As anyone on a fertility journey knows, conception is never immaculate—it’s a messy, complicated, sometimes heartbreaking process. It’s perhaps why, in 1978, the first successful embryo conceived through in-vitro fertilization (IVF) was compared to the lunar landing. Sometimes bringing a baby into the world feels just as fraught—and expensive—as a NASA mission.
These days, more than ever, there are coaches and experts to encourage and support the journey. So what does the future look like for parents today? Here are a few trends in pregnancy and parenthood now.
Baby, Maybe
First the good news: women today are more in control of their pregnancies than ever before. Part of the shift is attributed to better access to contraception, but it follows a trend of women waiting until their career, financials, and lives are more established.
Now the bad news: even once they’ve decided they want to have children, one in six couples in Canada will encounter fertility issues. Those who find themselves in this often-confusing position may want to consider a fertility coach, like Vancouver-based Laura Spencer.
Fertility coaches like Spencer help couples traverse the gap between diagnosis and treatment. Treatments like IVF and intrauterine insemination (IUI) are complicated and confusing—not to mention expensive. Deciphering the language, next steps, complications, and everything in between can be difficult when you’re taking medication and undergoing uncomfortable injections.
“I’m helping them navigate the decisions, navigate the healthcare system and choices,” she explains. “But I’m also there to coach them on anything else related to fertility, or I call fertility adjacent. Like taking time off work, maternity leave, disability leaves … dealing with who to tell about their fertility. With mindset, if they’re struggling to have hope.”
Spencer herself dealt with infertility issues around the time she was getting her coaching certification, after transitioning out of her previous career in women’s health research and public policy. “I was going through my own fertility challenges and realized, actually coaching is quite helpful.”
Small Victory
What Spencer has noticed through her coaching isn’t surprising: the expense of fertility treatments like IVF are often a barrier for those struggling to conceive. One round of IVF costs between $15,000 and $20,000—and often multiple rounds are needed. “I admin for a support group in B.C.,” she says. “So just hearing the heartache and what people are actually going through, financially is usually the largest barrier. It just really didn’t sit well with me.”
That’s why a recent announcement has Spencer excited: next spring, the province will cover the first round of IVF, joining seven other provinces that offer either coverage or reimbursement for the treatment. “It just gives me goosebumps,” she says. “It will help with people’s mental health. It could save marriages. It’ll have a ripple effect. And yeah, it will change people’s lives.”
The program comes into effect April 2025, and Spencer thinks of it as righting a wrong. “Infertility itself is a medical disease, the World Health Organization has stated that for many years,” she says. “So it’s basically rectifying what we should already have. This is the right call, to make this change in the healthcare system.”
But for Spencer, it all boils down to this: “Finances shouldn’t be a barrier to having a baby.”
Planning for Parenthood
Spencer isn’t the only one who thinks that way. Shereen Debanné, an associate portfolio manager at TD Wealth, couldn’t agree more—and she’s not alone.
A survey by the bank in conjunction with a market research company indicated that women are planning financially for pregnancy and parenthood more than ever before. “Women tend to be disproportionately impacted by parenthood in the workforce,” she says. “A key focus area for women is navigating savings and investments related to parental leave and managing costs for childbearing, such as freezing eggs or fertility treatments, such as IVF.”
Factoring in the overarching societal trends that have women thinking longer and harder about parenthood, Debanné believes this is just the start. “When you think about, you know the trajectory of women, especially young women, wanting to really establish themselves in the workforce, looking at deferring family perhaps, or even marriage. I think it’s a topic that is growing in importance,” she says.
“Women are simply choosing to have families or start families later in life. That’s the reality of the world that we live in. And I think more and more women are certainly making that choice.”
Regardless of what stage of life women choose to have children, Debanné sees more women acting proactively.
“More and more women are engaging in the financial planning process and really understanding, recognizing the importance of it, and initiating it on their own as well. I’m certainly seeing that as a female investment adviser.”
Postpartum Sanctuary
Future parents—or those in the throes of the second or third round—may want to put aside savings for the postpartum period as well. Hana McConville is a co-founder of Alma Care, a Toronto-based postpartum retreat—the first of its kind in Canada. The retreat has its roots in the Chinese custom of “sitting the month,” a tradition where the new mother has a month of confinement to regain strength.
McConville had the opportunity to “sit the month” following the birth of both her children, and noticed a difference between her experience and those of friends who followed a more Western model of recovery. “It really highlighted the gap that there is in postpartum care here. That it’s really not normalized for women to rest and recover after they give birth.”
Alma Care suggests that new mothers head straight to their facility postpartum, but the retreat is prepared to accept families any time within the first three months. “Because we can really then take that mental load of preparing for the postpartum period away.”
The facility focuses on both the mother and newborn, and is fully equipped. “We have a 24/7 care team that has doulas, lactation consultants, nurses,” McConville explains. Plus they offer additional wellness services, such as postpartum massage and pediatric chiropractic services, and educational workshops on topics like breastfeeding or skincare for infants.
Similar retreats have opened around the U.S., indicating that this particular trend is picking up steam. Though McConville doesn’t think of it as a trend, but rather a return to a more healthful approach. “Thirty to 40 years ago, women stayed in the hospital for a week after birth,” McConville says. “We don’t think about that side of things. It feels really normal to everyone to just go home after 24 hours. Maybe not normal, but it’s what’s accepted.”
Menopause Retreat
At the other end of the spectrum, the Parkside Hotel & Spa in Victoria is doing their best to put a “pause” in menopause. Their Radiant Renewal Retreat—based on double occupancy, so bring a friend—caters to the unique challenges of that particular midlife rollercoaster. Spa treatments, relaxation yoga, and most importantly, everything required to satisfy hunger cravings—we’re talking Neapolitan-style pizza, ice cream and s’mores. If only there was something for the hot flashes. —Jill Von Sprecken
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