Why You'll Love Your Pregnancy Journal

Even if you don't consider yourself a wordsmith and you shy away from putting pen to paper, a pregnancy journal should put such qualms to rest as it is just between you and your baby. Of course, you could include your partner in it, but that's entirely up to you.

A pregnancy journal does not have a specific format. Just like every pregnancy is different, even for the same woman, a pregnancy journal could be a collection of sticky notes, a plain 99 cent note pad or an elaborate pre-baby book complete with ducks and bows.

The important thing is that you'll be preserving special thoughts of one of the most important times of your life. Sure, your wedding was important and so was graduation day, but whether it's your first baby or your third, child birth will bring a new dimension to 'special'.

Medical Benefits

Your pregnancy journal can be very helpful at prenatal visits when your OB/GYN asks you if you have any questions and you stare at her blankly. It's only after you step out of the office that you wish you'd asked her if you could dye your hair! By jotting down questions as well as if something unusual is happening, you have specific questions to ask and more concrete symptoms to relate if you need to call your doctor.

Emotional Benefits

When you're up at 3AM for yet another diaper change and feeling the baby blues, perhaps a glimpse at how you were anticipating the baby in a journal entry in your pregnancy book can lift your spirits. You may be fuzzy eyed now, but once you read how you really waited for that kicker to be out in this world so that you could hold him, you might just take midnight feedings in your stride.

Practical Benefits

If this is not your first child, you may have your hands full with older children and may feel that a pregnancy journal is so low on your to-do list. You can take out the journal from your first pregnancy and see if you have any peculiar symptoms this time around which you might want to discuss with your doctor. If you're so busy arranging play dates and wiping peanut butter off the couch, it may be a good reminder to check in with your pregnancy journal that it is about this time you're due for your amniocenteses, blood sugar test or ultrasound.

If your current pregnancy is totally different from the previous ones, you could guess you're carrying a boy if you have two girls running around you in princess costumes as you red this.