Book one last getaway with your bestie before the baby comes.<252>Jupiterimages/Getty Images
After my sister Tara tipped over into the snowbank for the third time, our 18-year-old ski guide turned to me and said, "Maybe, for the pregnant woman, snowshoeing would be better."
Tara, seven months pregnant, and I, five months pregnant, were nearing the end of the three-kilometre "beginner" loop at the Mont-Sainte-Anne Cross-Country Ski Centre, just outside Quebec City. The centre boasts 200 kilometres of trails up and down the foot of a snowy mountain, and we had thought adding some light winter sport to our getaway weekend was a grand idea.
Until, that is, we realized two things: that the third trimester turns your ligaments to jelly and rejigs your centre of gravity; and that beginner trails in Quebec would be intermediate ones in Ontario. Our "sister babymoon" was off to a shaky start.
Babymoons are a well-known travel trend: Parents-to-be take one last memorable trip before their baby arrives, figuring it will be a while before they can spend time alone together. I didn't really buy this argument, however; after our first child was born, my husband was almost the only person I saw. It was my girl time that took a hit. So when my second pregnancy coincided with my sister's, we ditched our husbands to spend some quality time with each other.
Turns out many expectant mamas have the same idea – making time for a sister babymoon with the special women in their lives, from best friends and sisters, to mothers and daughters.
When Toronto law clerk Charlotte Schwartz became pregnant with her second child, she had a mini-freak-out: "I was worried that I was about to lose whatever was left of my identity, and have zero time to spend with my girlfriends." So in March, 2013, at five months pregnant, she booked a hotel-and-spa package for four of her Toronto friends at Blue Mountain Resort in Collingwood, Ont.
"We spent the first couple of hours in the room talking by the fireplace and snacking. I couldn't remember the last time I'd done that," Schwartz, 32, recalls. "Then we went to the spa and out for dinner. The next morning we had a leisurely breakfast, and were home the next afternoon."
Schwartz relishes that bonding time with her friends. "I talk to them a lot, but I've only seen two of them since Isaiah [now 18 months] was born."
That relaxed spa experience is welcome by any mother-to-be. After our short-lived ski expedition, Tara and I headed back to Château Mont-Sainte-Anne to unwind with prenatal massages, a swim and a very quick dip (pregnant women need to keep their body temperatures in check) in the outdoor hot tub at the foot of the mountain.
The next morning, we checked into our suite at the majestic Fairmont Le Château Frontenac in Quebec City. The clerk, clearly delighted by our joint pregnancies, sent up matching terrycloth robes and slippers to keep us cozy in our room overlooking the St. Lawrence River.
The hotel's recent $75-million renovation includes stunning chandeliers in spiral staircases and an art deco cocktail lounge. Perched on brass stools at the gold, crescent-shaped bar, we sipped "shrubs," a traditional medicinal tonic revived by the Frontenac's bartenders. The tart, alcohol-free tipples are made from vinegars infused with herbs or fruit, then topped with soda water. We felt almost tipsy.
That slightly risqué feeling, in the absence of a watchful spouse, is something Shireen Murakami-Lam, a Toronto advertising professional, can identify with. When she was five months pregnant with her first child, she went to Chicago to meet up with two of her girlfriends. At a sushi restaurant, she skipped the raw fish but had a sip of her friend's beer. "If my husband had been there, he would have freaked out," she says, recalling that before the trip she told him: "There's no way you're going with me. I want to have a good time and I want to relax."
Girlie babymoons have a different pacing from most spousal vacations, and a different focus, she notes. "My girlfriends were a lot more laid-back than my husband and I would have been," says Murakami-Lam, 36. "And they were excited to go shopping with me for maternity clothes."
My sister and I, too, were happy to spend our sojourn in Quebec cruising the city's charming shops, where we found plenty of fodder for mothers-to-be. At Benjo, we discovered Cirque du Soleil sleepers and old-school Monchhichis (those appealing Japanese stuffed monkeys). At Souris Mini, a whimsical Montreal-based children's clothing chain, Tara picked up a cream-coloured infant playsuit with an embroidered fox on the front, and announced she was buying it for my little one.
We broke up our shopping with as much eating as we could manage – macarons, mille feuilles and lait au chocolat at Café-boulangerie Paillard. We took a restorative break at Camellia Sinensis, a delightful teashop across the street from Benjo. Our server advised us which herbal teas were safe for expectant mothers and showed us a list of the caffeine content of various white and green teas, so we could choose low-caffeinated favourites to take home.
For dinner, we feasted at Chez Boulay on the Québécois version of "new Nordic" cuisine; the bistro offers a changing menu of local fare cooked with boreal forest herbs, flowers and fruits (we tried pine-scented salmon tartare with birch syrup and pine nuts).
Back at the château, we capped off our night in true sister style – in matching bathrobes and slippers, cocooned in one of our double beds, a tray of hot chocolate and fresh-baked cookies from room service before us, and St. Vincent, the kid-centric Bill Murray comedy, queued up on the TV. "This is what every babymoon needs," said Tara, relishing her hot chocolate. "Pure indulgence." Thirty minutes later, she fell asleep sitting up, open mouthed and snoring along to Murray's pitch-perfect performance.
IF YOU GO
Fairmont Le Château Frontenac: Come and see what $75-million can do to a 122-year-old grand dame. Rooms from $199. 1 rue des Carrières, Québec City; fairmont.com/frontenac-quebec
Château Mont-Sainte-Anne: Ski, spa, snowshoe or just kick back in your condo or studio. Rooms from $170. 500, boulevard du Beau-Pré, Beaupré, Que., chateaumontsainteanne.com
The writer travelled courtesy of Tourisme Québec, Château Mont-Sainte-Anne and Fairmont Le Château Frontenac, none of which reviewed or approved the article.