I am 25 weeks pregnant this week and starting to feel LARGE! I have gained about 13 pounds as of this week but my belly is really starting to bulge out. Ill attach a picture to this post later today when I get the time. I am really excited to be finishing out my 2nd trimester here soon and getting things over with. 15 weeks left to go! (assuming everything goes as planned) The holidays are right around the corner and I'm hosting my first Thanksgiving at my house for my immediate family. Once Thanksgiving hits I hope to be crazy busy until after the new year and then BOOM, only about 6 weeks left after that. Siiighh....
So I seem pretty impatient to get this over with right? Well I am. While I am trying to enjoy being pregnant while it lasts, savoring every little kick and getting my life ready for my growing family, I hate being pregnant. Maybe hate is a strong word, but I dislike it much more then I like it, so I think it fits. Man is that little squishy bundle of joy worth it, but I don't do it very well. Or at least my body doesn't.
I stand a whopping 5'2" tall. My husband is 5'10". We learned while we were dating that we have the same size legs, and hips! There was an incident where he actually fit perfectly into a very snug pair of jeans that I owned... :( But he has an extra 8 inches on me from hip to head. Meaning I have a VERY small torso, which is one of the reasons I feel it is so hard for me to get a thin waist, cause there is so much stuff going on in such a small area. Oh well, I can deal, cause it's not like I can do anything about it anyways. But then there is trying to condense a human being into that area and I don't carry my babies small. My son was 9lbs4oz. I am sure this one will be similar in nature.
Because the baby has no where to grow, it made an immediate descent into my hips, and along with the relaxing ligaments, I have been in constant pain since about the beginning of my 2nd trimester. I have pubic symphysis Diastasis along with severe sciatica, and this makes me very grumpy all the time. I can't sit for longer then an hour, I have to get up and stand in the back during movies, concerts, church.... and going from one hip position to another, i.e. sitting to standing, standing to walking, and so on, doesn't go very well. My left hip/leg hurts all the time. The only things that don't really hurt are walking, standing, and running (as long as I keep my distance low)
So I bought a maternity belt through a recommendation of a friend who experienced sciatica during her pregnancy. I tried several on at the store, and this was the least complicated of them all. So I wanted to give my review of what I thought for hip pain and for running.
REVIEW for running:
When your pregnant, everything kind of feels out of whack in the first place. When I throw running into the picture, things get weirder. I have a lot of lower ligament pain when I run, and I think that makes my lower abdomen swell a little when I run. Well, in order for this belt to work, it needs to be snug around the waist, then adding more pressure to my already swelling abdomen, which makes it swell even more. Several times during runs with this belt I have started experiencing sudden severe pain in my lower abdomen to the point where I had to stop running and take the belt off and carry it for the rest of the run. This is no fun and hurts like crap, so I have stopped wearing the belt running. Any benefits it has for pain is outweighed by its inconvenience. If you don't experience ligament pain, I'd say give this a try, if you do, I WOULDN'T RECOMMEND it for running.
REVIEW for hip pain:
This belt seems to really help my hip pain, when I can wear it. It seems to hold my hips in place which holds my pubic bone together I assume, so the pain is definitely alleviated there. It also seems to take the pressure off of the sciatic nerve when I wear it. Since those are my two issues, I really enjoy wearing it for that reason. It makes me feel a little more... pulled together... like my hips aren't just flopping around all over the place. HOWEVER- the same issue as with the running applies. If I am having any abdomen discomfort I can't wear it cause it presses on my front low belly ligaments. I also can not wear it sitting or after I eat for about an hour. I cant bend well in it. So for hip pain, I WOULD RECOMMEND wearing the belt. Just be cautious that it will take some figuring out when your body likes to wear it. I really enjoy wearing it sleeping, laying on the couch, and general doing stuff around the house like cleaning.
COSMETIC REVIEW: This belt is not cute. At least its not on me cause I am not thin. I am average weight, normally 123lbs, but this belt takes what weight I do carry around my middle and squishes it into what I call my baby muffin top. Which means that I could never wear it in public. It also hangs low so it looks kind of like I'm wearing a diaper :)
Leave me a comment and let me know if you find this review helpful, or if you have had any experiences with maternity belts!
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