Life
It's Hard & Not Always Glamorous, But Here's How To Make Your Pregnancy Memorable
Pregnancy can be a lot of things to many different people. For some, it's a miserable experience. For others, they relish in every moment. I was sort of in the middle, I think. While I hated feeling nauseous the entire first trimester, I definitely loved my second trimester (as most women do). Then my third trimester I was just uncomfortable. But the feeling of knowing that I was growing a tiny human inside of me was something I never wanted to forget. If you're like me, you may be wondering how to make pregnancy memorable.
Whether it's your first pregnancy, your last pregnancy, or somewhere in between, there are definitely things you can do to make your pregnancy more memorable. Some of the things, like indulging in long glorious bubble baths and going on a babymoon, might be a little bit harder for those who already have kids (still doable, y'all). But you can "treat yo' self" by getting photos done, keeping a pregnancy journal, having a fun baby announcement, making a casting of your belly, or even recording your baby's heartbeat at your ultrasound appointment. Whatever you choose to do, you'll be very glad you did.
1Maternity Photos
Since this was my first and potentially only pregnancy, I wanted to document it in photos. We have these in a photo album now and will get some made into prints for our home soon. I remember the weight of my belly and how I felt when I look at my maternity pictures, and it definitely documented a time when my husband and I were so incredibly happy (and nervous).
2Babymoon
Pre-pregnancy, I kinda thought babymoons were silly. But when I was six months pregnant, I was more than ready for a little mini vacation. My husband surprised me by getting us a cabin in the mountains for a long weekend, and we read books, played board games, ate junk food, drank lots of hot chocolate, and went hiking. We also went to little shops around town and got our unborn child some toys to commemorate our trip, which he plays with now.
3Indulge
I used the time I was pregnant to really pamper myself. I took long luxurious baths (with pregnancy-safe temperatures) and used special bath bombs and bubble baths. I listened to music and lit candles — the works — because I figured I wouldn't have time to really do those things once my son was born. It really helped me enjoy my pregnancy and made it memorable for me.
4Weekly Belly Pictures
I tried to take photos of my growing bump every week, and I'm so glad I did. It's so fun now to remember the excitement I felt and how surreal it was that my belly kept growing and growing. And our son was really in there.
5Pregnancy Apps
My favorite app to track my pregnancy was from The Bump. It told me how big my baby was inside of me by comparing it to fruit (or other objects of your choice), it showed me how big his hands and feet were compared to my phone each week, and it even had a 3-D photo of what he looked like in there. It made my pregnancy a very exciting and tangible experience, even though I couldn't see him every day.
6Pregnancy Journal
This was hard to keep up with, to be honest, but I'm glad I did it. This was the particular journal I had, and I loved being able to write down my feelings and thoughts I had about my baby and being pregnant via the prompts, and keeping it in one special place where I can show my son when he gets older. I look back through it from time to time to remember how I felt when I was pregnant.
7Heartbeat Recording
I so wish I knew about this when I was pregnant. You can record your baby's first heartbeat and put it in a stuffed animal for you to keep forever. Man, someone is cutting onions over here again.
8Video of Your Moving Bump
This was the coolest thing ever. I was always so enthralled and amazed when I could see my baby moving in my belly. There was a real human in there. Though kinda creepy, I was so excited about watching this happen that I have more videos of this than I'd like to admit. And truth be told, I actually watched one last night with my husband.
9Belly Casting
Display your beautiful baby bump as a work of art in a way that you'll definitely never forget. Plus it will be fun to compare a then and now photo, or just for your partner.
10Fun Pregnancy Announcement
Social media is making folks create pregnancy announcements that are getting more and more creative and clever. People are even making pregnancy announcement videos and movie posters, y'all. Even if you take a cute photo and put it online or even mail them out old school, it will be a great keepsake of your pregnancy.
11Pregnancy Boudoir Photos
Being pregnant is a very empowering thing for some women. You're doing something miraculous and incredibly hard, and you're amazing and so strong and sexy for doing so. Document this goddess-like time of your life with maternity boudoir photos. As much as these photos are for you, let's be real, your partner will definitely love them, too. There's something immensely intimate about seeing the person you love carrying a life inside of them that you created together. Document that beautiful pregnant body of yours.
