What started as a short coffee meetup last summer for Emily Notari and Polina Wright to chat about their sons’ upcoming 1st birthday parties turned into an hourslong heart-to-heart about their shared experience as mothers.
The two Virginia Commonwealth University medical students had bonded after learning they were both expecting boys, who were born two weeks apart in fall 2024. They often talked about navigating medical school and everything related to becoming new moms — including recovering from cesarean sections and breastfeeding.
So it was natural that during last year’s meetup, they started talking about their struggles with finding childcare near campus…