So far this pregnancy has been relatively painless, but I am starting to feel some back soreness, especially when I wake up in the morning. One of my coworkers recommended a body pillow, which is basically a long pillow which supports your back, cushions between your knees, and supports your neck as well. Bernard insisted on taking a picture of it after we got home from the store, which you can see below.

Actually, it was pretty comfortable when I first tried it. Last night, I slept with it for the first time. I should add that pre-pregnancy, I slept mostly on my back, but since becoming heavier and heavier in my mid-section, I now do a lot of tossing and turning in my sleep. The body pillow forces you to lie on your side, which is the ideal position for sleep during pregnancy since it’s impossible to lie face down, and lying on your back is bad for the blood return to the heart and it strains the back itself. Consequently, I did find it a little annoying that I couldn’t move around very much while sleeping like I normally do, but, on the other hand, my back didn’t hurt when I woke up this morning. I guess if I can get used to sleeping on my side through the whole night, the body pillow will have been a good investment from a “back-sparing” standpoint. I’m on-call in the hospital tomorrow, and I’m considering bringing it so I can use it on the very uncomfortable on-call beds.