It was hard to leave in many ways. I worked with some really great people over the past few years and I have been very fortunate to have such a good group of intelligent co-workers who have always been willing to discuss things and help each other.

You’re probably wondering why we are moving. Well, the answer is rather long but the quick answer is that I am going back to school. “Wait a minute”, you say. “Karen, you already have a Master’s degree. Why do you need to go back to school? WTH?” Yes, I have a Master’s degree in microbiology/molecular biology. Unfortunately, as I have discovered, this kind of training means that I can get jobs in about 5 places in Canada – Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver, Montreal, and maybe if I know the right people, in one of the government research centres scattered over the country. For various reasons we have decided we would prefer to live in a smaller city or town and a job that requires us to live in or near a sprawling metropolis doesn’t quite fit the bill. Further, I feel that I have gone as far as I can with my current training, and would need to go back and get a PhD in order to apply for higher positions anyway.

I have been very fortunate to work with my employer for the past 5 years. I have learned a wide range of practial techniques as well as learning a lot about my field, and we have all enjoyed living in Montreal during ths time. I don’t regret coming here and taking this job and it will be hard to leave. I feel, however, like there is a fundamental problem in the way out university system is set up. When I came to universtiy, I was young, idealistic, fresh out of high school and didn’t have much of a clue what I wanted to do with my life. I thought about trying a lot of different programs and eventually settled on microbiology because I enjoyed it. What I didn’t realise at the time was that I was entering a research-oriented program whose goals were to create research scientits and collect students for undergraduate research projects. These students would then ideally go on to do Master’s and PhD degrees, therefore working for the university for practially nothing. Unfortunately, there are no other career options available aside from research. When I decided to pursue my Master’s degree I was very fortunate to have a great supervisor and wonderful co-workers. It was a very good experience, however in retrospect I realise how all this training did not prepare me to obtain a job in most work situations. By that point I had entered the specialization of research scientist, who can do only that job and nothing else.

On top of this, I have noticed a general trend with respect to biology. After attending numerous conferences and several training sessions, I am realising that biological research is depending more and more on statistics and bioinformatics. Therefore, the new biologists will very likely be graduates of a math/computer science program who have chosen to specialize in biology. There are some biologists who are flexible and smart enough to learn programming and statistics in a thorough enough fashion to adapt to these changes, but alas, I am not one of them. That’s why I didn’t take a math or computer science program in the first place. So not only am I a highly specialized researcher, but I see the writing on the wall that predicts that I will soom become surperfluous in my own chosen field of specialization.

As you have probably noticed, the economy isn’t doing too well these days. Everyone is facing bad news, whether it’s reduced retirement savings or the loss of a job. Even though I wasn’t in the situation where I was worried about losing my job (at least not yet), it doesn’t take long for a person to realise that research isn’t really a high priority in times of economic cutbacks. If you had a choice between training a doctor or funding a research position, which would you choose? I think the answer is obvious. I believe in scientific research and I think it’s vital to our progress, however I also realise how tenuous a position it is.The thought of possibly losing my job and not being able to find anything scared me – a lot. I realised that it makes a lot more sense to be a certified professional who is in high demand then an over-qualified intelleculal that society doesn’t really need. The irony is that with my current training I could do the job of a Medical Laboratory Technician, however I would not be able to apply for jobs since I have not taken the program and am not licensed as one.

So with all that said, I have taken a close look at my options and decided I would like to try and apply to a Pharmacy program. If I had a head for business I would consider doing an MBA or if I didn’t have children, maybe something more challenging in the medical field like becoming a doctor or a radiation therapist, however the circumstances dictate that I can’t spend more than 4-5 years going back to school before I start working again. My sister-in-law became a licensed Pharmacist this year, and after getting an insider’s perspective on the situation, I think it’s a career for which I am well suited. It also pays very well, and should I complete the program, I would earn far much more as a Pharmacist than by getting my PhD. Further, this career is in very high demand and it opens up a lot of options for moving to smaller cities. If I am not accepted int othe Pharmacy program, I plan to apply to another medical related field (such as X-ray technician or ultrasound technologist or maybe a Medical Lab Technician), although I know the renumeration won’t be as high as for a Pharmacist. The plus side is that these programs are shorter (2-3 years instead of 4-5 years).

It was no small decision for us to consider this change. It meant that Dan was putting his music studies on hold, either temporarily or permanently, and that we would have to move. If I were to stay in Montreal and take a pharmacy program I would have to do it in French. I think it’s something I could handle if I didn’t have children, but with one child at home and another one the way, I don’t think I can spend any time translating my textbooks and notes nor writing my assignments in a second language. The Pharmacy program is only offered in a few locations across the country, and some locations just don’t work for us either due to the cost of living (Vancouver, Toronto), distance from family (Dalhousie or Memorial), or because I don’t have the prerequisites (Waterloo). So the plan, for now, is to try and stay in Alberta. The main advantage of this is that some of our family members live there and it will be nice to be able to visit them as well as conscript their help with our two children once in a while.

