famous.
With friends and family anxiously awaiting the digital transmission of photos within hours of labor, New York women are preparing for the big D-Day with the grooming gusto once reserved for their wedding nights.
That means manis/pedis, pre-labor blowouts and even Brazilian bikini waxes administered days -- if not hours -- before giving birth.
Pre-delivery primping might sound superficial, but it also makes sense. After all, women feel more vulnerable if they're not looking their best. And when you're lying on a delivery table in excruciating pain while your nether regions are examined by a doctor you may have never met, well, that's about as vulnerable as it gets.
A few weeks ago, Jonice Padilha -- co-owner of the waxing emporium J. Sisters -- gave a Brazilian bikini wax to a woman who was already in labor.
"She was dilating, but not too much," says Padilha. "But she knew that she was going straight to the hospital afterward."
The article goes on to detail one woman having a manicure/pedicure/blowout while she was having contractions and one woman on bed rest who had her hairstylist come to her house frequently, just in case she went into early labor. We're all for some mommy pampering before the reality of motherhood hits, but having beauty treatments while you're actually in labor seems a bit unsafe.
If you're that worried about how you look in the post-partum photos, have your stylist come to the hospital after you deliver: that's much safer than delaying going to the hospital while your nail polish dries.
