This is an exciting time in your life, and if it’s your first pregnancy it may be the most memorable time you’ll ever experience. A lot of women keep journals or diaries on a regular basis, and if you don’t, this is the best time to start. The journal will be a keepsake for you and for your unborn child, as well as a means of therapy through writing.
There are a lot of pregnancy journal options out there, but I’ve found the best to be a good hard-bound lined journal. I believe that the journals on the market that are aimed toward pregnant women can be helpful and cute with all their little side-notes and quotes in the margins, but a journal that is full of only your writing is much more personal and unique.
I started journaling my first pregnancy immediately. I began by writing a dedication page with the baby’s prospective name, and dates. My first entry included how I began to suspect I was pregnant, and all my intimate feelings surrounding it. I wrote in the journal often: any time I had a midwife appointment and especially about the birth. I included little comments about pregnancy – what it was like, how it felt, and how excited I was. I told about my childhood, what peer pressure was like and how important it is to “be true to yourself”.
I continued writing in the journal after I delivered, and I still write in it to this day. I am actually on my second journal after filling up the first! I included dates of milestones that my daughter hit, and other things that don’t really fit in a typical baby book. I think that this is a wonderful way to include anecdotal incidents that are unique to each child. Often, I ask my own mom when I had reached certain milestones and she can only remember a general age. But with my journal, I will be able to tell my daughter exact dates!
I use my journal to “talk” to my unborn child, and I plan on actually giving it to her when she is older – perhaps as a way to reach out to her as she is entering her teens. I was eighteen when I started this journal, so I felt like I genuinely could relate to the thirteen-year-old I was aiming my writing at. I hope when my daughter reads it she will agree.
Learn more about journaling your dreams during pregnancy here: Let’s Talk About Dreams During Pregnancy