55 Writing Prompts for Pregnancy - If Only They Told Me - Parenting and relationship blog and tips.If Only They Told Me – Parenting and relationship blog and tips.

I’m a big fan of writing down thoughts and memories, partly to process them and partly to look back on at a later date. Here is a great guest blog by the lovely Katrina Ward. She is very pregnant with baby # 2 and her blog topic is ’55 writing prompts for pregnancy’.

Katrina Ward used to be an English, Art and Art History teacher in secondary schools who now spends her time writing, drawing, hanging out with her toddler, waiting impatiently to meet her own tummy nugget (due Jan 2014) and running outie.co.nz.

I am 36 weeks pregnant with a large bump-baby that I have fondly named ‘the tummy nugget’. Much less a nugget now, it definitely feels like a baby now – sitting low, kicking high and stretching parts of me that have forgotten what it feels like to be pregnant.

But it’s not just my body that is being stretched – my imagination is also being pulled inside out as I try to imagine what it will be like meeting the little sprout in the not-too-distant future. What will they look like? What will they be like? What will they be named? What will they become? How will it be with two children? How will life be changed?

Our future is change

reminded with every kick

our lives wait for you.

– haiku about this pregnancy inspired by #18.

Here are 55 writing prompts for you to record your thoughts during pregnancy.

They are in no particular order.

The day you first find out you are pregnant.
The way you broke the news.
The way you felt when you realised you were going to have a baby.
How did other people react?
The first three months – the best kept secret – or was it?
Who’s your daddy?!
Five things you are most frightened about.
Five things you are most delighted about.
Three things you began to see differently since becoming pregnant.
What are your hopes and dreams for the future?
What does your ideal nursery look like? Make a mood board with different patterns and colours.
Are you hoping for a girl or for a boy?
The daddy’s reaction – how would you describe it?
Have you always wanted to be a parent?
How would you describe the ideal parent you hope to become?
Your fur-babies – (animals that were treated like babies before having a ‘real one’) – how will they welcome the new baby?
Who did you tell about your pregnancy first?
Write a haiku about your pregnancy.
Which future plans were changed because of the news of a baby?
What is your own earliest memory?
What kind of music does your baby react to?
Make a play list of songs for your baby that you listened to while you were pregnant.
Which parenting mistakes did your parents make that you swear not to repeat?
What kinds of foods are you craving?
How has your body changed and how do you feel about it?
What is the first item you bought for your baby?
Why did you find out/not find out the gender of your baby?
How did you feel during the first ultrasound?
Who is most looking forward to your baby’s arrival?
What are the ten worst things about being pregnant?
What are the ten best things about being pregnant?
List three memorable interactions with strangers during your pregnancy.
Make a quote bank of things people said about your belly/body during pregnancy.
Describe your home before the baby arrives. How is it being prepared?
Make a photo essay of a day in your life including pets.
Make a video of the little kicks.
Make a belly photo essay over 9 months.
Write a list of maternity symptoms you have experienced.
Write a list of possible names including if the gender was opposite (if you know already).
Draw a family tree with traits that you hope will be passed on from each family member.
Make a list of activities you can’t wait to do with your baby in the future.
Rank your current friends before having your baby (see how they might change when baby arrives).
Write about your favourite toy as a child.
Write about your siblings and what kind of aunty/uncle they might become.
Who are the other children in your life who are looking forward to meeting the baby?
Decorate your ultrasound images with annotated ‘what you can see’ arrows.
Who are your baby’s siblings and what they are like right now?
What will the world be like in 21 years’ time ( a letter for a 21^st). What do you hope it will be like?
What is the most amazing thing about being pregnant?
Emotional rollercoasters – write about your ups and downs during pregnancy.
What colour do you think of most when you imagine your baby?
Write down your pregnancy dreams. Draw them as a cartoon.
What is the hardest thing about being pregnant?
What do you most look forward to when you meet your baby?
What do you think your baby will look like? Make a list of which facial features/ hair colour/eye colour/skin colour that you are imagining they will have before you meet them.

You don’t have to write every day or every week – in fact you don’t have to write at all… These writing prompts are there to take or leave during pregnancy, to ponder on prior to falling pregnant or even to reminisce over past pregnancies.

Writing can be both therapeutic and revealing and the above list is a guide in case you want to start writing yet feel a little stuck on where to begin.