Anyone who knew me in real life during my last pregnancy (Taylor!) will know that it was a hell of a ride. We’d been trying for four years when we fell pregnant and pretty much from that moment on it was just one of those pregnancies. Nausea seemed to last forever, then we moved onto leg, pelvis and back pain.
I have fairly horrific varicose veins which start at the top of my thighs and work their way down. When not pregnant they are fairly manageable, when pregnant they stand out a lot more, are very raised, very painful and there is little relief.
Shortly before I hit 29 weeks I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes with readings off the charts which resulted in my testing and injecting at least four time a day. My levels only came under control properly the week before I had Taylor.
Every week I dropped Kieran off at school, walked to the bus stop over in town (I don’t drive), travelled to Northallerton where our hospital was. Walked to the hospital from the bus stop, had a morning meeting with the diabetes team, a scan just after lunch, walked back to the bus stop, travelled home then went straight to pick Kieran up. Seeing as walking with poorly legs and later horrible pelvic and back pain was difficult needless to say I was shattered by the end of the day.
Shattered and in pain the much needed sleep I craved was often harder to come by than it should be, until I started using a pregnancy pillow. A simple solution which worked so incredibly well! Firmer and easy to shape than bunched up ordinary pillows it gave a great amount of support. I could lie on my side, with my leg over the bottom of the long pillow, which helped with my pelvic pain and back discomfort and being properly positioned seemed to reduce the ache in legs.
Our pillow was laughingly named “Artificial Roy” because I cuddled it constantly, I slept with it and yet it didn’t snore or steal a duvet like the real version. I continued to use it after Taylor arrived (C Section) to promote supportive and comfortable rest and then shaped it in a V shape for him to later start to sit up with. These pillows are so simple and yet they do so much more than ordinary house pillows and cushions.
If only I’d thought to get one when pregnant with Kieran, especially after the incident surrounding the thrombosed pile…. Oh the indignities of pregnancy!
Today’s sharing is not because I am pregnant again or planning to be, however I do seem to have an enormous amount of pregnant friends at the moment and have mentioned pregnancy pillows to most of them so in for a penny, in for a pound. Post pregnancy I wish I’d held onto mine for longer because they really do help you get comfortable for a really good night’s sleep.
I hope this helps someone – they really are worth looking up. Did or do you use one?
*Written in co-operation with the mentioned business yet true to my own thoughts, feelings and experiences.
