Documenting the start - How to make pregnancy journaling easy (includes 40 writing prompts!)
Documenting your kids’ childhood starts before they’re even born! Recording the anticipation and joy of the start of the motherhood journey is a great way to start the storytelling habit, so you’re more likely to keep up with baby journals and photo albums. Writing can also help you prepare for your little one. Journaling throughout your pregnancy is not only a way to document this special time, but it’s also a wonderful way to reflect on your thoughts, fears, and hopes for the tiny miracle growing within you. This guide will show you how to make pregnancy journaling easier and enjoyable. By tying your journaling to a recurring event like prenatal visits, prioritizing shorter but frequent entries, and leveraging the power of writing prompts, you can turn this into a cherished habit.
Pregnancy journaling tip 1: Tie it to a recurring event
Finding time to start a journal before your baby's arrival might seem impossible. Between the baby preparation chaos and the pregnancy-related exhaustion, taking time to journal about your experience and your thoughts about your future baby can easily fall through the cracks.
Why not link it with your routine prenatal visits? Just five minutes every time you see your OBGYN or midwife can be enough to fill your journal with a meaningful narrative about your pregnancy.
This can look like a self-care moment, like a quiet moment in a nearby coffee shop to get your pregnancy craving fix (carbs and a sweet drink, anyone?). It could also be much simpler than that: jot down your thoughts on your phone while sitting in the waiting room. Convert those moments of waiting into an opportunity for reflection and journaling.
And for the moms for whom this pregnancy isn’t the first: yes, it’s a whole different ball game when you have your older munchkins tagging along. But here’s something that you may find effective: right after parking at the clinic, take a few minutes to quickly jot down your thoughts in bullet points on your phone. Sometimes, it's just enough to capture the essence before the backseat orchestra starts!
Pregnancy journal tip 2: Aim for more frequent, shorter entries
It’s not about creating a masterpiece in each entry, but about keeping a consistent record of your journey. So, aim for frequent, bite-sized entries. They may not be Shakespearean sonnets, but they're your thoughts, your feelings - they're in-the-moment reflections of your experience during pregnancy. You can always revisit and elaborate on them later when you have more time or you're in a more reflective mood.
This is why it’s important to have a list of diverse journaling prompts ready. You may not be in the mood to answer a deep question about how you hope to parent your little one or write about your labor plan — that’s okay! Instead, pick a prompt that gets you writing about your pregnancy cravings, that cute going-home outfit you just bought, or your latest pregnancy brain moment that made you leave the house with non-matching shoes. Write something short or lighthearted about your pregancy instead of skipping the journaling session altogether.
Pregnancy journal tip 3: Chart the course with writing prompts and questions
Writing prompts do the heavy lifting by providing a direction for your thoughts. This allows you to dive deeper into your experiences and emotions during pregnancy.
If you’re tying your pregnancy journaling habit to your prenatal visits, make sure you have enough prompts to get you started. Typically, you'll have around 15 prenatal visits throughout the course of your pregnancy. So, arm yourself with at least 25 journaling prompts to choose from.
Journaling as a mindfulness and documentation habit
There’s a difference between mindfulness journaling and documentation journaling. One helps you discover, reflect on, and establish your thoughts and intentions for motherhood; the other helps you preserve the memories of your pregnancy and your little one’s developments. Most store-bought journals keep these separate, which can cause a lack of emotional depth in the writing. Instead, consider combining both your reflections about your motherhood journey motherhood with the descriptions of your child’s milestones. It’s a beautiful way to create an honest, vulnerable, and open dialogue with your child as an undercurrent for their childhood tales. You’re creating their childhood while simultaneously shaping your motherhood experience, why not combine both in the words you write?
Getting started with your pregnancy journal: writing prompts and questions
To combine mindfulness and documentation journaling during your pregnancy, you need inspiring writing prompts. Your list of prompts should be a good mix of pregnancy-specific questions, reflections on your hopes for motherhood, and questions that steer you toward your dreams and expectations for the tiny human growing inside you.
Ready to give it a try? Whether you just took a pregnancy test or you’re about to pop, the best time to start your pregnancy journal is today!
40 pregnancy writing prompts and questions to get you started:
First Feelings: Think back on the moment you found out you were pregnant, especially the thoughts and feelings that accompanied that moment. How do you look back on that now? Have your thoughts about this pregnancy changed since you first found out?
Belief: If you could hand pick out one thought about themselves, life, or the world that your little one will believe to be true for the rest of their lives, what would it be? Why do you think that belief is so important for them?
Naming Thoughts: What names are you considering? What do they mean and why do they resonate with you? What’s the name-picking process been like so far?
Baby's Movements: Describe the first time you felt your baby move. What did it feel like? What are the baby’s movements like now? Are you noticing any patterns, like times of the day or reactions to your activity? If there were a Baby Olympics for in-womb acrobatics, what event would your baby win gold in?
Family History: What family stories or traditions do you want to pass on? What are some unique experiences from your own childhood that you fondly remember and would want your own child to experience too?
Physical Changes: How has your body changed so far? How do you feel about these changes? If it’s been challenging to keep negative thoughts at bay, what can you do to love your changing body more?
Nesting Instinct: How have you started preparing for the baby? What’s a top priority for you and why? If you were to start labor tonight, is there anything left that would cause you to feel “I’m not ready!” instead of “I’m excited!”?
