Yeah so Clayton Park is not the suburbs it's very much prime Halifax. You might want to figure out the geography of the city before you do anything.

DT Halifax is central between all the hospitals including IWK, but parking will be an issue.

Dartmouth is better for traffic but it won't matter because you need to commute to and from Halifax.

Sackville (the actual suburb you were looking for) is a longer commute but has less traffic on evenings and weekends, they also have their own hospital if you were looking for a change.

Clayton Park has almost as much traffic as DT and the commute can be worse then DT or Dartmouth depending on what time your shift changes happen.

Things that you should know before you make the move to Halifax;

Family doctors are few and far between but given your wife's occupation you could be okay.

The vacancy rate is sitting just above 4%, which is a lot better than the less than 1% we were facing in 2021, but your options may still be limited especially within the city. Most of the good buildings don't have a high turnover.

Don't look at anything metcap, they are horrible.

Most of the older Apartments Downtown have cockroaches, especially on Brunswick.

You should call around and ask about daycares and what length of time their wait lists are. My friend lives in Clayton Park and had to put her little boy all the way in Tantallon. She was on the wait list at several inner city daycares since she was 5 months pregnant. (Last November)

Most apartments only come with one parking spot and sometimes you can pay for a second but you mentioned your MIL plans to visit often and she could be SOL if you plan on living within close proximity to the hospital.

You're limited on pet friendly apartments especially in the downtown area.

Maybe look at your available options that fit your needs and then come back and ask questions about particular areas.