Are you pregnant and want to record your pregnancy in a journal or in your bullet journal? First of all, congratulations! You have an exciting, unique time ahead of you in which you will experience so much and I can absolutely understand that you want to capture as much of it as possible.
There are beautiful pregnancy journals online and in stores. In them you will find super overviews and great, creative people have already thought about it a lot. Most pregnancy journals are also not too expensive.
But pre-made pregnancy journals are made for the general public. They are made to fit every mom-to-be and thus they may not fit you. Therefore, your own pregnancy journal gives you the opportunity to collect your own needs, experiences and impressions. However, it also brings the challenge that you yourself are responsible for filling your pages.
My tip: before you start your pregnancy journal, browse pre-made pregnancy journals at the bookstore around the corner or get inspired on amazon. This way, you will hopefully find out which pages you would like to have in your journal and which ones you like or find most helpful.
Must-have pages for your pregnancy journal
There are pages that should definitely not be missing from a pregnancy journal. You will find them in all pre-made journals and therefore you should definitely add them to your own pregnancy journal.
- The beginning
- When and how you found out you were pregnant (and how you told your partner about it)
- Statistics
- A place where you record your data such as cycle length, last period etc.
- Checklist for applications and forms
- No matter what country you live in, pregnancy usually involves a lot of paperwork. It is therefore very helpful to have a checklist where you can see all the applications at a glance.
- Overview of all pregnancy weeks and months and how big the baby is already in the corresponding week.
- Pages for pasting in the ultrasound images
- Contacts
- Write down all the important contact details: Hospital, gynaecologist, midwife and preferably also the numbers of your partner or your parents (in case your mobile phone battery runs out in an emergency).
- Calendar
- As simple as it sounds, it’s best to draw a calendar of the whole time of your pregnancy + one or two more months. Here you can note down your week of pregnancy, doctor’s appointments or other dates that are important to you.
Personalized page ideas for your pregnancy
Every pregnancy is different, just like every woman and every child. So feel free to add to your pregnancy journal any page that you find helpful, inspiring, meaningful or just beautiful. Here you will find some inspiration on which pages these could be.
- Test Log
- List all the pregnancy tests you have taken.
- All about the parents
- A page with all basic information about the parents like Birthday, hair colour, height, star sign, and so on
- Pregnancy Master To Do List
- Everything you want to do during your pregnancy and also everything you want to do after the birth.
- You could also divide this list into trimester To Do Lists and an extra To Do List for the time after birth.
- Baby Checklist
- All the items you want to buy for the baby
- Baby Registry List
- A list of all the things you want others to do for the child.
- Tracker
- Whether it’s a list, a table or a chart, it’s super exciting to have a page where you can track your weight and waist size.
- Baby Movement Tracker
- On this page you could note when you first felt your child and how often. Important: Make sure if it is good for your mental health to track your child’s movements closely. It can lead to increased anxiety. If it stresses you out too much, you should stop immediately!
- Individual pages for each week or month of your pregnancy
- Here you can either come up with a template that you use each time with recurring questions (e.g. How are you doing? What symptoms do you have? What was the highlight of this week? What physical changes have you noticed? What is your current favourite snack?) or simply write down what comes to your mind each time.
- Little letters to your baby
- Some talk to their baby bellies, others don’t. So it’s a good idea to write little letters on occasion.
- Telling friends an family
- How did those around you react when you told them about your pregnancy? Who did you tell first?
- Predictions
- Whether you’re alone, with your partner or in a large group with families and friends. It’s fun when everyone writes down when they think your little baby will be born, how big it will be, what it will look like and so on. You can either have them write directly in your journal or make little notes and stick them in your pregnancy journal.
- Baby Belly Updates
- If your belly is something you are happy about, you can either write down data like belly circumference, weight, etc. or take regular photos of yourself and stick them in.
- Preparation for baby cards
- A page where you can collect inspiration for baby cards as well as the addresses of of everyone you want to send them to, or also price comparisons of different online suppliers.
- Notes from birth classes
- If you are taking a birth class, I recommend writing down your notes directly in your pregnancy journal. This way you have everything in one place and can always check.
- Checklist for the hospital bag
- Your birth plan
- Write down your wishes for the birth
- Pages for your baby shower
- If you are planning your baby shower yourself, you could collect checklists, plans, costs, etc. or if you are surprised with a baby shower, you could write a journal entry about what you experienced or glue in small souvenirs.
- Gender predictions
- In many cultures there are different predictions or wisdoms for the sex of the child. You could write these down and see what gender your child would be according to these predictions.
- Pregnancy Bingo
- At the beginning of your pregnancy, think about all the things you think you will experience during your pregnancy. Write them down like a bingo box and tick them off as you experience them. In case of a “bingo” you could give yourself or your child a present.
- Baby Song Ideas
- Write down all the baby songs you would like to sing to your child. It’s best to write down all the lyrics so you can learn them beforehand.
- All your firsts
- A page where you can write down every first such as the first time you fel your baby move, the first time your partner felt the baby, the first time your heard the heartbeat, etc.
- Appointment Pages
- There are many doctor’s appointments during pregnancy. On such pages you could note down which doctor you have seen, what information you have received or what questions you have for the doctor and what the next step is.
- Wishes for baby
- Write down your wishes for your child or have others write down their wishes for your child. You can find very nice templates for this on Pinterest.
Journal Page ideas for the time after Birth
Let’s face it, after the birth you’ll have other things on your mind than picking up your journal and drawing pretty pages. You should therefore prepare the following pages BEFORE the birth so that you can fill them in quickly.
- Birth report
- Write down everything you remember about the birth of your baby. You could make this report easier for yourself by using specific key points such as the time of the first contraction, the time your water broke, how long you were in labour, where you gave birth, when the baby was born, what aids were used, etc.
- Your baby’s data
- Your baby’s firsts
- Prepare a page for all the first steps of your baby like first check-up, first hiccup, first time drinking breast milk, etc. A place where you can quickly write down the first impressions you want to remember.
- Tracker for your baby’s excretions
- Many doctors want to know how often your child wets his or her diaper. It is helpful to have a place where you can write it down.
- Tracker for breast feeding
- Here you can track how often you breastfed your child, in which position, for how long and also how your child behaved (for example, whether it fell asleep).
This list is already super long and still not complete. I hope you have found some ideas and inspiration for your pregnancy journal and can now start to design your own pages.
What is your favorite page in your pregnancy journal or what page is definitely missing from my list? Xo – L.
