Keeping a Pregnancy Journal: Baby’s First Keepsake

Baby’s First Keepsake

The day the baby is born and the 9 months leading up to the birth are filled with wonder, awe, and sweet excitement as you prepare to meet your little one. Keeping a pregnancy journal is a special way to document your feelings for his or her lifetime.

The ups and downs of pregnancy are special thoughts that will soon leave a mother once the child is born, and her focus is now on her bundle of joy.

Keeping a pregnancy journal to document the baby’s gestation, what mom and dad are feeling, what happened, how the family feels, and what the baby shower was like is a beautiful way for the child (especially if it’s a girl) to experience their own birth and the months leading up to it later on.

Write letters to your new baby expressing how you feel. Ultrasounds, photos, and cards can all be tucked into the journal, too.

Here are 20 personal questions to get you started (have mom and dad answer):

About Who You Were Back Then

1. How old were you when I was born, and how did you feel about becoming a parent at that age?

2. If you had to describe yourself in three words back then, what would they be?

3. What were your biggest strengths at that time? Your biggest struggles?

4. What did a typical day in your life look like when I was born?

5. What were you most confident about as a new parent? What scared you the most?

About Your Inner World

1. What were your biggest dreams when I was born?

2. What were you worried about that you never told anyone?

3. Were you happy during that season of your life? Why or why not?

4. What was stressing you out the most at the time?

5. How did you and your spouse relate to each other during those early years?

About Life Circumstances

1. What was your financial situation like when I was born?

2. What kind of home were we living in, and how did you feel about it?

3. What was happening in the world that affected you back then?

4. Who were your closest friends during that time?

5. Who did you lean on for advice or support?

About You and Me

1. What was your first thought when you saw me?

2. What kind of future did you imagine for me?

3. What did you hope you’d do differently from your own parents?

4. Did I change you in ways you didn’t expect?

5. If you could go back and give your younger self advice the day I was born, what would you say?

Here are 20 pregnancy-related questions:

Baby News

1. Did you plan to get pregnant?

2. When and how did you find out?

3. What did you feel at the time?

4. Who was the first person you shared the news with?

5. In what ways did your life change?

Baby Shower

1. Did you have a baby shower?

2. What was your favorite gift?

3. Do you have a favorite memory from the event?

4. Who was most excited to meet me?

5. How was my gender revealed?

Pregnancy

1. How did the pregnancy go overall?

2. What did you enjoy most?

3. What did you enjoy the least?

4. What were you nervous about?

5. How did God grow you as He was growing me?

Labor

1. Did I come on my due date?

2. What was labor like?

3. What is my birth story?

4. How did it feel once I was born?

5. What’s the most memorable moment from my birth?

Here are 20 contextual questions for the day the baby is born:

Big World Context

1. Who was president/prime minister or major world leader that year?

2. What major wars, conflicts, or peace treaties were happening?

3. What were the biggest global headlines that year?

4. Was the economy strong, in recession, or in crisis?

5. What major social movements were active (civil rights, women’s rights, environmental, etc.)?

Politics & Policy

1. What major laws were passed that year?

2. Were there landmark court decisions?

3. What was the political mood — optimistic, divided, tense?

4. What were the biggest political scandals or controversies?

Technology & Innovation

1. What new technology was invented or is becoming mainstream?

2. What did communication look like (letters, landlines, early internet, smartphones)?

3. What was cutting-edge science news that year?

Culture & Entertainment

1. What were the top songs and artists?

2. What movies dominated the box office?

3. What TV shows were everyone talking about?

4. What fashion trends defined the year?

5. What slang words were popular?

Social Climate

1. What were average home prices, gas prices, or tuition costs?

2. What was considered “normal” parenting at the time?

3. What fears or hopes defined that generation (e.g., Cold War anxiety, climate awareness, digital revolution)?