We will be moving in with Dan’s parents for about a year. This will give us a chance to take care of Evelyn and the new baby without the pressure of trying to find work and make ends meet before I go back to school. Sometime in the spring of 2010 we plan to move to Edmonton and find a house or appartment to live in. Thank goodness that the housing market is finally cooling off in Alberta! If the situation permits, I will try and find some work for the summer and start my program in September 2010. In the meantime, I plan to brush up on human physiology and start reading some of the key pharmacy textbooks so I will be as prepared as I can be.

I think all of you who read by blog know that I am pregnant again. We are expecting a boy, due May 5^th! We are very happy about this. On top of everything else in 2008, I also had two miscarriages, which was particularly difficult for us. We had actually decided to wait and try again (in a few years) the week before we found out I was pregnant this time. So far everything has been fine and we are in the middle of making plans for his arrival. In November we moved Evelyn to a toddler bed. The transition took a bit of work because toddler beds are not particularly common in Canada and we ended up purchasing it on-line. For the first few weeks Evelyn wasn’t too sure about it and she fell out twice, but now she is used to it and likes the freedom of being able to get out of bed when she wants. It’s just as well, since she jumps so hard on her crib mattress I am worried she will break it! We have also moved her to a booster seat so that the other car seat it available for the new arrival. Finally, we think we might work on weaning her. Right now she has 1 bottle of milk just before bed. She hasn’t been too interested in drinking milk from a cup and doensn’t drink from sippy cups (she just wants to play with them and take off the lids) so we will see about that. It has to be something she will be ready for, and we are willing to wait as long as it takes.

Dan has helped me update WordPress and we have been fighting some major comment problems (I would receive up to 300 unwanted attempted comments on by blog each day). As you can see, I am trying a new theme. Not sure about it yet, maybe some tweaking is still needed.

If you just came here from the link on my Facebook page, here is a one paragraph summary of my life since 1996: Dan and I were married in 1997. I obtained my Bsc in Microbiology and did a 1 year internship in the middle of it. I did an Msc with Dr. Gwen Allison and Dr. Gerald Tannock which involved investigating the microflora of the chicken crop. I was offered a position in R&D at Institut Rosell and we moved to Montreal in 2004. Montreal has been interesting and the food is amazing. If we ever move away we’re going to really miss it. I have been enjoying my job and recently took on a more supervisory role with some really great co-workers and some very challenging projects. My mother passed away suddenly of esophageal cancer last year on the day before my birthday. Fortunately I had told her I was pregnant a month before that so at least she knew she was going to be a grandmother. I just gave birth to a super-cute, very fussy baby in a miserable, painful prolonged labour that I would not wish on my worst enemy but I am feeling very good now. We’re going to try and buy a “house” this summer since our 4 1/2 (Montrealese for a 2 bedroom apartment) is waaaay too crowded with all the baby stuff.

I should have blogged about this earlier – 1 week after Evie was born (almost to the minute) my sister-in-law Holly gave birth to Zoe Aliya in Three Hills, Alberta. See the following link for pictures!
http://web.mac.com/horsthagen/iWeb

A few nights ago Gwen was changing Evelyn after a big poo and once the diaper was off, according to the eyewitnesses at the scene, there was some “projectile pooing” which shot out and all over Gwen! It somehow managed to miss most everything else, including the couch (thank goodness) but Gwen definitely had to wash her clothing. Which leads me to an important piece of advice: the best way we have found to get baby poo stains out is to spray with a wonderful product called Oxyclean (the liquid, not the powder), let sit 5 minutes and wash in cold water, spray again and wash in warm or hot water. If it isn’t possible to wash right away, then it’s best to soak the article in question in cold water with some detergent.

I have also learned another wonderful thing this week – the best way to clean the windows is … to hire someone else to clean them. If you live in Montreal you have probably seen the ads posted on lightposts for window cleaning (with a happy sun shining on The Mountain). I knew it wouldn’t be possible for us to get them clean ourselves and they were filthy from the pollution on Sherbrooke street. I expected that it would be really expensive but it turns out it’s ridiculously cheap – he came to our place, brought tarps to cover our stuff, cloths and non-toxic cleaning supplies, and cleaned the inner & outer, upper & lower windows and the screen (which constitutes one “set”) for $8 a set. Seriously. They are so clean now you almost can’t see them. The only question that comes to my mind is “why ever bother trying to clean them yourself again?”. I would recommend this service to everyone. If you want his phone number just email me and I will send it to you.

