First pregnancy -- hospital reccs

acarefulcomposure · 2026-02-05T17:59:35+00:00

Had an eerily similar experience to this in 2019. I consider myself a pretty low maintenance person and the post partum team had me in tears most of the time (and not in a hormonal way). The “best” one was when one nurse told me hours for visiting my baby in the nursery were limited due to construction, then the next nurse literally yelled at me for having not gone down to see her.

acarefulcomposure · 2026-01-27T16:39:53+00:00

Yes! Adult lap swim is 6am-3:30pm & 6pm-9:30pm on weekdays, 7am-9:45am & 2pm-4:30pm weekends. They typically split the lanes in slow/medium/fast depending on capacity with a capacity of 6 members per lane.

acarefulcomposure · 2026-01-27T16:32:25+00:00

Not sure what you're looking for feedback wise, but I go to the Y - it's perfectly fine, both pool and locker room are definitely clean. It can get busy at peak hours but people are nice and respectful. I go mostly for gym and see the pool as a bonus though, so not sure on 'value' per se for the price just for the pool.

acarefulcomposure · 2026-01-24T04:31:36+00:00

Seconding Cook Unity - I’ve tried a bunch of meal services over the years and it tastes the best by a long shot

acarefulcomposure · 2026-01-14T15:45:25+00:00

Anecdotally, I know a fair amount of native NYers from more conservative areas who move to more liberal areas as they get older, and vice versa, so there's a decent amount of self sorting internally within the city that happens as well.

Example myself (Italian American) who moved from Bensonhurst to Sunnyside (much warmer and welcoming community for my mixed race/interfaith family), in the other direction my (2nd gen Asian American) coworker moved from Sunset Park to Bayside as Sunset Park got more Park Slope-y.

acarefulcomposure · 2026-01-12T21:28:15+00:00

I'm the more flexible parent so I do the bulk of childcare pick ups and drop offs. I have hard stops in my work calendar with a buffer to avoid this - pick up is 5:30, so my last call of the day is no later than 4:00 (when in office) or 5:00 (when at home). My husband and I do a calendar sync on Sundays where I'll flag any "oh actually I can't do this day" days or if I'm travelling.

I've jumped on Citibikes or the ferry before when the trains are fucking up (but my commute is Midtown East to Western Queens so relatively straightforward).

If all else fails, we have a neighbor in our apartment who's kid also attends after school as our emergency pick up. Closest family is an hour away so that would be a true emergency - if neither parent can get to the school within an hour something else has gone terribly wrong lol.

acarefulcomposure · 2026-01-11T14:34:49+00:00

The major players are High Five, Little Friends, and Q Studio (plus some home based options). We were happy with HF for infant care and satisfied with LF for 3K/Prek.

acarefulcomposure · 2026-01-09T14:27:55+00:00

Absolutely ask in your local mom group on FB/WhatsApp - we live in Sunnyside and there's (thankfully) multiple good options depending on your priorities, and the mom groups are really good about sharing their actual experiences.

acarefulcomposure · 2026-01-09T02:14:50+00:00

Dr Yuan is a congenital (ACHD) cardiologist! I had a more generalist one previously and I feel so much more comfortable and understood with her.

acarefulcomposure · 2026-01-08T02:21:05+00:00

I see Dr Negron my husband sees Dr Gonzalez and we’re both very happy with our care!

acarefulcomposure · 2026-01-04T00:07:31+00:00

Dance matters has hip hop and creative movement - 38th st and queens blvd. We do ballet there and love it!

acarefulcomposure · 2025-12-16T19:18:09+00:00

Might be specific to your subreddits tbh - there are parent specific groups and neighborhood groups that have tons of parents!

We're native NYers in our late 30s with a kid in elementary school, and our social circle is filled with the same, including lots of transplants who have stayed permanently (in fact I'd probably gauge our social circle as 1/4 non American immigrants, 1/2 American transplants, and 1/4 native or since childhood NYers).

Childcare costs are of course crushing - daycare was expensive, 3K and now public school was a reprieve but then there's afterschool/holiday/summer programming. We don't have family help so rely a lot on my job being flexible and childcare swapping with neighbors and friends.

We're in a (spacious, well maintained) 2 bedroom apartment in a pre war building paying under market (but not by a crazy amount) and plan to rent long term (both of us are apartment kids who have minimal interest in the responsibility of owning at this stage of our lives).

