Discomfort
As our baby grows and I'm in my third trimester, the discomfort of the epigastric hernia has become worse. Logically, the baby pushes aside the space he needs and in my case, least resistance is where the hernia is. Sadly, that also gives me most discomfort and even pain because it's not a great feeling when there's so much pressure from the inside.
Belly band
I bought an elastic band specifically to get relief on the days the hernia is pushing out a lot, it truly helps. BUT then the heat arrived in Spain and I can tell you, you really don't want to add another layer (especially not of this material) to your clothing when it's 35 degrees Celsius outside. Most days, I tried to stick to wearing it inside only because the velcro can also damage the linen clothing when I wear it outside. Until a few weeks ago, that worked out ok, until it didn't anymore.
While the baby is growing, the discomfort already grows naturally but this adds another layer of pain and being overheated by that stupid belt. I started to resent that thing and hoped for a solution.
Kinesiology tape for belly support
Then I saw some videos pop up online about using kinesiology tape to support the pregnant belly, which I don't need yet because my belly is not that big yet, thankfully. BUT it made me think that if it's true that this simple tape solution supports a heavily pregnant belly, it should be able to give some support for the hernia, right? It only made sense to me.
Shopping
I asked my boyfriend to check the budget store because I knew I saw it there recently, it's just always a matter of will they have it or not, these stores can sometimes have empty shelves for weeks and then suddely have things for a longer period again. I was lucky, they had it, but only black one. It's under my clothing anyway, so who cares, bring it home, let's try it!
What a difference!
I found a video with instructions on how to properly tape an epigatric hernia and showed it to my boyfriend. The first tapes were removed as I noticed when I stood up, it didn't give the right support but when he tried again, the result was amazing!
It's been forever since I didn't see that stupid bump pop out and felt supported without feeling uncomfortable wearing a stupid elastic band which is too wide and hot to wear in summer. I could not believe this worked so well. One roll of tape, costing just 2,25 euros, some cutting and trial and error to place it correctly and voila, I felt so much better!
Waterproof
Although I expected that I would need a renewal of tape every time I'd shower or swim, the tape is waterproof and I've already swam with it two times, so it's definitely not affecting the support at all.
Today I had to take it off due to having an ultrasound and I felt gutted seeing the bump pop out again immediately so I decided to use the support beklt for a few hours until my boyfriend can renew the tape today. I wish I'd learn about this tape sooner, I knew it existed but I never really looked up what it was for and therefore the realisation never came that I could benefit from using this. It would have saved me SO much pain and discomfort in the past months. But as the saying goes, better late than never, right?
So this tape is basically my new best friend, would recommend it to anyone who has similar pain issues..
All pictures used are from Canva Pro