Introducing “The Pregnancy Journal”
Throughout my pregnancy, I was asked a lot of questions. These questions seemed to follow along the same path with each person. The question that usually started the tumble along this path was: “Are you a new mom?”
After a while, I felt like women could almost smell the new momness coming out of my pores, as if it was a hormone that mixed among the others raging around in my body that they, as mothers, were attuned to. Feeling so exposed in this way did bring about some insecurity. Under the light of these questions, I felt the need to have the right answer, to be doing all the right things during my pregnancy, to demonstrate that I was indeed prepared to be a mother.
The “new mom” label lingered in my mind as I watched my belly grow. As each prenatal appointment came and went, there was new information coming from all sides of my community about the pregnancy and birth process. I felt like I had become an expert on all things pregnancy; all things body and baby and birth. Even so, there was one thing that, as a new mom, I felt like I knew less and less about: myself.
I created The Pregnancy Notebook after going through my pregnancy journey and looking back on all the things I had talked about, answered questions about, but had never worked through thoughtfully for myself. I pulled out all the scripted cards when prompted about how many weeks along I was, the sex of the baby, how much baby weighed, etc. I took notes on these things as well, keeping note in a pregnancy tracker. However, what was missing throughout my pregnancy was checking in with me and sorting through the journey as I was going through it with myself.
The Pregnancy Notebook includes activities to complete throughout the entire journey of pregnancy relating to reflecting on memorable moments, processing through the changes our bodies go through, and finding balance and peace throughout the challenges. The notebook also includes pages to document events throughout the pregnancy and areas for free journaling.
My goal in creating this notebook was to give a space to expecting mothers that is solely theirs and can be used to stay connected to themselves while learning more about themselves each day, each week, each trimester. Each pregnancy is magical while also pushing us to our limit. It is a story that changes our lives forever and is a story that we should write along the way. In doing so, we can hold onto it, documenting our strength and wonder.
Hailey Scot, January 2024