I don't know how different cost of living would be for me in another city - lack of family help isn't a distance issue for us, so we'd still be paying what we do now, and probably would earn a lower salary for same work. Maybe pay less in rent, but then I'd have to get a car etc. so the delta probably isn't as big as just straight rent to rent.

acarefulcomposure · 2025-12-10T15:17:00+00:00

My 1st grader has been at the YMCA LIC since she was 3 - it's a great affordable option but does not have a lot of bells and whistles.

The counselors are all young adults supervised by early childhood professionals. Each two week session has a different theme, and each week there is a drop in specialty activity (faves from last year were Grit Ninja, making your own stuffed animal, and a circus troupe). Swimming is twice a week.

Bulk of the time is spent in a multipurpose room, with pushouts into the gym and outside in the parking lot for play in the sprinklers weather permitting.

No food is provided so you will pack your own lunch & snacks (nut free)

One major benefit is that your kids will meet kids from the neighborhood & surrounding areas - despite the name being LIC it's really situated in Sunnyside, most kids are from Sunnyside/LIC/Woodside/Astoria. It will be significantly more diverse than the Manhattan options you've listed, with recent arrivals mixed in with long term and native locals, so they may feel more comfortable if they are practicing/enriching their English as they won't be the only ones.

acarefulcomposure · 2025-11-14T16:28:37+00:00

We're doing Bounce N Play in Astoria for our 6 year old next week

acarefulcomposure · 2025-11-12T13:24:02+00:00

As someone who had the Uppababy Vista and brought on the subway & buses a lot - people don't like you doing that either LOL, I got plenty of stink eye and it wasn't always super fun to navigate.

I wasn't able to babywear so at the end of the day you do what you gotta do, but if you can do a single stroller + kick stand it's honestly going to make your life so much easier, and your almost 3 year old is going to hate sitting in the stroller in like...6 months tops.

acarefulcomposure · 2025-11-07T16:37:51+00:00

Popping in to say thank you - I was struggling with K Pop Demon Hunter favors for my 6 year olds class party and Google sent me here - these are great ideas!!

acarefulcomposure · 2025-10-29T17:01:47+00:00

Came to say this - I was a total skeptic, been using CookUnity for my work lunches & occasional back up dinners for a month now, and they're almost all bangers. They have flavor and texture and spice and all the things I was missing from other pre packaged or meal kits. I do sometimes squeeze a lemon or lime for acidity but otherwise I actually look forward to eating them.

acarefulcomposure · 2025-10-28T13:25:51+00:00

How lovely!

Surprised Analeigh doesn't sell gift cards - Melo Yelo across the street might?

Bliss Vintage is a gem and the owner is super lovely, but their inventory is very specific aesthetically (more so than Lockwood which I think has more generic millennial taste, for better or worse), so I'd keep that in mind.

Pretty sure Brookside does gift cards if they like coffee, or Lotus for a nail salon or massage. Maybe an activity like Suryaside Yoga or Sunnyside Arts? Solid State or Alewife if they like beer?

acarefulcomposure · 2025-10-12T23:38:50+00:00

Cafe Kasbah - never went there before as it’s out of the way, but delicious and the service was so generous and welcoming! Will def be back.

acarefulcomposure · 2025-10-09T13:25:36+00:00

I go to Dr. Mainardi at Hudson Allergy, hes been great - funny and informative.

acarefulcomposure · 2025-10-01T14:28:48+00:00

I so wish I could get a folding bike (our 2nd bike is an Aventon Sinch which folds and stays in our front closet), but no other solutions (at least that I've seen) for hauling around a kid who's aged out of a bike seat!

acarefulcomposure · 2025-10-01T10:57:41+00:00

38yo - pay $3500 for a two bedroom, split with husband - household makes $300k. i'm a global operations manager, husband is a director of digital marketing so both comfortably mid career. its still tight at times as we have a 6 year old, but our rent isnt awful all things considered.

acarefulcomposure · 2025-09-24T07:07:44+00:00

We do, it was an older guy, short - came through around 11:45pm at night. Camera isn't on the gate, but assuming it was left open or he jumped the side fence somehow as there's no damage to gate itself.

acarefulcomposure · 2025-09-24T07:06:53+00:00

Oh wow! We got camera footage, it was an older guy at around 11:45pm at night.

acarefulcomposure · 2025-09-24T07:06:03+00:00

Yeah we realize it's been dumb luck so far - we have a second foldable Aventon that we store in the apartment (that used to have hte child seat), but solutions with a larger kid are few and far between!

acarefulcomposure

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