As some of you who follow me on twitter may have seen, I've been tweeting about my pants recently. Not because I've gone slightly mad or have become a fashion blogger (I'm still all about the betes!), but because I was sent a pair of Hid-In insulin pump pants to try out! (cont)
The lovely Katie from Hid-In posted on facebook recently that she needed a few ladies to try out her new product in exchange for user feedback, and luckily I saw the post in time. What's also lucky is that my bum is the right size for the pants Katie had to give away :) I've had my pants for a week now and I've been able to wear them twice (I'm wearing them right now!). Before anyone says it, it's never okay to turn them inside out to get an extra day's wear out of them... that's just wrong.
You may have seen in one of my youtube videos that I've used one of Katie's products before (the Hid-In Multiway Body Band) and I absolutely loved it, which was why I was excited to try this new product. I know it's only a pair of pants, but when you're wearing certain clothes and the only place to hide your portable pancreas is in the side of your bra, it's quite nice to have an extra option. As I've mentioned in the past, insulin pumps aren't very easy to hide inside clothing and it takes a lot of practice and adjusting to master the art of not having a rectangle shaped bulge. Before I got the pants I did wonder if that bulge was now going to be showing in a place where women don't usually bulge, but I was pleasantly surprised at the lack of pant bulge on display. I think I've used the word bulge far too much for one blog...
So this is the little envelope that popped through my letter box last week and I got far too excited knowing that there was another diabetes tester inside. I love that Katie adds heart stickers to the back of the envelopes - It feels like a treat has just arrived!
Inside was a letter from Katie saying hello and thanks for trying the product. Katie always writes a bit about her experience with diabetes as well and why she makes Hid-In products which is a nice touch. It's good to know that the person who has designed the product has done it because they have had similar problems and and wanted to find the solution.
The product itself is really nice - I like the detail around the edge, it's not too fussy but is still feminine. The material is very soft but also feels quite strong. I don't know about you ladies but I'm fed up with elastic that loses it's stretch (#womensproblems) but these seem very well made and look like they'll last a decent amount of time. The best bit is that they fit really well - not too big, not too small and they're really comfortable! I have quite big hips but these hug me in all the right places :)
This is the pocket - the main selling point to the product. The pocket is on the inside at the front and is more than wide enough to fit my Accu-Chek Combo insulin pump inside. I've used the Medtronic MiniMed 640G pump recently which is longer and wider than the Combo and I think it would also fit inside quite easily. As a test to see what else I could stash in there I also managed to fit in a lip-gloss and my chunky Channel blusher! I attempted to fit my mobile in as well but I was pushing my luck with that one. Obviously I didn't leave them in there... it was purely for experimenting!
In terms of taking insulin, I'm lucky in that my pump has blue-tooth which means that I can use my blood glucose meter to tell my pump to deliver my insulin. This means that wherever I've stashed my pump, I don't need to get it out in order to take my insulin. I know that not all insulin pumps have this function which would mean having to get the pump out of the pocket but I did manage to discreetly do this (again as an experiment) without anyone noticing!
In terms of comfort I've had no problems at all. It did feel a little strange at first because I've never worn my pump in that position before but after an hour or so I got used to it. In terms of how visible the pump is, I tried the pants on with a few outfits and I went to Mr T for some straight-to-the-point male advice (does my pump look big in this) and they passed the test! If I'm honest, when I ask him if any part of me looks big he knows better than to say yes, but I do trust him to tell me if my pump is showing.
All in all I give this product a big thumbs up and 5 pink stars out of 5! Thank you Katie for making another great diabetes fashion product for us!
Ninjabetic x