Photo: Jessica Scott-Reid
Expectant first-time moms are constantly told how important it is to find other mom friends for support. I never expected that my mom tribe would be perfect strangers scattered around the globe who I?d probably never actually meet.
Soon after announcing my pregnancy, congratulations were quickly followed by concerns about where I would give birth. My friends and family weren?t worried about which hospital but which country. I?ve been living a back-and-forth life between Canada and various European countries for the past 10 years due to my husband?s career as a professional hockey player and now coach. This time, the answer was Denmark. I was seven months pregnant when we left for our new home in the small Nordic city of Aalborg, where we had never been before and knew no one. Upon arrival to the North Jutland region, I had to quickly familiarize myself with the national health care system, which takes a different approach to pre- and postnatal care, such as using midwives rather than doctors as the standard for caring for and delivering babies. I also had to immediately make a nursery in our new team-appointed flat, including stocking up on all necessary baby items by navigating Danish baby stores. If that wasn?t overwhelming enough, I also had to try to imagine how on earth we were going to do this whole parenting thing alone in a strange country.
I had no answer then, but now, a year later, I have one, with huge help from an online social-media ...