TLDR: 5 stars, this is one of the best purchases I've made for my surgery.I very rarely write reviews. But I LOVE this thing so much I decided to go for it. I bought this body pillow in prep for a hysterectomy, in addition to buying a wedge pillow for sleeping. The wedge pillow sucked and was uncomfortable to sleep with. After one night, I put two pillows behind me and used this body pillow with the middle behind my head and one side propping me up behind me and the other over my shoulder for my head to rest on. IT WAS SO COMFORTABLE. One other night I used the connector piece and made it a donut, I put it over my head and put one arm through and the other under and used it like a large neck pillow (sorry, confusing to explain); also super comfortable! Now that I no longer need to sleep on my back, I have been using it just as a body pillow and I LOVE IT. I've decided I'm just going to keep using it even though I don't exactly need it. My husband has named the pillow Velveeta because it's soft and comforting, lol. AND I feel like it holds it's firmness. The middle part where I mostly put my head has "deflated" a little, but I could pat it back into a firmer shape if I wanted.