As you may have been able to deduce from the links I post here, I write a twice-weekly pregnancy blog for WEtv.com. Because it’s a blog, I like the content to be as up-to-date and timely as possible (it would hardly do for somebody to read about an event on Twitter and not hear about it on WEtv for two or three weeks!) But that makes the whole baby announcement thing tricky, especially since the blog goes up on specific days. What if I give birth on Thursday, thereby making Thursday’s already-written post irrelevant, but don’t exactly feel like taking time away from my baby-induced haze to write?

Pre-writing a baby announcement is one answer, but that presents a few challenges, too. After all, before the baby has actually arrived and all that immediately precedes her arrival, there’s just not that much to say. So I’m thinking of taking a tip from the Mad Libs most of us had on some road trip or other as little kids (and, if you were like some people I know, wrote dirty and/or potty words in) and doing a Mad Lib Birth Announcement, to be filled in after the big event. It would go something like this:

__________ ________ started just like any other ______, but within _________ I knew something was different. Sure enough, by __:__, my contractions were ________ minutes apart, and I knew I was really in labor. After _______ _______, I decided it was time to ______________________________________________. Some time later, I _____________________, and soon afterward, I ______________________________________. At one point, I looked at my husband and said “___________________________!”

Finally, after _________________, I was ready to push. Pushing the baby out was ______________! I couldn’t believe how __________________________. The baby was born at ___:___. She had _______ hair, weighed ____ pounds, _____ ounces and was ______ inches long. She looks just like______________________! We named her _________ ____________. Baby _________ and I are doing ____________. She likes to __________ and __________. I am feeling __________________________________ and can’t wait to ______________________________. I will write more later, as soon as I _____________________________________________. Here’s a picture of ________________. Isn’t she ________________?

How do you think I’ll fill in those blanks? Hopefully there won’t be need for any cuss words…