From the thrill of seeing a positive test result through to the miraculous moment when you hold your newborn baby in your arms, a pregnancy is an unforgettable experience. Well… it feels unforgettable during those remarkable nine months. But there’s something about caring for a baby, toddler, and growing child that makes those memories get fuzzier and fuzzier, and fast!
Making a pregnancy scrapbook is the perfect solution for saving the memories and emotions of such a precious experience. There are many approaches to this project as well as countless ways to personalize the scrapbook. You could create a traditional scrapbook with a blank book, printed pics, and arts and crafts supplies. Or, make a digital scrapbook online with Mixbook, which will be professionally printed, bound, and delivered to your door.
Take a look at our top tips and creative ideas for documenting your pregnancy journey through photos, notes, and keepsakes. Capture the milestones, everyday moments, thoughts, feelings, your growing baby bump, and preparations for parenthood. Your custom pregnancy scrapbook will be something you treasure forever. You can also look forward to sharing it with your child when they’re older.
How to create a pregnancy scrapbook
Creating a pregnancy scrapbook is a beautiful way to document the journey of expecting your little one. It's about preserving those emotional, genuine pregnancy moments in a personal and creative format.
Traditional pregnancy scrapbook
With the traditional version of scrapbooking, you start with a blank book or album, photo prints, memorabilia, and your preferred arts and crafts supplies. For each page or two-page spread, a scrapbooker will typically create an artistic arrangement of photos, various media and memorabilia, and decorative embellishments such as stickers, washi tape, and hand-drawn illustrations or accents. A pregnancy scrapbook generally has written contents, too, such as personal recollections, quotes, dates, and baby’s growth milestones and stats.
For more about scrapbooking, read our guide to Scrapbooking 101: Everything You Need to Know to Get Started
Digital pregnancy scrapbook
A digital scrapbook is a great alternative to a traditional scrapbook. The whole project is online—until it’s time for printing and delivery—and totally mess-free. You still have total creative control over the project using the intuitive tools in Mixbook Studio™. Starting with a photo book theme designed especially for documenting a pregnancy, such as My Pregnancy or My Pregnancy Journey Photo Album makes the whole project very easy.
Upload digital photos as the foundation of the scrapbook, and digitize any prints and memorabilia using a flatbed scanner or smartphone scanning app. Simply drag and drop the pictures into place, and customize the text, layouts, backgrounds, and embellishments like stickers and maps.
What to include in a pregnancy scrapbook
Documenting your pregnancy in a scrapbook means capturing every step of this incredible journey in words, pictures, and artistic adornments. It makes sense to organize the content chronologically, such as month by month, or with sections for each trimester. You might also create pages or sections for different aspects of your pregnancy experience, such as decorating the nursery, choosing a name, taking childbirth classes, and attending your baby shower.
Here are some essential content ideas for your pregnancy scrapbook:
Journey to parenthood
Start your pregnancy scrapbook with a page covering your journey to parenthood. You might write about the decision to become parents, or stick to the excitement of finding out you were expecting. You could include a photo of your positive pregnancy test, a photo from the day you found out, and a personal recollection of your feelings that day.
Ultrasound pics
All ultrasound pictures are precious treasures—the only glimpses you have of your baby growing inside you. Compile all the ultrasound pictures together, or feature each one in chronological order along with that trimester’s milestones. Note down any key details you learned from each ultrasound, such as estimated length, weight, and the excitement of finding out your baby’s gender (or choosing to wait for a surprise).
Highlights of each trimester
Dedicate at least one page or two-page spread to each trimester, summarizing the highlights, milestones, personal experiences, and key memories of each one. First trimester highlights will include your early appointments, hearing the baby’s heartbeat, symptoms and cravings, and the unseen developments of baby's organs and features.
In the second trimester, you’ll get to start capturing a growing baby bump on camera. Key moments might include sharing the news with friends and family, feeling the first kicks, finding out your baby’s gender, brainstorming name ideas, and starting to prepare your home for your growing family.
The third trimester brings busier preparations for baby’s birth and arrival, getting the nursery and baby supplies ready, and an ever-bigger baby bump. This is commonly the time for a baby shower, which is really fun to document in photos. Eventually, it’s the final countdown to your due date! The final weeks are an essential part of your pregnancy journey and documenting them will ensure you never forget your feelings of anticipation before meeting your baby.
Co-parent page
Sure, only one parent is pregnant, but the shared experience of a co-parent should be documented in your scrapbook as well. Invite your partner to share in the scrapbook by designing their own page or custom content features, and documenting their thoughts, feelings, and memories.
Grandparents page
If your baby’s grandparents are close and involved in the pregnancy experience, it will be really nice to dedicate a page or two to them. Include photos of grandparents-to-be sharing in the excitement, making their own preparations for the baby’s arrival, and offering words of wisdom.
Baby shower celebration
Capture the joy and festivities of your baby shower by including invitations, photos, and decorations from the day. Create a collage of the event, or dedicate a page to cards, gifts, and messages from guests. This section should be a joyful reminder of the community and support system that celebrates the impending arrival of your baby.
