Pillow Talk

About a week ago, a huge package arrived on our doorstep. Meet my new pillow. I've felt great throughout the second trimester so far.  The only discomfort I've had has been related to sleeping.  I was waking up in the middle of the night needing to go to the bathroom, and afterwards I had trouble getting comfortable and falling back asleep.  And, even though I've always been a side sleeper, I found myself going to sleep on my side but somehow waking up on my back . . . and my back hurt.  (You are not supposed to sleep on your back after around the 4th month or so of pregnancy - your abdomen puts a lot of pressure on your organs and your spine or something like that.)  I started sleeping with a regular body pillow (thanks for lending it to me, Janelle) to squish between my knees and hug my belly, but I was still having the same problems. So I decided to invest in this monstrosity of a pillow. I've been sleeping on it two ways.  Usually, when I go to bed, I sleep on my left side, wrapping my arms around the stretchy side of the pillow as it hugs and supports my belly, with my head on one end and the other end between my knees. I still wake up once in the night and have to go to the bathroom. Then I flip over onto my right side.  With my back against the stretchy side of the pillow, it keeps me from rolling over onto my back and cradles my back and hips. So far this is going well!  I haven't had trouble falling back asleep and I haven't woken up flat on my back or had any soreness. We'll see how it goes as my baby belly grows.  I have a feeling that this pillow may become an even greater source of comfort and a truly necessary part of getting a good night's sleep. As a bonus, there are a lot more ways that you can use the pillow.  It came with all kinds of pictures and suggestions.  (For those wondering, it's the LeachCo Grow to Sleep adjustable maternity pillow.  And for the record, I got a great deal on it.)  And the two ends detach and can later be used separately as nursing pillows. Greg says that I love my pillow more than I love him, which is not true. But I'm not kicking it out of the bed any time soon.

From Loving the Life We Live