Alex and I have been talking about getting a new bed for awhile. We had your standard, run-of-the-mill mattress factory queen mattress. Not necessarily hard but definitely not soft. Because Nigel is spoiled he sleeps in the bed with us, usually on my stomach/side or feet. When we got Maisy there really wasn't room for two humans and two dogs so since she is bigger and moves around a lot more she got banished to the floor. (Don't worry, we love her a lot) I usually woke up with back pain which is an indication that something was not going right in the mattress department. Daily stretches took care of most of the pain so I kind of just ignored the issue.
Then I got pregnant.
The first couple weeks I was exhausted all the time but not sleeping great. I attributed this to just pregnancy in general. By the time I entered the second trimester my energy was up and I was sleeping a little bit better but I could not be in bed for more than 8 hours without waking up extremely stiff and in pain. Now laugh all you want, but I have always been a person that needs quality sleep. I'm usually in bed by 10 so I can get a solid 8 hours of sleep. On weekends I like to sleep in which could mean being in bed for 10+ hours - not anymore. I had to get up after 7-8 hours or the pain would just get worse and worse.
To further complicate matters I am a back sleeper. You aren't supposed to sleep on your back after the first trimester. I thought this was just because of the weight of the babies on your spine. In my stubbornness after not sleeping well on my side and ending back up on my back I thought that my spine could probably handle the extra weight if it meant I could sleep through the night on my back. But then I read an article about how sleeping on your back affects your blood flow which means the babies would get less blood flowing to them. Now, I'm no doctor, but depriving my babies of the necessary blood they need just so I can be comfortable sounded like a BAD idea.
Some friends told me to sleep with a body pillow. - Sleep on your left side (better for blood flow I guess?) with the pillow between your knees to help straighten your spine. Hug the pillow. - Easy enough, right? Wrong. I simply could not get comfortable. After a few nights of waking up on my back and thinking shoot! and then rolling back over and trying to get comfortable I added more pillows to the mix. It's kind of like how you add 'bumpers' to a toddler's bed so they can't roll out. I added two pillows behind my back on my right side so I felt supported but also so I couldn't roll onto my back to lay flat.
So now I had a husband, a dog, 4 pillows (don't forget the one for my head) and myself in a queen size bed. There wasn't enough room for all that nonsense and I was still waking up with back pain and a new added bonus of hip and knee pain. Like, how old am I?
We bit the bullet. We bought a King sleep number. My life will never be the same.
The bed is obviously electronic and has pumps that change the mattress firmness to your desired number. It took a couple weeks to figure out my number. Right now I'm sitting at 50 (out of 100). Some nights that is perfect and other nights I am restless. There is a sleep number app that shows you what your sleep looks like from the prior night. I don't trust that the app always knows what's up. I was wide awake for over an hour in the middle of the night one night last week and it didn't even register as 'restless' probably because I wasn't flopping around, but I wasn't sleeping either so I don't know how accurate the numbers really are. It tells you how much quality sleep you got. I dislike this because a lot of times it tells me I only got 6.5 hours of sleep in an 8 or 9 hour time frame. The overachiever in me wants to get more sleep per time spent in bed. Again, not sure how accurate the readings are, but I do know I feel more rested than i did before and I'm not waking up with all kinds of back/knee/hip pain, so the purchase was probably worth it.
Now on to the real point of this blog - pillows! I had seen "pregnancy pillows" online. They are shaped like a massive C. The long part of the C goes behind your back and you hug the top part of the C and the bottom part of the C goes between your knees. I had my four pillows that weren't really working for me but I figured I would survive. When I was making my registries I added one of the prego pillows to the list. I figured if someone bought me one while it was still of use I'd try it out. Well, much to my surprise I received said pillow in the mail two days ago from my friend from church, Ginny. And you know what? It's like sleeping on a cloud that is hugging you and keeping you in place. In just two nights I can tell a huge difference in my sleep and my back discomfort in the morning. And according to the app I'm way less restless too! Thanks, Ginny!