Evie had her first doctor’s appointment yesterday and I am happy to say she has regained her birth weight and a bit more. I am really pleased about this since we had another bad week last week – it seemed like she wasn’t getting enough food again and was very upset. I had to supplement with some formula a few nights. Out of desperation I called a lactation consultant (from the West Island Breastfeeding Clinic) on Monday and she came over for 2 hours. She had some very good advice. I knew most of it already “in theory” but it really helped having someone there to put it in practice. She strongly advocated co-sleeping to make the nighttime feedings easier so I have been trying it since Monday night. I had thought about it before but was too afraid to try it.

Oh. My. What a difference! I think part of the problem was that Evie seems able to sense when she is alone and when she is near someone. If she is left alone she usually wakes up very soon after being put down (which is why I would end up nursing for over an hour since I would try to put her to sleep 2-3 times), but if she is near someone she can sleep for hours. Since we have been co-sleeping she has woken up to eat 2-3 times between midnight and 6 and doesn’t eat for nearly as long as when I was feeding her on the couch. I think she gets a lot of comfort from being right near us and doesn’t cry at all unless I take her out to change her. The only drawbacks are 1) that I am super-paranoid that she will get too close to me and 2) that when she poos I have to get her changed right away. Her cloth diapers are a bit large around her legs still and depending on the volume and force of the poo, it sometimes comes out the sides. Fortunately it’s hard to miss since it is a very “explosive” event and even if I am asleep I wake up to hear it.

Another amazing thing happened when the lactation consultant was here – she encouraged us to let Evie sleep on her side a bit and after she had fallen asleep we put her on her side and she rolled over on her tummy by herself. The really crazy thing was that she was already making some pushing movements with her legs which is at least foreshadowing of crawling. We sat with her on her side again today and she rolled over and was able to wiggle around quite a bit in her sleep but wasn’t awake enough to try and lift up her head. I really need to try this with her when she is awake and see what happens.

Well Evelyn is now 2 weeks old and it’s been quite a crazy time. Thank goodness for the CLSC – there is a wonderful, extremely helpful nurse there who visits us every 3 days to make sure Evie is doing ok. Her weight gain last week wasn’t very good and we finally figured out that it was because I didn’t have enough milk. The best guess as to why is that it has something to do with me losing so much blood during the delivery. So the first week was really rough because she wasn’t getting enough to eat and would want to eat (i.e. scream) every 30 minutes but then fall asleep nursing (probably because there wasn’t any more milk). I was exhausted trying to feed her all the time and Gwen would have to take her in another room and try to comfort her so I could get a few hours of sleep. Once the nurse figured out what was going on, she suggested I try and pump the milk after feeding her to increase the supply. For three days straight I nursed for about an hour, offered extra milk in a cup or syringe (which is VERY messy with a squirmy newborn, I can say) and then pumped, only to do it all over again 1-2 hours later. It was miserable and I cried a lot. Now she is getting enough and refuses the extra milk, so we only have to deal with the typical unpredictable schedule of a newborn and not have to worry about an extremely fussy, overly hungry one. I can definitely say the electric breastpump is the world’s greatest invention and that the Bravado nursing bra I bought was an excellent choice and I recommend it to anyone who plans to breastfeed.

Evie knows exactly what boobs are for, where they are located and how to use them – she has tried to nurse with me when I have a shirt on (as pictured above) and even with Dan last night. It’s quite funny to watch her try.

She had her first books read to her yesterday – one about Tigger’s bouncy day (thanks Anik!) and one about animal sounds (thanks Dwayne and Miriam!) by her grandma.

So many people have generously given us a clothing and baby accessories. One thing we found particularly useful was this toy which goes over her bassinet – it’s a lifesaver since it entertains her when she wakes up and isn’t hungry. She is particularly interested in the one on the left which has a mirror. It’s a lot like the one I bought for the crib.

Today I was able to get out and go shopping for me – I used the American Apparel gift certificate from my co-workers to buy some nice light T-shirts for summer. I also put away most of my maternity clothing and took out the non-maternity clothing I had stored in the closet – what a great feeling! My wardrobe consists of more than 2 pairs of pants and 4 shirts again!

We are happy to introduce you to the newest member of our family: Evelyn Ada Hagen, born on April 19th, 2007. She weighed 3.375 kg at birth (7 lb 7 oz) and is 52.5 cm long (20.7 inches). As you can see from the photos, she has light brown hair (darker and longer in the back), dark blue eyes (hardly surprising) and is very pink. So far no indication of jaundice; she appears very healthy and has a very good Apgar score (9.95). Go Evie!

