Magic pillow

Being pregnant has been such an incredible experience. I really mean that. Even though I was there when both of my sisters were pregnant twice and I was there while a bunch of my friends were pregnant and I had heard stories all my life, there is SO MUCH that I had no idea happened to your body, to your psyche and to your spirit during pregnancy. I know that my friends and family were not holding out on me. Having been there now, I know that a. you think some stuff is just too unimportant to talk about, b. you think some stuff is too weird to talk about and c. you think people will get sick of hearing you talk about it so you just keep it to yourself. Some helpful information I have gotten from people I know but a lot of it I have read about. I like being very educated on any subject that I am a part of. I have even learned some things from medical publications that my own high-risk doctor didn't know. I really feel like I might be an expert on this pregnancy thing. For me, anyway. The really strange thing about pregnancy is that a lot of women share a lot of the same symptoms. Then again, a lot of women are really very different from others. Most differences in symptoms has to do with your body and mind and how you react to different hormones. It was interesting for me to find that what you eat and what medications you don't take and how often you exercise are the basics for being able to control how horrible you feel, on a general scale. Of course there are major exceptions as sometimes women have problems way out of their control from the early stages of pregnancy. Then you just have to sit your happy bum in the bed until the doctor says it's time. The greatest thing about educating myself on this whole having-a-baby thing is that it takes a lot of the fear and anxiety out of it. I have just been able to relax pretty much from the beginning. I still get a little nervous about the episiotomy and I hope I don't have to have one. Lucky for me, there is a lot of information out there about how to prevent it. Wow! I digress.

The only real negative I have experienced, aside from the early, occasional nausea and early, extreme fatigue, has been lower back pains on the right side. (By the way, I had read a book very, very early in my pregnancy which informed me of how much exercise plays a part in getting you through that fatigue stage. It really worked. It is hard to make yourself plow through when you feel that tired but it was so worth it and I always felt better because of it.) The back pain seemed to increase with running as I got further into my pregnancy and by month five I was really feeling some pain. I couldn't sleep well and then I would feel pretty bad the next day from lack of sleep. I had a hard time getting up from a chair or out of my car. I couldn't walk fully erect during most evenings. Warm baths didn't seem to relieve it either. Aaron would rub the painful spot when it got too bad to deal with. Luckily that did help long enough to get a few hours of sleep.

Aaron has this client, Natalia, who had twin boys three years ago. She met Aaron last week to pick up a machine she had ordered. When she got out of the car, she said, "I have something for you," and pulled out this enormous pillow. Aaron had not even told her about my recent struggles. She just knew and even said, "I figured she would be getting pretty uncomfortable by now." Blessed, sweet, wonderful Natalia!!!!!

This pillow takes up half the bed at least. It also puts a border around me so there is no more snuggling for poor Mr. Ferrell. I am sure he is glad to get his sleep back, though. The pillow is like a mini recliner for your bed. All that it is lacking is a cup holder. Oh, it is so perfect! I have slept so soundly since I got it and, miraculously, I have no more back pain during the night or most of the day! I honestly haven't slept all night for months until the magic pillow entered my life.

After I ran yesterday evening, the pain was back and I got worried. Just not knowing if it will only get worse as I get bigger causes worry. I can handle it for now, but it does border on overwhelming at times and I have tried very hard not to take any kind of pain reliever since I got pregnant. It appears I have nothing to worry about, though. (Knock on wood.) After my run, I picked up the house, watered the garden, made dinner, did dishes, fed the dogs, put up the chickens and duck; all the while my back continued to hurt. As soon as I crawled into bed the pain started to subside. This pillow allows you to position yourself just right to completely alleviate the back pain. It is just amazing!

So that is the very long, drawn out story of my magic pillow. If you are pregnant or know somebody who is, I highly recommend this for you or them. This particular pillow is a LeachCo Back n Belly pillow. You can find it online for seventy bucks with shipping. I have not seen this exact pillow in any of the baby departments I have been in so online may be your best bet.

Sweet dreams!

~Shan