Five years ago yesterday, I delivered my first child. As we celebrated his fifth birthday—over pizza and pokeman trading cards—my husband and I recounted details from the night he was born. “About this time five years ago,” I said, “I was having my first contractions.” Indeed, it was the happiest day of my life.
While I remember labor and delivery quite vividly, I can’t recall too many specific details about either of my pregnancies. I was very healthy and frankly had uneventful pregnancies both times. I remember having weird cravings, but beyond eggs, I can’t tell you what for. I liked to take long walks and recall that certain songs on the radio would cause me to cry, uncontrollably, but I can’t tell you which ones. My husband read books to the baby in my belly, but I’m not sure of the titles. Good Night Moon? Maybe. I remember the date I felt my first baby kick inside me. January 31, 2002. I can’t recall the first kicks of baby number two.
For these reasons, and many more, I wish I had kept a pregnancy journal. Nothing fancy necessarily (although I do have a thing for nice papers), just a small notebook where I would write how I was feeling, what thoughts or concerns I had, document the changes in my body, recount discussions with my doctor and more important, my husband. Once you have kids, the time flies by at warp speed. It’s true, the days are long, but the years are short. Oftentimes a mom’s left scratching her head, as I was yesterday, wondering how it all went by so quickly.
Pregnancy is such a special time. It’s time to treasure. Sure, as you advance into your second and third trimesters, you might be feeling big, uncomfortable, ready and eager to meet that little life inside you. But consider taking time to document what’s going on in your life right now. Some women do this online, through blogging. Others fill notebook after notebook as the years go by. If you need some help getting started, consider Lisa Garrigues’ book Writing Motherhood (Scribner, April 2007, $22.00). The first book to bring together the craft of writing and the art of being a mother, each chapter contains an invitation (“ask your parents to tell you your birth story”) and inspirations (“I began to see it as my task to bear witness to the moment, to give voice to the incredible world around and inside me—Gayle Brandeis”) to stimulate your writing.
Do you have a pregnancy journal? If you had to write a letter to your baby today, what would you say?
Are you trying to conceive or are you in the beginning stages of pregnancy? Do you feel excited, daunted or confused? Join Moms2B, a group to learn about prenatal care and share your pregnancy "firsts" each step of the way. To join, click here.
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