I never anticipated having back pain at 3 1/2 months of pregnancy. During the day I am fine, but night is a different story. I am a stomach sleeper. While my tummy is still relatively flat, I can feel an awkward hard lump in my lower abdomen making sleep a little bit uncomfortable. Also, I have read that you shouldn't sleep on your stomach after the first trimester, so I have been trying alternate sleep positions.
The other position in which I sleep comfortably is on my back. I have been reading Dr. Oz's book You Having a Baby. Apparently, after the first trimester your uterus and baby are big enough that if you sleep on your back it can apply pressure to your inferior vena cava (the large vein running from your lower extremities, through your torso to your heart), decreasing blood flow to the baby and your own heart. I realize that many people do not even know that they are pregnant at this point and do things that are much more harmful than laying on their back to sleep, but I have this information now so I feel the need to apply it.
This leaves me sleeping on my side. I HATE sleeping on my side. Furthermore, it hurts my back. Sleeping was especially difficult at the beginning of this week because I was wearing an insulin pump (filled with saline) for a class project for my diabetes class. I had placed it on my side, which made it discrete under my clothing, but made it awful to sleep. Thankfully I was allowed to take my pump off a couple of days ago and now I have more freedom of sleeping positions, but I don't see any restful sleep coming anytime soon without some help.
I have tried using several pillows propped in different positions, but they all tend to fall of the bed during the night. Finally I decided to bite the bullet this morning and buy a pregnancy pillow. Here's hoping that my $80 investment is well worth it.
No comments:
Post a Comment