By Crystal Donaldson
NORMAL – A woman in Normal is building her career as a Pregnancy Artist. She’s mixing her lifelong creativity with her past work as a doula, a type of birth coach.
Belly Blessings Henna was created with one Normal woman’s creativity and passion for pregnancy.
Amanda Palmer paints with pure henna and lavender oil on pregnant bellies as a service she started two years ago realizing it was not offered in the area.
She relies on word of mouth and says her goal is to help pregnant women celebrate and love their pregnant bodies
“I feel like henna is a great way for pregnant woman to celebrate their pregnancy and love their pregnant bodies. Kind of have something to show off at their birth that’s beautiful,” said Palmer.
She says her designs can last up to two weeks.
“Some women want to have it while their giving birth. They want to kind of show it off in their birth photos,” Palmer explained. “And other women want to do it earlier so that it can be there for maternity photos.”
Crystal Donaldson can be reached at crystal.donaldson@cumulus.com.
