Alone and pregnant in Toronto that would probably make a good movie title, but it is the actual situation I am facing right now. My boyfriend and I decided to part ways, and, a few weeks later, I found I was pregnant. It was a surprising find and it opened a long list of questions for me: am I ready for this, will I make the right choices for my baby, and can I manage as a single working mom?
Thankfully, I am not entirely alone in this: my parents decided to sell their house in Vancouver and move to Toronto to be closer to me and their grandchild. My mom started sharing a lot of traditional child bringing advice with me and it helped me a lot. Still there are lots of questions I have to debate on. If you happen to be in the same situation as me, here is the list of questions I am asking myself right now and the partial answers I found:
1. Shall I preserve the babys cord blood?
I heard that more and more parents make this choice, in the situation that their child may get seriously ill in the future and need stem cell therapy. So I decided to contact several stem cell banks and specialized courier Toronto services which deliver cord blood from hospitals to stem cell banks. After analysing various brochures, I decided to sign up for a stem cells preservation programme.
2. Shall I have a natural birth or C-section?
I must admit that I have a very low tolerance to pain. Ive always been that kid who screams and cries for minutes after a simple scratch. I try to avoid pain at all costs, so the perspective of spending long hours in excruciating pain giving birth is quite frightening to me. However, my doctor assured me that I can receive an epidural anaesthesia if I feel that the pain is unbearable. Moreover, she said that it is easier to extract cord blood and send it by courier to the stem cells bank after a natural birth.
Also, she made me understand how important it is to be able to hold my baby right after birth and create the mother-child bond. I guess I will face my deepest fears and become a stronger woman, ready to take care of my child.
3. How will I settle matters with my babys father?
My ex boyfriend knows that I am expecting his child and said that he will take responsibility, even though he left Toronto and now lives in Ottawa. I am still trying to adjust to the fact that our relationship did not work and that we will only be an estranged couple sharing parenting responsibilities. It is difficult, but we have to find a civil way of interacting, for the sake of our child.
These are the main questions going through my mind. I do not regret staying behind in Toronto, while my ex boyfriend pursued his career in Ottawa. I love this city it is a wonderful place to raise a child in. I am looking forward to the day Im giving birth to my child. My mother assured me that she will contact both the stem cells bank and the courier, and my dad will nervously pace the hospital waiting room until his grandchild is born and that is all the assurance I need to forget about my worries.
