Lots of you know me as The Pregnancy Nurse® (or the curly head here at Pulling Curls®) — but before all of that I was actually a “professional scrapbooker”. Where I preserved LOADS of albums for my family with photos and memories galore (and was featured in magazines — yes, life has many plots). I have to say that those are things I absolutely treasure and my kids love them too — so, I’m excited to give you some ideas on how to save your memories of your pregnancy.
Before we get started, one of your favorite memories may be hanging out with me during your pregnancy. I can’t tell you how often I hear “I was just wondering that and then suddenly you appeared with my answer” — I’d love to do that with you. Let me join you:
Pregnancy Memory Caveats:
The biggest one is that most of paper that hospitals use to print ultrasounds or other things at the hospital aren’t archival — meaning they will fade with time. They’re done on heat-transfer paper that just doesn’t hold.
SO, it’s really important that you transfer these ultrasounds into another medium.
If you want to stick with paper, that means scanning them and printing them archivally (honestly, just a xerox copy is better than those papers), or if you’re going digital, you’d scan them anyway.
What to Keep?
It’s really easy to think that the pictures of your pregnancy are what’s important to keep — but I’m here to tell you there’s a LOT more you’ll want to remember from this pregnancy.
Any Health Issues
This is definitely not glamorous — and while you might not want to put these exactly in the “baby book” you’re going to want to write them down somewhere.
It really helped on subsequent pregnancies to know that my blood pressure started to creep up at 36 weeks.
Also, especially if you’re having a girl, it’s important to have these things written down — give her a history that might happen to her as well.
Personally, I’d keep these more in a journal than a baby book — but just get them written down!
If you’re doing a traditional scrapbook you can keep things like this in a “pocket” that not everyone looks at when they’re flipping through, but someone can grab out and read if they’re interested.
The Numbers
Keep your weights, your blood pressures, and your lab values.
Once again — it may really be handy to keep these things for your next pregnancy, or even later health issues that you have going on.
You always think you’ll remember but I’m here to testify you absolutely will NOT. It’s such a pain to get those records later on — if you have your own of it, it’s going to give you some peace of mind.
Again, this can be in a file folder, your journal, or wherever — I’m just saying it’s handy to have later on.
What You’re Feeling
What are you FEELING? The pukes, the kicks, the food aversions, write it all down.
I’m here to tell you that someday your child is going to be AMAZED by the fact that they caused all those things as they grew inside your body.
And yes, once again you think you’ll always remember it — because it’s so amazing as you’re feeling it — but you just won’t.
Big plug for when you feel the baby move. Next baby you’re really going to wonder when you felt it on the first — and it’s always nice to know what you felt (and what’s normal for you — brings peace of mind sometimes).
Hopes and Dreams for the Future
What do you hope for this baby, your family, and your future together?
There is no better time to dream all the dreams then when you encapsulate this little human you already so love inside your body.
Dream the big dreams, you deserve them – -you’re creating a human.
Write them down, it will be fun to look back on!
I honestly don’t think there’s a better feeling as a kid to know that they were loved before they even existed. I think sharing these hopes and dreams with your kids as they get older can be a really positive things!
Photos
I know, you feel fat, and bloated and tired — but do the photos.
I desperately wish I’d done a maternity photo shoot, but I only have some really bad photos my husband took. Makes me sad, but it just wasn’t really popular back in my day.
Even if you can’t afford the maternity shoot, when you’re feeling mildly cute ask your partner to snap a few photos of you. Look for great maternity images on social media and share them with them, to give them an idea of what you’re hoping for.
OR, if you have a friend who takes great pictures on their phone, ask them. I think lots of people like to have fun with photos!
Will they come out perfectly, no — but your body won’t be like that again, and you need all the proof that you grew that baby INSIDE your body — so snap the pictures!
Be sure to get some with your partner too — some day you’ll look back and realize you were the baby too so young. 🙂
Ok, while we are here. What should you put all those memories in?
I am a huge fan of this planner that allows you write down a lot of this stuff, and also keep track of your to-do’s, appointment info and more. It would be an amazing keepsake. You can even have it printed on archival paper at a local print shop (just make sure you use a good pen when you’re writing in it — my favorites are here). I think we can all agree that price is right too!
But, if you’re looking for more of a ready-to-use type product — here are a few I like:
I really like the promptly journals — they have other ones you can move to as baby is bigger. This is more about WRITING than photos though (says the writer).
This one has spots for photos — but I must admit I wouldn’t know what to put on all the pages (which is why I prefer to only print what I want in that planner)… it can feel overwhelming to think you have a picture of you and your pregnancy test (but maybe you do!). Maybe you baked it in a cake….. {iykyk)
I like the simplicity of this one.
This one is sweet, and has a pocket in the back which I like (you can easily glue in your own pocket if you like another better though).
I liked the different options that this one had — like naming what’s important the year you were born.
There’s lots of cool ones out there. I think it’s nice to be able to thumb through them, but it may be harder to find them in stores.
Or, you can just go to town with cardstock and sheet protectors and just make it up on your own. That’s what I did. 🙂
OR, you can go entirely digital. There’s so many cool digital photo albums anymore. I’ve used Mpix and Shutterfly before. If you’ve used one that you find great — please tell us in the comments!
The Good AND the Bad
Before we end this, I want to really encourage you to write down both good and bad things of your pregnancy. Again, this might not be in the official album, but it’s so important for you to remember how tough it was. How miserable you were at times and how you wanted to magically just be NOT pregnant.
There is ZERO reason to leave rose-tinted glasses on as you preserve the memories of your pregnancy. That doesn’t really do any favors.
I remember thinking that pregnancy, birth and life with baby would be just magical. It wouldn’t be that painful (any of it), I’d be a Rockstar at all areas because I’d grown up wanting to be a mom so bad.
I was so wrong. I wasn’t prepared for any of it. I even took a (really bad) birth class — I did try!
Then, I found out about this class — and everything changed. Suddenly, I felt in charge of my pregnancy, and I knew that I could lead the team of my healthcare providers into a great birth. I also knew how to manage my postpartum so I didn’t end-up in a puddle of tears every day (true stories).
We all need as much help as we can get — so get your partner on board as you get prepared in The Online Prenatal Class for Couples. I promise, by getting prepared — you’ll have even better memories of your pregnancy, birth & life in that first year!
Not sure we’re a good fit check out my free class — It’s your first step towards being your own birth boss.
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