New Waves Maternity

• If I could have any super power, it would be the ability to make copies of myself so I could be everywhere all at once. Since that's just a dream, I'll have to settle for my existing superpower: showing up at the grocery store with no list and buying a week's worth of food for my family of 8 based on what's on sale and the recipes in my head!

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• One of my biggest pet peeves is not being able to find a lost item. If I can't find something, I will rip the house apart to find it and won't stop until it is in my hands. If that's how I feel about missing gloves, you can just imagine how I feel when something far more critical is lacking - for example, systemic support for parents. All too often, parents must rely on their own creativity and individual networks to raise their kids. When my first was born, I took care of him for the first 3 months until I went back to finish medical school. Then, my mother stayed home with him for 3 months until my husband took paternity leave to care for him for the next 3 months. My sister did the next 3 month shift until we had a daycare spot for him when he turned 1. What a gong show! I had amazing support and will be forever grateful for that. But parents deserve better!

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• When I was little, I wanted to be a pilot when I grew up so I could fly across the country to visit my grandmother.  As an adult I did not become a pilot, but thought maybe an astronaut instead? I applied to Canada's most recent recruitment campaign with a personal essay describing how my life as a mother was the perfect training ground to prepare me for being an astronaut - and that essay pushed me through the first several rounds! Being an astronaut didn't pan out for me, thankfully, because I found my calling doing what I've been doing for the past 10 years: teaching and supporting people as they become parents themselves.