Having been a back sleeper all of my life, I read with great dismay that by month five of my pregnancy, I should be sleeping exclusively on my side. The book What to Expect When You’re Expecting warns:
The back position, though more comfortable, rests the entire weight of your pregnant uterus on your back, your intestines, and two major blood vessels: the aorta (the vein responsible for bringing blood from the heart to the rest of the body) and the inferior vena cava (the vein responsible for returning blood from the lower body to the heart). This can aggravate backaches and hemorrhoids, make digestion less efficient, interfere with breathing and circulation, and possibly cause hypotension, or low blood pressure.
YIKES! Just the threat of hemorrhoids is enough to get me to sleep in the bathtub with a rubber chicken on my head, so I think I can deal with sleeping on my side for a few months. While I’m carrying pretty small at the moment, I figured I would test drive sleeping on my side. As expected, my neck and shoulder cramped up and I was absolutely uncomfortable. I heard about body pillows made specifically for pregnant women, so I started doing some research online and looking for them out and about.
Snoogle body pillow by Leachco
Yesterday Joyce and I went to USA Baby on Nimitz Highway in search of the elusive pillows. They had several types of body pillows, but the one that caught my eye was called the Snoogle made by Leachco. There was also a pillow called Back N’ Belly that looked comfortable, but large and unwieldy.
The only thing that gave me pause was the price tag that these pillows carried: $69.99 for the Snoogle and $89.99 for the Back N’ Belly. Before dropping that kind of money for a pillow I was only going to use for the next 4 months or so, I wanted to be sure that it was going to be worth the cost. I decided that I would check online for reviews and see what people said about the products.
In my search for reviews, I discovered that Amazon.com carries the Leachco pillows for substantially less than USA Baby. It also says that it qualifies for free Super Saver Shipping. The Back N’ Belly pillow is $54.99 and the Snoogle is $49.99. (Quite a difference from the $89.99 and $69.99, respectively, at USA Baby.) I queried the ladies on HawaiiMoms.com about body pillows and it so happens that one of them had the Back N’ Belly ~ and loved it. The only unfortunate thing is that she said that they have a California King sized bed and it took up half the space. We have a standard King, which would pretty much relegate Hubby to sleeping on the floor with the dog, which I’m sure he would not appreciate.
So, today I ordered the Snoogle for $49.99, no tax, no shipping. Hallelujah!
now I’ve seen it all
How lucky you modern moms have this. I, too, amd a back sleeper. I used 4 pillows to help me sleep on my side (one for my head, one under my belly, one behind my back, and one between my knees).
Being an “active” sleeper, the pillows got relocated during the night and one time I ended up on my back and started flailing and grunting like an overturned turtle. My husband had to push me back into position until I got comfortable and breathing normal again. All this, mind you, while I was fast asleep!
LOL!!!
It’s fun listening to your stories, I’m so happy for your blessing.
I have the snoogle… However, it DOES take up a lot of space too… Mines came with pictures on how you can make it work for you…
Hope that helps!
also, I think it’s Boppy that makes this other thing that’s like a wedge.. And you just place it under your tummy. Which I heard is supposed to be really comfortable…
BTW.. I’m rtanaka on Hawaii Moms!
i don’t like what to expect, it’s a bit…harsh with
what you must and cannot do. it’s a yucky book
that scares new expectant mothers. that’s how
i feel about it.
general consensus (as i too am a back sleeper)
is that you can sleep on your back until you
are so humongous you simply can’t do it anymore.
and that’s what i did. =) well beyond five months
mark
the snoogle was too big for me.
i used the pilow wedge instead, which is
sort of shaped like a cheese. it’s small
and fits right between your knees.