One of the most beautiful and tragic things about birth is that you forget.
You forget the uncomfortable moments, the hard moments, the emotional moments and some of the beautiful moments. This is why I think writing your birth story is important!
So, what’s a birth story? I’m sure there are many variations and varieties, but my idea of what a birth story is documenting those tiny details you will probably forget. Time, comments, feelings, your experiences, details that are hard to reproduce when it will no longer be a fresh memory.
Like I said, everyone has their own way of documenting these. Some people may just want to get a birth video, but as a photographer of birth videos I know that it helps to keep those memories more fresh and to document them visually for you, but nothing can reproduce your feelings and your thoughts when that baby is finally born.
I can’t remember exactly who taught me or told me but, I’ve written birth stories for all my kids in my journal. Looking back I realize I’m a very factual writer. I document little facts and moments that I want to tell my kids as part of their story. I’m not overly emotional. Most of my stories start out with, “Hey guess what we had our baby!” But, no matter how you decide to document your story it will be great for your and your children as time goes on.
Journal, blog, make a memory book, a chat book with pictures, a letter to your kid, there’s no wrong way to do this, but I know that as you and your child grow and as you both grow older that these special memories that you document will become something that is cherished between the both of you. Especially if your kids ever get to a point where they ask you, “Hey! What was it like the day that I was born?”
