Best Friends Are We, My Sister and Me

Katie Lou Cardinal

It was that time of the pregnancy again: BELLYCASTING! That’s right, after doing Tiffany’s belly cast for Andrew only a few short years ago, it was time to make the trek again - only this time with a new baby!

We embarked on our belly casting journey on Wednesday afternoon when I got out of work. After cutting all of the gauze strips into belly and boob size pieces, we were on our way. With Andrew sleeping like a little angel upstairs, Tiffany and I went into the laundry room to get this sucker started. We put down the drop cloth, stripped Tiffany down, and put on our latex gloves.

Step one of the hilarious belly casting experience was to apply oil (no, not taint rub) all over Tiffany’s “chosen” belly casting parts. Surely we are the best of friends, but I let her apply the oil to her boobsicles while I lathered up her belly! After making my poor sister look like a very round slip and slide, it was time to apply the gauze. For those of you who have never done a belly cast before, I will notify you that it is a VERY rapid activity. We had approximately seventy-five cut pieces of gauze to apply in about ten minutes or so, so we had our game faces on.

To do the actual belly cast, you dip each piece of gauze into a bucket of water, remove all excess water by slipping it through your fingers, and you smooth it onto Tiffany’s belly. Fortunately Tiffany wasn’t afraid to get her hands a little dirty as I was able to pass her the first few pieces to apply to her chest so she wasn’t just flopping in the breeze while construction workers next door were probably trying to sneak a peek!

Layer after layer we applied the gauze, first going horizontally, then vertically, then horizontally again for stability. Unfortunately, with about twenty or so pieces of gauze left, the belly cast began to dry so quickly that Tiffany could feel it lifting off her body from the sides. The only solution to get it to stop releasing was to stop laughing, but do you think we could possibly do that?! OF COURSE NOT. Every single chance I had to act like an idiot or tell a stupid joke, I seized the opportunity (K.J. would have been so proud). And after one HILARIOUS joke by Tiffany, the belly cast was only hanging on by the top part of her belly; I thought I was going to pee myself I was laughing so hard! Quickly we finished up applying all the pieces to Tiffany’s big ‘ol belly and I was a mess! Tiffany had to stay standing for about five minutes before the cast completely fell off, meanwhile I washed up and try to clean a little of the mess we made.

Thank goodness Tiffany was paying attention when the belly cast finally released, because she was able to just catch it in her hands. With a simple yell of “SISTER,” I went into the back room, grabbed the belly cast from Tiffany and placed it on the floor. While the cast did come out much better than the first, Tiffany was a little disappointed at the size of the belly! When comparing it to her belly with Andrew, this one is quite a bit smaller and we did this one about two weeks farther along - Ba-hum-bug!

So needless to say, I am now a belly casting pro. That’s not to say I’d rub just anyone down with oil and make them look like a mummy, but it definitely has been a wonderful bonding experience for Tiffany and me. The next step is to wait for our little bundle of joy to arrive so we can put him or her into the belly cast and take some adorable pictures like we did with Andrew. I’m just so darn happy to be an Aunt AGAIN. Oh, and good luck Little George - Andrew and Anna are tough acts to follow J