Nursery: Where will the baby sleep? What are ways you’re making this a special place for them? If you’re preparing a nursery, describe the theme, colors, and any special decor you've chosen.
Words of Wisdom: What advice or wisdom have family members or friends shared with you about motherhood? What’s been helpful, and what hasn’t? How are you filtering what advice to pay attention to?
Gifts and notes: What’s a favorite gift, card, or note you’ve received from someone for the baby? What made it special?
Visions of the Future: Imagine a day in the life with your new baby. What does it look like?
Siblings: If this isn’t your first pregnancy, how do you think the baby’s siblings will respond to the baby’s arrival? What are you worried or excited about? How are you preparing them for the upcoming change?
Motherhood Fears: Are there aspects of motherhood that intimidate or worry you? Write about those. What triggers or worsens these fears? What can you do to foster more trusting and peaceful thoughts in this area?
Strangers’ responses: Have you had any memorable interactions with strangers about your pregnancy? This can be a funny, weird, awkward, or uncomfortable experience, or a heart-warming one!
Cravings and Aversions: What foods can you not get enough of? Any that you can't stand?
Bonding: How do you bond with your unborn baby? Are you playing or singing them any specific songs, talking or reading to them? How is your spouse, partner, or co-parent bonding with the baby?
Ultrasound Experience: Describe the last time you saw your baby on the ultrasound. What was it like? What emotions did it evoke?
Life with multiples: If this isn’t your first pregnancy, how are you expecting your family life to change after the arrival of the youngest one of your crew? What do you expect to become easier or more difficult?
Confidence and trust: What’s your current confidence level when thinking about being a mother to your growing baby? What impacts this confidence level? How can you use that awareness to build more confidence and prevent things from disturbing the trust you can have in yourself?
Expectations vs. Reality: How does this pregnancy compare to any expectations or preconceived notions you had about it?
Birth Plan: What does your ideal birth experience look like? If you could create a script for the labor and delivery process, what would it be like?
Mood Swings: Write a short anecdote about a mood swing or strong emotional response you had that caught you (or someone else) completely off-guard.
Lessons from Pregnancy: What has pregnancy taught you so far about your body, relationships, or life? How has it shifted your priorities, responses, or relationships?
Books and Resources: Are there any books or resources you've found helpful or inspiring during your pregnancy? What are the key takeaways you don’t want to forget?
Your Legacy: What’s something that you’ve fought for so that your child doesn’t have to fight that battle? What values or lessons do you hope to instill in your child as they grow?
Messages to the Future: Write a letter to your baby to read when they turn 18.
Support Systems: Who has been supportive during your pregnancy? How have they shown their love and support?
Imagining Baby: What features or personality traits do you imagine your baby might have?
Maternity Fashion: Share your best (or worst!) maternity fashion moment. Any hilarious outfit mishaps? What outfit is making you feel beautiful? Any “expectation versus reality” situations in your daily maternity wardrobe?
Cultural or Family Rituals: Are there any cultural or family rituals related to childbirth or baby's first year that you plan to incorporate?
The World Today: Describe the current world. What do you hope will change or improve by the time your baby grows up? What role do you hope your child will play in this?
Self-Care: How are you taking care of yourself during this pregnancy? If that’s been difficult: what’s standing in the way, or what thoughts are hindering this? What does it look like to give yourself permission to slow down, rest, or be taken care of?
Predictions: Make predictions about your baby. What will they love? What career might they choose? What will their first word be? Why do you think so?
Before and After: How do you anticipate your daily routine will change once the baby arrives? What are you doing to prepare for this new daily schedule?
Pregnancy skip: If you could pick one aspect of pregnancy you could skip for the remaining weeks, what would it be?
Growing Relationship: How has the bond between you and your partner or co-parent evolved during pregnancy?
Unique parenting styles: Think about your spouse, partner, co-parent, or other person who will be heavily involved in your family life. What are some unique aspects they’ll bring to the baby’s life? What will they be able to give to the baby that doesn’t come as naturally to you? How can you prepare to trust and appreciate their unique approach to parenting when it will be different from yours?
Work of art: Pick a song, poem, painting, or other work of art for your baby. Describe it or write it down and explain why you chose this for them.
Pregnancy brain: Describe one moment you had a case of “pregnancy brain” and either forgot something, did something silly, or had a strong response to something relatively small.
Dreamland Adventures: Pregnancy dreams can be wild! Describe the most bizarre dream you've had so far.
BONUS: If you’ve answered a prompt and have some journal time remaining, try to squeeze in one milestone. What’s a pregnancy milestone you haven’t documented yet? Write about the first kick, hearing the heartbeat, completing a trimester, the start of your pregnancy waddle, your gender reveal party or baby shower… Anything that hasn’t made it into your journal or album yet.
A pregnancy journal is an invitation to prepare and remember
Keeping a pregnancy journal is like turning the pages of your heart and letting your hopes, dreams, and the daily joys of anticipation spill onto the pages. Oh, sorry — does that sound sappy? There’s no such thing as too sappy when you’re on a cocktail of pregnancy hormones. Join the sappy momma club, grab your journal, and don’t filter as you write. Next time you're at your prenatal visit, take a few moments for yourself to reflect, record, and rejoice in this remarkable journey. Pregnancy journaling is about cherishing each step of this wild motherhood journey - one writing entry at a time.
