I’m in Toronto. Women are always offering to give up their seat, men try to avoid eye contact and look away. One time it was a man who was on the subway with his toddler in a stroller - made eye contact with me, then looked away.

I didn’t put any clothes on the registry and received 12 outfits, mostly for newborns and 0-3 months. The rest of my baby’s wardrobe comes from 4 boxes of baby clothes ranging from NB - 9-12 months that I received as hand me downs from relatives. People are super eager to rid of their baby clothes and they don’t have great resale value so I’ve found getting baby clothes super easy. Also check your local buy nothing groups because I’ve seen a lot of people give away clothes there too. Especially the newborn stuff that can only be worn for like a month. I also found free winter jackets, snow suits, formal baby dresses with the tags still on, etc. My goal is to not buy a single item of clothing until she’s 9-12 months.

My work takes back all my electronic equipment (laptop, phone) and disables my login so they’ve made the choice for me 😅

This is going to depend on your role tho, people who high up (C-suite, SVP, etc.) don’t go fully silent even when they’re on vacation/leave.

Scale back your workouts in terms of tempo, reps, weight, or length. For example, if you normally do 12 barbell squats x 3 rounds, switch to a light dumbbell or body squat. Or do 6 barbell squats and only one round. Something is better than nothing and when your energy returns, you will have kept to a routine so it will be easier to go back to your normal. Plus mentally it will make you feel less like a struggle because you’ve done something.

Is it cramps or pain in your pelvis? I don’t run but I would get pain whenever I did any sort of split leg movement in the gym like a lunge or a glute kickback. I walked my dog every day for an hour (2.0mph according to my watch) and was fine, but there was one occasion where we were in a rush to get somewhere so we walked very fast and I must have have been taking longer strides because I had pelvic pain afterwards. Also I found that walking too much (over 8km a day) led to pelvic pain as well.

I also experienced mild cramps in general during first trimester and was told it was just my uterus growing and stretching.

Lean forward a bit. My PT says that when the bump starts to get heavy, we overcompensate by arching and that causes pain. So to counter it, I kind of flex my transverse abs and lean slightly forward.

The other thing is just to work on back exercises to strengthen your back. Dumbbell rows, reverse flies, seated rows with a band, deadlifts.

I think it depends on your room experience. I had a friend who had to stay a few extra nights and the hospital didn’t have enough private rooms so she had to share with someone who FaceTimed her family for hours, the food was terrible, there was no room for her husband to sleep except upright on a chair, and she couldn’t get any sleep either.

Hip thrust - yes, eventually the belly gets too big to lay a bar across your hips. Switch to cable pull through if you want the hip thrust movement. I just did deadlifts, squats, kettlebell swings to work the glutes.

Chest presses - this will depend on you. About 10% of women will experience dizziness/faint when they lay on their back due to the weight of the baby on your nerves blocking blood flow. I never experienced this and can do chest/floor presses at 38 weeks. If it is an issue for you, doing presses at incline likely solves that issue.

This happened to me! I was down 2 lbs at the next appointment a week later. My midwife was concerned because I only gained about 1 lb each week and then all of a sudden I had gained 5, so she advised me to eat less dessert. Cut out my evening ice cream, increased water intake, and went down again.

It’s normal to have a metallic taste but I don’t know about moldy.

https://www.whattoexpect.com/pregnancy/symptoms-and-solutions/metallic-taste.aspx

I went to a law school in Western Canada, did not receive any OCIs for Toronto, and joined a Bay St firm after articling. I cleared my student debt before I finished articles while my first year associate colleagues had debt of $90k+ due to having gone to U of T.

Anything is possible but you might have to work a little harder since there’s no set out path like the Toronto OCI recruit.

I am 38 weeks today and have gained 25.3 lbs over the entire pregnancy (started at 126.6 lbs at 4 weeks). I started week 29 at 141.5 lbs so have gained 10.4 lbs in third trimester, with another two weeks to go. I have been gaining about 1 lb/week this trimester so I expect to finish around 27-29 lbs total. I’m about 5’5” (so not super tall) and everyone tells me I look like I have hidden a basketball under my shirt lol.

We didn’t put any clothes on the registry so received minimal clothing. The clothes we did get were neutral, like bronzes, coppers, etc., similar to the colors of the burp cloths and bibs that I did put on the list. I’m not a very girly girl and I wear neutrals (black/white/grey/beige) so I’m assuming people followed my cue? Haha. That said, our stroller is fuchsia (hand me down UB Vista that saved me $$$ so I don’t care what color it is!)

If it’s from 1964 it’s probably v beautiful, wheel it into the backyard and plant flowers in it 😂

Example: https://c8.alamy.com/comp/D89PR0/pram-used-as-a-planter-chelsea-flower-show-2013-D89PR0.jpg 

Edit: I just realized the crib is from 1964, not the stroller. 😂

I experienced pelvic pain if I did any sort of split leg exercise like lunges, glute kickbacks, donkey kicks, Bulgarian split squats, etc. or if I walked too long (over 8km) a day. Pigeon pose, figure 4 stretches helped a lot. I replaced all those exercises around 26 weeks and have been ok so far, still feel a twinge sometimes.

34 weeks, at my baby shower. Both people asked for permission (and they were my friends and not mothers themselves).

My RMT, pelvic floor physio, and midwife have also touched the belly in the context of a medical appt. Otherwise no one else except my spouse.

Yes. There has been research that shows maternal nutrition, stress levels, and general well-being during pregnancy affect the child’s brain and physical development. That’s why they say the first 1000 days of a child’s life are most important, from conception to the first 24 months. What mothers eat, whether they exercise, etc. while the baby is in utero can have an impact on a child’s IQ, their risk of developing obesity and diabetes, behaviour, and more.

