aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh, some action at last! Hi guys!
Sabi,
So glad the apt went well!!! Wow, four hours, what a trooper! Happy anniversary to you and hubby-bubby!

:D:D:D June sounds very exciting, but 3 months of shots sounds like a LOT, especially given that you'll use a donor! wow!!!
Miracle,
Hello there sweetheart! So sorry to hear you're feeling overwhelmed at the moment... You said you wish you'd learn how to deal with stress, well a cheap option could be buying Feeling Good by David Burns. The book seems a bit dry at first look, but believe me it's incredibly helpful and to the point. Another cheap and amazing choice would be "Awakening self-esteem" by Nezu and Nezu. Much shorter (192 pages), amazing tools, appropriate tone, I LOVED that book. Another free option would be to permanently kick the "I must" and "I should" tyranny out of your life... and your vocabulary!!!!! Hey, sweetie, don't lose your perspective! You've been friends for 18 years with that amazing woman, you really think this would all crumble down if you can't visit her this weekend?
and to answer your questions: My friend named her son Louis-Xavier (the pronunciation is much different in French of course, and it's a pretty name). I don't mind my own son taking his time and come out when he's ready, I just hope I won't have to be induced. I had false labor for some 45 minutes yesterday, but it went away. My friend had false labor a month before she delivered, so...

Toulouse and Daria are doing well; TOulouse is learning to walk on the treadmill and he's making a lot of progress, so proud of my little boy! And Daria still LOVES her treadmill sessions, she does it twice a day at quite a fast pace (trot) and she really loves it. To give you an idea, she'll stay on the treadmill even if I'm right in front of her peeling veggies in the kitchen (you can guess that she's usually laying right on my feet, waiting for something to fall off the counter!) They are both MUCH calmer during the day, the difference is absolutely amazing. Right now they're lying next to me in the office, snoozing. I think we're well on our way to find the right balance for them.
Lee,
OMG OMG OMG! You're putting in your adoption application today?!?!? HOW EXCITING!!!!

:D:D:D Oh gosh, I can't wait to hear more after your information session in June!!! How long do you think it might take before things start to move? Oh I'm happy for you girlie! *HUGS* What a great idea to turn your fostering experience into something lucrative! Wow! Totally understand your feeling (you'll see why below), some of us just have the business bug, some don't! I wish you good luck with that amazing project dearest! And to answer your question, it's a little bit of both. I try to finish one project per day, some days are more productive than others. The insomnia can be quite bad. Last night I was up from about 2am to 4am or so, and then some idiot called at 8:30am while I was trying to catch up some sleep and had me running naked all around the house trying to find the second phone because the one I had upstairs was dead...! ANd didn't even bother to leave a message on the answering machine! Anyway. So there you go. The days are great and relaxing and productive, but the nights are sometimes great, sometimes difficult. I would much prefer to stay up for a few hours a night because I'm taking care of my fussy son rather than because I had to pee for the 100th time and couldn't fall asleep again because the hormones are messing with my sleep cycles!
Carolyn,
Thinking of you sweetheart... beta tomorrow, keeping everything crossed. HUGS
Well, I had quite a shock this morning. Talked to a colleague and friend of mine who works at the same hospital. Some of you might remember when I talked about the difficult work context in which we are. It got even worse this past few weeks; one colleague gave her resignation at the beginning of the month, another is considering leaving for the diabetes position as soon as it opens (she was hired in Febuary!!!!!). Well, my colleague told me this morning that she's handing her resignation letter this afternoon to our boss. It's huge. We all saw it coming, but to actually take that step, it's huge. I admire her, because it's a gutsy move. She's not leaving to another position in another place, she's leaving because of her beliefs and because the situation at work just isn't acceptable anymore. I'm convinced that she'll have no trouble finding another job; she has a lot of PR up her sleeve.
But her resignation brought back a project that we talked about two years ago. I'm not ready to jump back into the financial instability of private practice yet, but we talked about starting our own firm. Instead of just starting a private practice, we would specialize and advertise for a specific field: either oncology or health psychology in general. Her PR skills and knack for handling the business stuff would be invaluable, and my own skills (organisation, management) would complete them very well. Without each other I doubt that we would be able to start something like this, but as a team we could actually succeed!
So I brainstormed big time this morning and emailed her my ideas. There is no cancer clinic in Montreal, and it could be interesting to start one. I've brainstormed the market, the location, the services we might offer, I've also calculated how many patients we would have to see each year to have the same salary we're making now at the hospital (which of course would be our minimum target...), and so on.
My plan is to stay at the hospital and help her start the firm as her associate, but pro bono. I absolutely don't mind giving my time for a project like this. Given that she's the one without a job, I would let her cash in the first profits and, when the clinic runs well and we start building a reputation and a waiting list, then I would hand in my resignation too and take care of that waiting list. In the meantime, I would get training in medical hypnosis (I was going to do it anyway) and keep running my research projects to work on some new techniques I'm testing. All this would be useful for the firm anyway. It will just be quite hard to work in that new context... I don't know who'll replace those people, but now I'm the only young cancer psychologist left who really thinks clinical-research work...
The biggest challenge is money, as always. If our market is cancer patients, for example, it's a reality that while they need our services, those people will be on leave at work because they're sick, and so they will be careful with their money. Plus insurance companies usually give only 400$-500$ a year, if you're well insured, for private sessions with a psychologist. That's about 4-5 sessions... so it would be great to do a proper market study to help us shape that project. BUT at the same time it's also an advantage because, given that those people don't work because of their health status, they can all book their apts during the day, and it means we wouldn't be forced to work evenings (a hard reality of private practice... hate it).
Anyway, if some of you have business or marketing skills, don't hesitate!

I think it's an exciting project, and it's worth taking the time to shape it well before we give it a tangible try.
Okay guys, enough babbling! Take care!
Sophie xxox