Moral of the story - If you aren't sleeping well, maybe a sleep number mattress is the mattress for you. And if you're pregnant, buy yourself a pregnancy pillow or find friends who will buy it for you! I promise you will sleep better!
Then I got pregnant.
The first couple weeks I was exhausted all the time but not sleeping great. I attributed this to just pregnancy in general. By the time I entered the second trimester my energy was up and I was sleeping a little bit better but I could not be in bed for more than 8 hours without waking up extremely stiff and in pain. Now laugh all you want, but I have always been a person that needs quality sleep. I'm usually in bed by 10 so I can get a solid 8 hours of sleep. On weekends I like to sleep in which could mean being in bed for 10+ hours - not anymore. I had to get up after 7-8 hours or the pain would just get worse and worse.
To further complicate matters I am a back sleeper. You aren't supposed to sleep on your back after the first trimester. I thought this was just because of the weight of the babies on your spine. In my stubbornness after not sleeping well on my side and ending back up on my back I thought that my spine could probably handle the extra weight if it meant I could sleep through the night on my back. But then I read an article about how sleeping on your back affects your blood flow which means the babies would get less blood flowing to them. Now, I'm no doctor, but depriving my babies of the necessary blood they need just so I can be comfortable sounded like a BAD idea.
Some friends told me to sleep with a body pillow. - Sleep on your left side (better for blood flow I guess?) with the pillow between your knees to help straighten your spine. Hug the pillow. - Easy enough, right? Wrong. I simply could not get comfortable. After a few nights of waking up on my back and thinking shoot! and then rolling back over and trying to get comfortable I added more pillows to the mix. It's kind of like how you add 'bumpers' to a toddler's bed so they can't roll out. I added two pillows behind my back on my right side so I felt supported but also so I couldn't roll onto my back to lay flat.
So now I had a husband, a dog, 4 pillows (don't forget the one for my head) and myself in a queen size bed. There wasn't enough room for all that nonsense and I was still waking up with back pain and a new added bonus of hip and knee pain. Like, how old am I?
We bit the bullet. We bought a King sleep number. My life will never be the same.
The bed is obviously electronic and has pumps that change the mattress firmness to your desired number. It took a couple weeks to figure out my number. Right now I'm sitting at 50 (out of 100). Some nights that is perfect and other nights I am restless. There is a sleep number app that shows you what your sleep looks like from the prior night. I don't trust that the app always knows what's up. I was wide awake for over an hour in the middle of the night one night last week and it didn't even register as 'restless' probably because I wasn't flopping around, but I wasn't sleeping either so I don't know how accurate the numbers really are. It tells you how much quality sleep you got. I dislike this because a lot of times it tells me I only got 6.5 hours of sleep in an 8 or 9 hour time frame. The overachiever in me wants to get more sleep per time spent in bed. Again, not sure how accurate the readings are, but I do know I feel more rested than i did before and I'm not waking up with all kinds of back/knee/hip pain, so the purchase was probably worth it.
Now on to the real point of this blog - pillows! I had seen "pregnancy pillows" online. They are shaped like a massive C. The long part of the C goes behind your back and you hug the top part of the C and the bottom part of the C goes between your knees. I had my four pillows that weren't really working for me but I figured I would survive. When I was making my registries I added one of the prego pillows to the list. I figured if someone bought me one while it was still of use I'd try it out. Well, much to my surprise I received said pillow in the mail two days ago from my friend from church, Ginny. And you know what? It's like sleeping on a cloud that is hugging you and keeping you in place. In just two nights I can tell a huge difference in my sleep and my back discomfort in the morning. And according to the app I'm way less restless too! Thanks, Ginny!
Moral of the story - If you aren't sleeping well, maybe a sleep number mattress is the mattress for you. And if you're pregnant, buy yourself a pregnancy pillow or find friends who will buy it for you! I promise you will sleep better!
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