Here are some pictures, return to the Flickr page regularly for updates!

As for the story of how she got here … here are the gory details:
I was scheduled for induction and Evie definitely didn’t want to come out on her own. I was quite worried about the induction since it can be hard on the baby and have some complications. Well I was right to be worried, as it wasn’t a fun experience, especially for someone like me who wanted everything to be natural. I arrived at 6 AM at the hospital and was started on an IV drip of Syntocin at around 7:30 AM. They started the dosage very low and kept turning it up. They also tried to rupture the membranes but she was too high at the beginning. They succeeded in rupturing the membranes at just before 10 AM and she was still very high so I had to stay in bed the whole time. I really started to feel the contractions around noon and by 1 or 2 PM it was very painful. Most of the pain, to my surprise, was located in my pelvis (there is a good reason for this, as you will see later) and hardly anything from the contractions. Worse, the pain was non-stop, so I had no rest between contractions. It was so bad that I was sobbbing and they had to give me oxygen. I felt like it would last forever and everything was going how I had not wanted it to. I really wanted to do this without an epidural, but I had not dilated at all during the entire time and knew that I would not make it to the pushing stage like that. I asked for the epidural and fortunately the anesthesiologist was able to come quite soon (just before 5 PM). It’s a good thing I did, because there were still over 17 hours to go.

Because of the epidural I had to lie on my left or right side and was allowed to change sides every hour to hour and a half. It was tricky business because we had to move the tubing for the IV and epidural around, along with the oxygen mask and all the required bedding. What a mess I was. One leg was entirely numb so I couldn’t turn myself and Dan had to help me every time. By around 9 PM the baby’s heartbeat was dropping too low when I was lying on my left side and I had to stay on my right side for the rest of the labour. Dan and his mom took turns watching the heartbeat and I would take deep breaths from the oxygen if it dropped too low for too long. Dan rubbed my legs and feet with a special scented lotion we made up from Aveda.

Around 3 AM the I was feeling the pain again and had to take another bolus of painkiller and they increased the dose. I was still on oxygen. After that I was able to take a nap (thank goodness – I really needed it) and woke up to find out I was finally fully dilated. The nurses came and told me to start pushing with the contractions (which I could barely feel) so I worked on that for about an hour but it didn’t feel like much was moving. The thing that had me worried was that she was facing upward and the doctors were quite concerned that she would not be able to fit through my pelvis, which was too narrow for the position of her head (no wonder my pelvis was hurting so much!). They were talking caesarean if she couldn’t fit, which scared the heck out of me. My doctor arrived around 10-ish and took a look, at which point she declared that we could do it without a C-section since Evie had turned her head enough to fit sideways. I was both relieved and terrified, since I knew I didn’t have the strength to push her out. I had to lie flat on my back (another thing I didn’t want to do) for the pushing. There were 2 nurses, 2 residents and and my doctor helping me out – one each holding my legs, one pushing from the top of my tummy, one using a vacuum to pull her through my pelvis and then twice more to get her out. Dan held up my head and counted for the pushing. Finally she was out at 10:47 and I held her for a few minutes while a flurry of activity happened. They collected the umbilical cord blood (Dan cut the cord!) and it was a strange thing to feel the placenta hanging around while they finished that. Evie pooed on my tummy during those few minutes and they took her to wash and wrap her. Then they started to work on me. First, I had an episiotomy (another thing I wanted to avoid) and second, because the contractions in my uterus were too weak, I hemorrhaged and lost 1 L of blood. The doctor had to push it out with her hands and then they did the stitches. I wasn’t able to hold her again and rest until almost noon, at which point we were able to breastfeed (with lots of help from the nurses) and were moved to our room. I was so weak from the pain, painkillers and blood loss that it took an hour for me to eat half of the supper they brought me. I wasn’t able to get out of bed until the next day and walking was very hard at first.

Despite everything, I am feeling much better now and have even taken two short trips outside today, which felt great. The first few days were exciting and horrendous, because she wasn’t getting enough food from the colostrum, cried almost non-stop and I had to cup feed her formula constantly after nursing, which happened every hour or so. Now that there is milk, she is doing much better and has even started regaining some of he weight. She has also learned to feed much better and is less sleepy so I can actually do other things like read or watch TV while she eats than watch to make sure she is sucking well.

Anyway, that’s it for a while, but I wanted to post the pics and story before I forgot the details.

We also had success finding a Brita tap filter at the small Rona on Cote des Neiges. I figured it might be out of the way enough that it wasn’t rushed during the pipe scare a few weeks ago.

I cleaned Miette’s cage and she was climbing on the roof again (this is fairly common for her) so I took a picture.