Leachco Back 'n Belly Contoured Body Pillow

First and most importantly, I hope all of the moms reading this had a happy Mother's Day—especially the first-timers like myself. A big group of my relatives stayed over at my condo this weekend until Monday afternoon, hence my lack of a post yesterday. But in the continuing spirit of honoring moms, and moms-to-be in particular, I figured I'd review the Leachco Back 'n Belly Contoured Body Pillow today.

As I mentioned when I wrote about the Prenatal Cradle, this pillow is the heavens' gift to pregnant women.

Best. Invention. Ever.

I couldn't sleep without it. I tried (because I didn't have a choice) during the week we went to the Bahamas for our "babymoon," and ended up annoying the Guest Services team at the Atlantis by requesting 20 bazillion extra pillows in order to compensate for being without the Leachco miracle product.

There were even more pillows OFF of the bed when I took this picture

So why is this pillow the bomb? Because you don't need to move it or readjust it or flip it over your body if you switch sides during the night. Unlike the most common pregnancy pillows, which look something like this . . .

This is not a gigantic unstriped candy cane, sorry.

. . .  the Leachco Back 'n Belly pillow allows you to move around during the night without hauling the pillow over your body, which—I'm sorry to break it to you ladies in your first trimester—you won't be able to do in the later weeks anyway.

I started using the pillow during my 16th week, before I was really even showing. But by that point I was already uncomfortable at night and HATED the feeling that my stomach was "hanging." I'm usually a back sleeper, and as I'm sure you know, you're not really supposed to sleep on your back once you get a bit bigger because it crushes some important artery (I can't even remember anymore and it's only been a few months!). This pillow saved me. Until the final days before Baba G arrived (he was 10 days overdue, by the way), I was able to get a good night's sleep, which apparently is pretty rare from what others tell me.

I even hauled the pillow with me on a five-hour drive back to Michigan for my baby shower! My only regret is that I didn't buy it a few weeks sooner. Since I took no blackmail pics of me sleeping with this thing, here is one of the marketing photos:

Look at how happy she is!

You can't really tell from this picture, but it helps support your stomach and align your back.

So there has to be something wrong with it, right? Well, I honestly had no complaints, but here are three small things that I've seen discussed in reviews of the product on Amazon. I do understand where people are coming from with these gripes:

1) If you have a small bed, this pillow is gonna eat up the majority of your space. But hey, you are bringing a new life into this world, so your significant other can deal with clinging to the edge of the mattress for a few months. We have a king bed and had no issues. In fact, my husband ended up hugging the side of the pillow closest to him half the time.

2) It's not the easiest thing to wash. Its cover is kind of tough to get on and off, I'll admit. But at the risk of grossing you out, I'll also admit that I never washed it during my pregnancy, anyway. I was always wearing pajamas and had a towel over the top part (see #3) so it's not like it got dirty or anything. They also make replacement covers for those so inclined to switch colors up every once in a while.

3) The area where you put your head isn't the comfiest. I NEVER found this to be the case, but some chick wrote a huge post on Amazon, complete with video (if I'm remembering correctly), complaining about how the material stretched in a weird way near the head area and she found it all uncomfortable. There is a ridiculously easy solution to this problem: drape a towel or pillowcase across the top and sleep on it that way. That's what I did because I preferred the feel of my pillowcases (or a towel, if I went to bed right after a shower with my hair still wet) over the cover that comes with the pillow. Voila, problem solved. No need to freak out, crazy Amazon reviewer lady!

The bottom line: This pillow is worth way more than the $60 it costs. BUY IT. You are going to use it every night (and probably during the day for naps) for at least six months of your pregnancy—that's  33 cents a day at the most, people! I actually continued to use it for several weeks after Baba G arrived until I was feeling relatively back to normal.

I threw it out after that point because it's just too hard to store in a condo with hardly any closet space like ours. But if you have any pets, you might consider letting them use it once your little bundle of joy is here.

Even non-humans agree that this pillow rocks.