This is a review of the scientific literature: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9640361/ (Importance of Maternal Nutrition in the First 1,000 Days of Life and Its Effects on Child Development: A Narrative Review)

You can also google “baby’s first 1000 days” for lots of summaries and articles from resources like UNICEF, National Institute of Health, American Academy of Pediatrics.

Edit to add that I don’t think this means you can blame a particular aspect of a child’s development on the fact that mom ate a bunch of ice cream during pregnancy nor should pregnant women focus on being perfect but rather do the best they can.

I am having my first at 35, considering a second at 38 or 39 (depending how the first experience goes). We knew before marriage that we wanted a maximum of two kids. We are also people who wouldn’t have been devastated to be DINKs and decided we would not use medical assistance if we couldn’t conceive.

We would not have done things differently. We both have two university degrees, had 2-3 year gap years of living abroad, have traveled to over 20 different countries, are 5-6 years into professional and lucrative careers, have a big house in a highly desired and family friendly neighborhood in the city, and are in great physical and mental health. We set ourselves up to be in our “ideal” situation for becoming parents and that wouldn’t have been possible if we’d started 5 years earlier. Kids can thrive without all of these things but we really value things like a good multicultural neighborhood, eating foods of different cultures at restaurants (my city is well known for a really diverse food culture), trips around the world that don’t involve resorts, participation in sports/activities and we wanted to be financially able to provide all of that.

Dunno if it works the same way, but if you withdraw from your RRSP to do the HBP and you end up not buying, you have till the end of the following year to return the money to an RRSP without any penalty. You also have to write a letter to the CRA explaining why the funds weren’t used to purchase a home. FHSA probably has something similar but you can call the CRA to check.

37+4 and my midwife described my pregnancy as a “textbook pregnancy” at the last appointment.

No issues with nausea, food aversions, heartburn, gestational diabetes, hypertension, swelling, etc. throughout the entire pregnancy. I also kept up with weightlifting 3-4x a week and walking 60 min every day so I feel physically great and am planning to keep going until delivery. Baby is head down and kicking and moving loads. Nursery is fully set up, self-planned baby shower was so fun and praised by everyone who attended, and maternity photos turned out beautiful! Feeling confident and positive about going into labor/delivery and ready to meet our baby. 🥰

We planned and paid for ours because it was a casual party at our house. And we wanted all the food, party favors, etc. to be our favorites from local restaurants and bakeries.

Are you hydrating enough? I drink 15 cups (3.75L) of water a day and have no issues but I notice it’s harder to go if I only have 10 cups (2.5L) a day. For me, water has made the biggest difference. Also fiber - so that means eating fruit at every meal and also eating at least one meal that is legume-centered (like a lentil soup or chickpea pea salad). If I do 35g of fiber + stool softener + 3.75L of water, I go daily. If I skip that (sometimes it’s hard to stick to it if you’ve got a celebration and you’re eating out for a few days), then I have issues.

I think it depends on whether you have a registry and what type of gathering it is. Registry with gifts - tacky because everyone has already purchased you these gifts for your first baby. Big gathering at a venue with theme and cupcakes etc - also tacky. But a chill gathering at your house for a BBQ and requesting diapers or a small brunch at a restaurant without decorations - not tacky. The latter acknowledges the joy of the second baby without making it seem like another opportunity to gift/money grab. And it generally is seen as a gift grab because almost everyone I know spent less money than received for baby showers. In my case, I received 80% more in cash/gift cards/items than I spent (we didn’t have an instagram type shower that cost $$$, but a casual get together at my house so obviously didn’t pay a lot for venue and decor, our budget was mainly drinks, food, and party favors).

I use a water bottle that is 1.25L/42 oz/5 cups.

Morning - first thing I do after waking up and brushing my teeth is to drink water, maybe 1 cup, because we’re usually dehydrated and when we wake up. Then I sip water as I get ready for the day (doing makeup, dressing, etc.). I have some more water with a small snack before going to walk my dog. Probably at about 3 cups by this point. In the summer, I bring the water bottle with me and finish it on the dog walk. In the winter, I just chug the remaining 2 cups when I get home. So by 9-10am, I’ve already had 5 cups.

Workday - I refill the water bottle and add electrolytes to it for some flavor. I sip on this throughout the workday, at lunch, break, between tea/coffee. My goal is to finish by the end of the workday. So that’s about 10 cups by 5pm.

Evening - I refill and have some while I eat a pre-workout snack, then take the bottle with me to do my workout. Depending on the intensity, I’ll probably have 3 cups by the end of the workout. Then I’ll shower and get dinner ready, having sips as I go. If I have any remaining water left, I’ll add it to a glass and top up with 1/4 cup of something flavored like juice or sparkling water and have it with dinner. That gets me to 15 cups by the end of the day.

It’s easy for me to get this much water in when I use a big bottle. When I use my 750mL bottle (3 cups), I only get about 10-12 cups per day.

Also I have a rule where I can’t have my morning hot chocolate/coffee/matcha/tea until I’ve had 3 cups of water minimum. And I also have a rule that I have to have fruit with every meal or snack so that adds some extra water.

I started out drinking 10 cups of water throughout first trimester, 12 in second, and have increased to 15 in third. I know breastfeeding requires a lot of hydration so I want to make sure I’m doing 16 cups per day at postpartum. Pre-pregnancy I was doing 8-9 cups a day so I knew I had to build myself up gradually.

We have this one: https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/dream-on-me-berkley-upholstered-glider-power-recliner-swivel-glider-easy-assembly-glider-chair-sweet-cream-fabric-material/6000204880003

Baby hasn’t come yet but I’ve been sitting it in with my dog and it’s comfy and nice. I can’t remember how long it took to arrive but less than a week.