Pillow of Doom
Pregnancy Pillows: Not for the faint of heart and should have a warning posted on them: Will not make sense to your body at all until you have a baby belly to speak of.
John bought me my pregnancy pillow pretty early on in my pregnancy. I had this weird idea that it would come in handy early on in pregnancy (in fact, a book even told me so! Lies...). And maybe if I was one of those people that enjoys being strangled in my sleep, I would. But I'm not. So the pillow quickly became a movable object that resided on the bed during the day and on the floor during the night. I tried sleeping with it a few times and gave up after probably 2 minutes because I felt like I was trying to cuddle with an irritable octopus. One word: suffocation.
Now, there are a variety of kinds of pregnancy pillows (who knew, right?) and I have what's called the Snoogle. It looks like the above photo (which is oh-so-deceiving with how comfortable it looks). I was so excited to get it in the mail and when it came, I tried it out right away. The curly ends stay curled. No. Matter. What. And I felt like the pillow needed a nice beating to loosen it up a bit. I got to the point where I wondered if it was a wasted purchase and all the hype was nonsense about pregnancy pillows and how they save you from insomnia later in pregnancy. Well...ENTER insomnia! This week I've had a horrible time sleeping. I've woken up 3 nights at around 4am and tossed and turned until I finally fall asleep...right before the alarm goes off. I was getting kind of desperate and miserable. Now...I'm not going to go out there and say, "And then my Snoogle made everything better! Yippee!!" Because that's not entirely true. I did still have insomnia with the pillow. But considering John is still gone (funny how even when they aren't deployed, we still go through these annoying "mini" deployments), I decided to give the pillow a go again (so I could hopefully figure out the ins and outs of it before suffocating him with it in the process of myself). Besides, I had been noticing it more and more difficult to find a comfortable position...what with all the RULES about sleeping later in pregnancy. Haven't heard of them? Let me enlighten you.
Rule #1: Don't sleep on your stomach. Or rather...haha, you can no longer sleep on your stomach because it's too big! Stomach sleeper? Too bad!
Rule #2: Don't sleep on your back. Wait what?? Yes, that's right. Sleeping on your flat back cuts off some artery while you're pregnant. Lovely.
Rule #3: Don't sleep on your right side. WTF are you freaking serious?
Indeed. They are silly, annoying rules but apparently they are the rules of pregnancy sleeping and don't worry about hurting your baby or yourself by accidentally sleeping in the wrong position because it is said your body naturally wakes itself up when it's in one of the "wrong" positions. So the LEFT side is your happy sleeping side. Right is doable...but I guess left is best.
So there you have it. You're getting bigger (and I am bigger...believe me...I had my first stranger say something about me being pregnant yesterday...so it's unavoidable now...and let me just say it was a NICE comment by the stranger...nothing snarky...), you're feeling more awkward (by the second...like tying shoes? Wow...), and on top of all that your body supposedly wakes itself up when it's in the wrong sleeping position. Enter strangulation device...I mean pregnancy pillow. Now, I will caution you. My first night or two was awkward. I am glad John wasn't there because the pillow inevitably ended up across his side of the bed. But more and more I found myself inclined to use it, even if just part of it for leg comfort, and finally, belly support.
So it is official: pregnancy pillows (or maybe it's just the Snoogle) don't make sense until you get big enough. THEN...then they quickly grow to be a close friend. Do I look as snug as the lady in the photo? Not a chance. But it's finally working for me so I won't complain.
John bought me my pregnancy pillow pretty early on in my pregnancy. I had this weird idea that it would come in handy early on in pregnancy (in fact, a book even told me so! Lies...). And maybe if I was one of those people that enjoys being strangled in my sleep, I would. But I'm not. So the pillow quickly became a movable object that resided on the bed during the day and on the floor during the night. I tried sleeping with it a few times and gave up after probably 2 minutes because I felt like I was trying to cuddle with an irritable octopus. One word: suffocation.
Rule #1: Don't sleep on your stomach. Or rather...haha, you can no longer sleep on your stomach because it's too big! Stomach sleeper? Too bad!
Rule #2: Don't sleep on your back. Wait what?? Yes, that's right. Sleeping on your flat back cuts off some artery while you're pregnant. Lovely.
Rule #3: Don't sleep on your right side. WTF are you freaking serious?
Indeed. They are silly, annoying rules but apparently they are the rules of pregnancy sleeping and don't worry about hurting your baby or yourself by accidentally sleeping in the wrong position because it is said your body naturally wakes itself up when it's in one of the "wrong" positions. So the LEFT side is your happy sleeping side. Right is doable...but I guess left is best.
So there you have it. You're getting bigger (and I am bigger...believe me...I had my first stranger say something about me being pregnant yesterday...so it's unavoidable now...and let me just say it was a NICE comment by the stranger...nothing snarky...), you're feeling more awkward (by the second...like tying shoes? Wow...), and on top of all that your body supposedly wakes itself up when it's in the wrong sleeping position. Enter strangulation device...I mean pregnancy pillow. Now, I will caution you. My first night or two was awkward. I am glad John wasn't there because the pillow inevitably ended up across his side of the bed. But more and more I found myself inclined to use it, even if just part of it for leg comfort, and finally, belly support.
So it is official: pregnancy pillows (or maybe it's just the Snoogle) don't make sense until you get big enough. THEN...then they quickly grow to be a close friend. Do I look as snug as the lady in the photo? Not a chance. But it's finally working for me so I won't complain.
Photo: Snoogle found via Maternity & Baby Shopping Mart
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