Pregnancy can be a wonderful time as you plan for the arrival or your baby, but of course your body will go through many changes, some that may not have been apparent to you until now.
A question we get asked a lot is if you should continue to wear your rings? Every woman is different and while some may find there is no issue with fingers swelling during pregnancy, we believe that prevention is better than cure, so we always advise people to take their rings off in the early stages of pregnancy to avoid problems later on.
That doesn’t mean you aren’t able to wear your rings though, some choose to temporarily wear important jewellery, like an engagement or wedding ring on a necklace. Increasingly popular though is pregnancy jewellery. This allows you to wear a larger ‘stand-in’ wedding ring that then becomes a lovely memento and family heirloom and perhaps even resized so you can continue to wear it once the baby is born.
If you find that you’ve left it too late and your ring is stuck then there are ways you can still remove it, before it gets stuck even further:
- First of all simple wiggle and twist the ring between your thumb and forefinger as you slowly move it towards the end of your finger. Be careful not to pull too much as it could cause further swelling.
- If it still won’t budge then use some liquid soap, cooking oil, Vaseline or other lubricant to help it slide more easily.
- You can also try lifting your hand above your shoulder for a few minutes to reduce any swelling.
- Cold water can also help. Put your hand in a bowl of cold water for a few minutes until you feel the ring move more easily.
- There is a clever trick too with dental floss or cotton thread that can help too. This may hurt a little but it’s helped a lot of people get a ring off their finger. This video shows you how it’s done:
If doing any of the above over a sink, put the plug in first so you don’t lose the ring if you accidentally drop it.
If none of these tips work, then you may need to get it cut off. There is still hope though as a good jeweller should be able to rejoin the ring, or even create a new piece of jewellery if necessary.
Give Arabel Lebrusan a call to see what she can do to help save a ring that has had to be cut, or help you evolve your ring into something brand new too.