Nesting
Document the process of “nesting”—preparing your home for the newest member of the household. This might mean deep-cleaning with a passion, decorating a nursery, setting up a crib and changing table, and picking out all kinds of baby paraphernalia. You might feature photos of Dad with a screwdriver in hand, surrounded by furniture parts and instructions, Mom staring intently at paint samples, and a brand new stroller with a teddy bear keeping its seat warm.
Welcome, baby!
You could choose to end your pregnancy scrapbook with a photo of you heading off to the hospital, or smiling in nervous excitement when you realize you’re in labor. Or, take the narrative all the way through the birth experience to the moment of meeting your baby. A nice option is to end with your baby’s first footprint or handprint, or birth certificate.
All the baby photos, stories, and mementos to come? Save those for a new baby book!
More creative ideas for a unique pregnancy scrapbook
Are you looking for creative ideas for your scrapbook? Consider these ideas to document your pregnancy journey in style:
Monthly photo shoots
Each month—or week if you prefer—snap a side-profile shot for a photo series that captures the slow and steady growth of your baby and bump. Choose any favorite photos that show your bump clearly, or schedule regular photo shoots in the same spot, wearing the same outfit such as a roomy dress or stretchy T-shirt and leggings. Consider adding props, such as a chalkboard or sign, that show the week or month of pregnancy within the photo. Alternatively, add this info in a photo book caption.
Baby size illustrations
A fun way to document the growth and development of your baby is by comparing their size to fruits or vegetables each week. For example, “Week 13: Baby is the size of a lemon!” Decorate these features with stickers and a matching color scheme. This adds a playful element to your scrapbook and represents a visual timeline of your baby's growth.
Letters to your child
Including letters that you write to your child can add a deeply personal layer to your pregnancy scrapbook. Invite your partner and close family members to also write their hopes, dreams, and advice for the baby. These letters are like a time capsule that captures the love and excitement felt before the baby's arrival. One day, your child will read those messages and know how much love surrounded them even before they were born.
Food cravings journal
Every pregnancy is unique, and so are the cravings and aversions that come with it. Dedicate a page in your scrapbook to documenting these culinary adventures. Whether it’s midnight snacks, the smell of coffee making you queasy, or an insatiable desire for pickles, these entries add humor and relatability. Accompany your stories with photos or illustrations of the foods you loved or loathed.
Choosing a name
Choosing a name for your baby is such an important and memorable step in a pregnancy journey. There’s a deadline, shortlists, joke names, nicknames, and sometimes an ongoing struggle for both parents to agree. It might be fun to scan or tape in a handwritten shortlist with the rejected names crossed out, or names suggested by siblings or other family members. If there’s a story behind the name you ultimately picked for your baby, be sure to document it in your scrapbook.
Tips to personalize your pregnancy scrapbook
Creating a pregnancy scrapbook that truly reflects your unique journey involves more than just assembling photos and notes.
Here are some tips to infuse your scrapbook with a personal touch:
- A unique title: Give your pregnancy scrapbook its own unique title to reflect the essence of your journey. Choose a title that captures the spirit of your journey, such as "The Road to Hello: Our Countdown to You" or something straightforward and touching like "Waiting for You: Our Pregnancy Journey."
- Journal prompts and stories: To make your pregnancy scrapbook deeply personal, find prompts that inspire you to write about your experiences, feelings, and hopes during pregnancy. Questions like "How did I feel when I found out I was pregnant?" or "What are my hopes for my baby’s future?" can help you record meaningful reflections and stories.
- Include keepsakes and memorabilia: Adding physical items like the invitation to your baby shower, a ribbon from a gift, or the wristband from your hospital stay adds depth to your scrapbook. Scan these items to include them in a digital scrapbook.
- Cover both joys and challenges: A truly meaningful scrapbook captures the full spectrum of your pregnancy experience, including the high points and the hurdles. Documenting both the moments of joy and the challenges ensures your scrapbook is an authentic record of your journey.
- Capture the changing seasons: If your pregnancy spans different seasons, document the changing landscape alongside your changing body. Include photos of yourself in various settings, from blooming spring gardens to snowy winter wonderlands.
- Record reactions and predictions: Ask family and friends to write down their reactions to your pregnancy announcement, as well as their predictions. This is a fun and interactive way to involve your loved ones in your story.
- Create a visual growth chart: Beyond belly photos, consider making a visual growth chart in your scrapbook. Use a ribbon or a length of string to represent the increase in your belly size throughout pregnancy, along with corresponding photos or drawings.
While you're crafting your pregnancy scrapbook, remember that the most engaging stories are those that are the most personal.
Are you a bride-to-be and in need of ideas for a wedding scrapbook? Check out our 7 ideas for your dream wedding scrapbook!
How will you capture your pregnancy?
Crafting a pregnancy scrapbook is a beautiful way to commemorate the journey to motherhood and turn fleeting moments into lasting memories. As you flip through its pages in years to come, you'll be transported back to these moments, reliving the excitement, anticipation, and profound love that marked the beginning of your child's story. Get started on Mixbook today!
Tip: Every project is automatically saved to your Mixbook account. You can work on the book during your pregnancy and return to complete it whenever you’re ready.
