Want to document your pregnancy? Here are some thoughts and ideas on keeping a pregnancy journal.
My husband and I went into marriage saying to ourselves, absolutely, positively no kids. Then a few years passed and we helped our siblings with our newborn nieces and nephews and the baby bug hit us just like that. My pregnant friends and family members would go out and buy every pregnancy book on the market and buy pregnancy clothes galore. One thing I noticed that very few of them did was to keep a pregnancy journal.
A pregnancy journal essentially documents your pregnancy, usually from the time you find out you are pregnant up until the time you actually deliver. Think of all those special moments during your pregnancy. There was the pregnancy test that you bought with shaking hands at the drugstore and the moment you looked down at that positive sign on the stick. What were you feeling at that precise moment? It is moments and thoughts like this that can be documented forever in a pregnancy journal. What a treasure to be able to show your child all that you went through before he emerged. Or maybe you can save it to give to your own daughter or daughter-in-law who is pregnant for the first time.
You can choose to keep your pregnancy journal in any number of ways. If you love taking lots of photographs, one of the best ways to document your pregnancy is through a scrapbook. If you are more of a writer, simply buy a baby-inspired journal. If you are more technically-inclined, you can create a pregnancy journal (or blog) online. There are many different websites that allow you to create an online journal (most are for free) that can be kept private, that can be opened up to friends and family only or that can be viewed by anybody online. This is a fantastic way to create a pregnancy journal because it allows friends and family members to log on and view what new events are happening daily in your life. There are even ways for your friends and family members to comment on your journal entries so they can give you some advice or encouragement.
You are the master and commander of this journal so you can decide when you actually want to start keeping one. For example, maybe you and your husband have decided that you will start trying. Why not start keeping your journal from this point? You can discuss the different trials and tribulations you faced as you attempted to conceive. Maybe you can talk about your disappointment at seeing the negative sign on the pregnancy stick and how you simply kept on trying. This will be inspiring for other women who may have access to your journal to keep on trying themselves if they are not getting pregnant right away. If you do choose to keep your journal online, you may even find some other pregnant women who are going through the same ordeals who you can lean on for support and encouragement. You will want to document moments like the second you realized you were pregnant or the different symptoms you had. You can choose to make the tone humorous or serious. If your husband wants to get in on the fun, he can have his own section of the written or online journal that will document the different emotions he is experiencing as a husband looking on.
If you are wondering specifically which events to document, here are some important events you may want to keep in mind, should they pertain to you.
· When you and your husband or wife officially decide you will begin trying, you may want to make a list of the emotions you felt or the questions you asked each other.
· You and your husband get a negative test result back from your pregnancy test. What did you talk about afterwards and how were you able to bounce back?
· If you are having an especially difficult time getting pregnant, vent on your journal about the challenges you are facing, both physically as well as emotionally. You may find you get a lot of support and a lot of feedback, especially if you are keeping a journal online.
· Of course, you will want to document the pregnancy test you took that finally came back positive. What was the first thing you said to your husband or wife? Who did you tell first?
· What are some of the initial symptoms you started feeling when you got pregnant?
· You will want to journal the very first item you and your spouse bought for the baby before he/she was born.
· Document all of your doctor visits and keep updates as to how big the baby is getting as well as any sonogram pictures you are receiving.
· Be sure to document both textually and pictorially big events like the different baby showers that were thrown for you.
· When the big day is soon to arrive, take note of the emotions you and your spouse are feeling. For example, write down how you felt packing for the hospital.
· Once the due date actually arrives, ask friends and family members, especially those who are in the room with you when you deliver, to take notes on things that were said and emotions that were felt by the onlookers. Because there will be so much going on during this time, you may be too overwhelmed to remember everything that happened.
· Keep an account of how you felt seeing your baby for the first time and how it felt to finally take him/her home.
