Belly Bands

     I finally sucked it up and bought a belly band.  I had some extra bucks from Motherhood Maternity that I needed to use.  They have a pretty good deal where if you spend $75 in there you get $30 to use toward purchases within a certain time period later.  They had a few different types of store brands and a couple of outside brands available.  Since I had $30, I went for the $29.99 Motherhood Maternity band that was shown to me by the very nice salesgirl.

     It is apparently the "ultimate" one as opposed to the more standard belt that was $19.99.  They really didn't look all that different, but they didn't have the cheaper one in my size.  We had Ridley's school carnival to attend that night and I knew I would be walking around a lot, which gives me back pain and pressure in my lower abdomen.  This thing was a little difficult to put on because there are so many adjustable straps, all with velcro, and they kept getting stuck in the wrong places as I was trying to get it on.  But after I managed to strap it firmly below my bulging belly, I yanked up my maternity "skinny" jeans over it and left for the carnival.  I discovered pretty quickly that if the straps aren't aligned absolutely perfectly that there is a tremendous amount of discomfort due to the misaligned edges jabbing into your belly as you move around.  It also didn't seem to make a whole lot of difference in how my belly and back felt.  I'm willing to give it another shot, though, as I really am not all that big yet.  I may really be thankful for that extra support a couple of months down the road.  So my conclusion is that I just don't know yet.  Anything that is even rumored to help prevent preterm labor is something that I'm willing to keep trying.  And I have a friend who swears that it really helped her back.  So, I will be trying it again the next time I will be on my feet and reporting back.