How and Why to Write your Child’s Birth Story

Women love to swap birth stories! I just can’t believe that there aren’t designated journals for writing about it!!

You’ve probably landed here, wondering how to write your child’s birth story.

I have some tips and advice for you that I hope will be helpful.

As a mom of 6, I have written quite a few birth stories!

Every birth is unique, as every woman is unique. And giving birth is an out of this world experience for everyone.

For some, it’s beautiful and peaceful, for others, there is processing and mental and emotional healing that needs to happen, if it involved an emergency, or was hard and long or the outcome wasn’t as they had always hoped for or dreamed of.

But I fully believe, that every woman, would benefit from writing her story down.

You’ve probably heard of pregnancy journals, and baby books, but I think that writing exclusively about the labor and birth alone, would be beneficial, rewarding and important and become a keepsake for later years.

It’s always most fresh in your mind just afterwards, so while you are recuperating and resting and relaxing and enjoying your newborn, writing it down or making a recording of it, will preserve it for the sake of memories and to aid in healing.

Or even if you just jot some things down and fill out the details later, at least you will have it started to finish later.

How to write your birth story.

I always start my story at the point of when my contractions began to show steady timing. I try to record the time of day, the date, who was with me, the emotions I was feeling, whether excited, nervous, confident, feeling trepidation or any emotion that came through my thoughts.

I write about how the labor was progressing, interactions with different people near and far, whether I texted them or called them, how I felt physically, what I ate and drank.

Any details are fine to include, or exclude.

I also write about where I am, either leading up to labor, or where I chose to be during contractions, or where I just ended up, during contractions.

I continue to record what my thoughts were, my emotions, how far apart contractions were happening and even my dilation measurements, or when the baby’s heartbeat was checked or my own vitals.

I recommend having everyone present, aware that you want these things recorded.

Your midwife should be making note of when vitals were taken or any interaction she had with you, so if you can’t remember something, you should be able to ask her about when those things happened, because she will most likely have them on record.

Maybe you remember what you were saying as you neared the end, or when you reached down and felt the head as it was crowning.

Or what you felt as you released your baby and got to hold he or she for the first time in your arms.

If you have others in attendance who are willing to write or record those types of things, since you will obviously be busy and not remember later exactly what you said and did, please let them know ahead of time and have things available for them to jot down notes and the like.

Ask those that were in attendance to help you remember any details you may have missed.

This is a good way to know just how long things took, and because details become a blur, you won’t have to rely on your memory to always have the whole story.

I type it up and print it out to put in my children’s baby books, but I love the idea of actually designating a journal to put it in and to have a special place in book format to record those incredible moments.

Labor is a story in and of itself and is too often overlooked in the stories of our lives. The sacrifices and agony each mother went through, as well as the joy and love she felt for her baby and the anticipation she had when nearing the end, needs to be recognized, acknowledged and recorded.

These things tend to be forgotten and moved on from, but it is a very real and huge part of the mother’s and baby’s life story.

So, write it down, whether it’s just bullet points, thoughts, or a full account and you will be glad you did!