Journaling. It’s something we do as teenage girls and as grown adults who blog. We go from writing our thoughts down in pink fluffy notepads to typing them up anonymously for the entire world to read. Journaling is safe. It’s the space you have to get all of your thoughts and words out into the world without fear of judgement or upset. It’s the space you can get through all of the things bothering you while also documenting the good things that you have in life. It’s exciting to journal your thinking – so why wouldn't you continue to journal the most important times in your life?

Many people go out and buy pregnancy journals and then never fill them in – and it makes sense. When you’re pregnant the first time around, it’s easy to keep up with all of the milestones and the things that you need to know. The second time around, it’s different. You have a baby to look after while managing yourself while you’re pregnant, so keeping up with all of the journal entries is not easy at all! The way the world is changing, though, journaling is changing alongside it. Think about it: it’s gone from notepad to computer – so why not learn more about journaling with video or drones? So many people are moving from online writing blogs to videoing themselves blogging, and you can do the same with your pregnancy, too. The best thing that you can do to get started with any of it, though, is understand the benefits of journaling your pregnancy in the first place.

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• Organizing your thoughts. The very first benefit to journaling is organization. Being pregnant can make your brain fuzzier – as you may already know! So, being able to write the important things down will help you to look back and remember the good and bad. Organizing your thoughts is important and diaries and journaling can help you to do that. You can record the daily events that happen as well as record your thoughts about those events. You can even record certain opinions that you have about the goings on of your days. Using a journal gives you the chance to archive and tag your entries and ensure that you can look back again.
• Making memories. Whether you are documenting your pregnancy with drones and video or you’re doing it with a diary and a pen, you are making memories. It’s often the things that you can write down in the moment as it happens. You are then able to look back at those memories and remember all of the good times you had. The next time you get pregnant (if there is a next time), you’ll be able to remember the symptoms and the cravings, the fun parts and the not so fun parts. All you have to do is start getting those memories down.
• Goal setting. When you choose to journal everything to do with your pregnancy, you can write your dreams, your ambitions and your resolutions for your new life as a parent. You can monitor whether your dreams are coming true and your dreams written down (or filmed!) can help you to stay motivated. If you want to plan your birth, you can write down or speak about what you want. You can then look back at it all and try to have the birth experience you wrote down once. Once you have your birthing experience, you can even record yourself talking about it all over again.

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• Stress relief. Did you know that journaling can be the ultimate stress relief for your body? Writing your feelings down or vlogging your feelings can help you to offload all of the chaos in your mind. The fears you may have about being enough as a parent, the excitement you may feel about your baby on the way – it’s all relevant and it should all be discussed with yourself at length. Saying all of these things out loud can help you to work through it. You can finally get rid of any of the bottled up tension and worry you may be carrying.
• The chance for self-reflection. Journaling allows you to stop and look around at what you have. When the world feels a little overwhelming, you have the chance to stop and look around at the things happening in your life and reflect on them. You can change the way that you do things next time if you feel you need to, and you can feel less pressure as a result. You can stop for a moment and reflect on the things that you have felt and done while you've been going through one of the life-changing joys you will experience.
• Giving your memory a boost. As we said, your brain doesn't retain much when you’re pregnant: in fact, everything feels really stuffy and fuzzy! When you journal, you are training your brain to continue on and remember everything you need to remember. You can get it all out and have an easier time recalling all of the information you need to recall. It’s a time in life where you WANT to remember everything, but the only way that you can do that is if you take note of the important bits you need to recall.
• You can feel inspired. Your journal is a place for you to be yourself. You can inspire yourself with the words that you have to offer your future self – and you can inspire your future children when they read back or watch back on your journey building them from scratch.

Keeping a journal is going to change the way that you interact with yourself, with your family and with your friends. If you choose to blog or vlog online, you’re going to have a whole following of people available to talk to. Having a drone follow you and record you on the go and in appointments is also another way to remember it all. And why not?