Time really does FLY!!

Wow, where does time go?!? How many times have I asked myself that question? It really is astonishing to me how time is passing in the blink of an eye, as evidenced by our growing little girl.

We have survived the major sleep deprivation stage and are into a great routine. Now it just feels like "residency/med school tired". Soph is growing like a weed and brightens our days - each and every one of them. What an absolute joy she is. She is such a bright, easy, happy baby; a real blessing!

We have Loch with us each month. He loves his "Prince George home" and we love our time with him. He is such an amazing big brother and he takes a lot of pride in his new role. He lets us know about Soph's every need - "my baby Soph is hungry", "my baby needs a nap now". My favourite saying of his is, "it's ok baby Soph, your big brother is here...it's me, Lochlan, your big brother". So much fun!

Layne continues to love his Psych Residency and I have slipped easily into the stay-at-home-Mom role. I am loving my new job! I am taking a full year of maternity leave and will return to my last year of Residency in the middle of June of 2010. A year doesn't seem as long a time as it did before Sophia came along. She's going to be five months old in one more week.

Well, this is a short posting. I hope this finds you all happy and well. As always, please send emails and pictures and let us know how you are doing.

Lots of Love,
Laura, Layne, Loch and Soph

Sophia Elizabeth Malley Harvey

Sophia arrived two weeks early on June 16th, 2009. She weighed 6lbs 11oz and was 20 inches long. She is, of course, the most beautiful thing we've ever seen!

She keeps us on our toes as she is a feeding, growing machine! Nights are long but we are well prepared for sleep deprivation. Who knew that so many long nights of being on call would come in handy for parenthood?!

We have been having a lovely time, these past few weeks, as just the three of us. We now feel prepped for visitors. Nana and Poppa Malley will be coming up this week and big brother, Lochlan, arrives on the weekend for a week long stay.

We will be heading to Vernon for the month of August to spend time at Grandma and Grandpa Harvey's new digs. They are officially moved in and it looks beautiful! Lochlan will join us for two weeks in Vernon and we are very excited about that too.

Lochlan informed us that he would like to call his sister "Cupcake"...what flavour, I'm not sure.

Just a short introduction as parenting duties are calling.

Laura, Layne, Lochlan & Sophia ("Cupcake")

If your belly button pops out, does that mean the baby is "done"?

Well, 37 weeks and counting. I'm ready ANY time now for this girlie to vacate her current premises in my belly. I'm done with the waddling, heartburn, kankles and the inability to find a comfortable position to sleep in. But, in all honesty, I can't complain. I'm healthy and all is well with the babe. We are getting excited to finally meet her!

We're both still plugging away at Residency. Three more weeks and we will have officially completed our first year. I can't believe how the time has flown...thank God! Layne is doing all Psychiatry right now and I am in my Family Practice rotation working out of a clinic. We are both finally really enjoying ourselves and are very happy with our chosen specialities.

A couple of other pieces of good news - our good friends Norry and Sharona have moved back to Prince George after having spent a year in Halifax. Sharona will be joining our Family Practice program as a Resident AND she is also pregnant so we will be on maternity leave together. We're very happy to have them back! We're also excited to report that my brother Reid has FINALLY asked his lovely Amber to marry him. The wedding planning dilemma has already begun but we are confident they will be able to pull off something fun to celebrate!

Overall, life has been much more normal over the past weeks with no on call shifts. It has been so nice for Layne and I to be able to see each other and spend time together while not sleep deprived and actually aware of what day and time it is!

We had a lovely week in Vernon in April with Lochlan and Layne's parents. The house is coming along beautifully - they have been working so hard and it has finally come together. They will be officially moved in by the end of the month.

Loch had a great time working on the house with Grandpa. He informed us that he was not just Grandpa's helper but that he was a "worker".

Here he is decked out in his "worker" gear, complete with hard had, safety goggles (which he also wore in the shower - only the goggles), tool belt and, of course, the Spiderman elbow and knee pads that never come off.

We used up the last of our holiday days for an adventure with Lochlan over to Saltspring Island. A great time was had by all! Loch is hilarious and lots of fun. He's quite obsessed with Spiderman these days. He is excited about his impending "big brotherhood" and becoming an even bigger boy on his fourth birthday. He keeps us entertained and continues to melt his Daddy's heart.

Well, a short blog this time around. The next one will include pictures of our new addition!

Lots of love,
Laura, Layne, Lochlan & baby girl Harvey

And baby makes 4!

We are counting down the weeks to when our baby girl will arrive. Her official due date is June 27th, 2009.

Now, at almost 26 weeks, my belly has definitely popped out and I am starting to think pregnancy might be, well, kind of neat. The first 20 weeks was rough - chronic nausea, inability to eat (but starving), and just generally feeling really crappy. (I'm sure that working 100+ hours every week didn't help). However, things have started to settle over the past few weeks and Zantac generally takes care of the heartburn. I must say that I am still waiting for that "glow" of pregnancy but am not actually convinced that it exists!

Residency continues to be a crazy time. I am finally finished my two months of Internal Medicine (or Eternal Medicine, as I like to call it, as it feels like it is never-ending) . I am in my surgical rotation now and, although I am still on call as much (every 3rd night), I generally get some sleep on call nights, unlike in Internal. I will finish my surgery rotation at the end of April. After that, I have two weeks of Native Health medicine and then 8 weeks of Family Medicine and that's it for 1st year Residency! If this babe is overdue, I'll actually be able to finish my full first year which officially ends on June 30th! We will see...

Layne is enjoying his Residency. As time goes by, he is more and more excited about his decision to do Psychiatry. The program continues to be very impressed by his skill and the level that he functions at this early in his residency (although he would never tell you that). He is also thrilled that, in two more weeks, he will have finished the last of any kind of medicine call he will ever have to do! I am excited for him! He was in Vancouver for the month of February learning Neuroimaging at VGH. It is certainly nice to have him home again.

Layne spent some great time with Lochlan while he was down south.
They had an awesome time hanging out, tubing, skiing, playing hockey and having lots of cuddles.
Loch is skiing up a storm now. He skis all by himself and likes to go FAST!
He is VERY excited about becoming a big brother and loves his new books about it (especially the one that talks about how babies poop in their diapers!). He tells everyone that he is going to be a big brother in June and then he is going to be four years old in July - a big summer! He told Layne and I that we can give his his baby sister a name when she "pops out".

Layne's parents are nearing completion of their new home in Vernon and it is going to be beautiful! It looks like it will be finished some time in June. We have booked some holiday time in April and will head to Vernon with Loch for a week. We are also looking forward to spending some time there over the summer with Loch and the baby.


The snow is starting to melt and we are looking forward to some warmth and green grass in the north. Winter is too long and too cold but it shouldn't be long before it's over.

Well, that's about it for now. Love to you all and keep the emails, phonecalls and pictures coming about what's going on with you!

Love Laura, Layne, Loch & ?

Another Winter In The North

Wow! 2008 is almost over...what a year!

There was graduation from medical school,
beginning our Residency (finally, the last of our medical training), our fabulous wedding and house renovations (that are 97% complete).



Our wedding was fabulously fun and so beautiful!

Tara, Layne's sister, did an amazing job of creating our ceremony. Layne and I had a JP "officially" marry us in the garden while everyone was busy getting ready and then we walked through the forest up to the waterfall for the "real" ceremony. The original plan was to get married right at the waterfall but it had been raining so hard for several days before that the waterfall was raging! We found a gorgeously stunning spot in the forest for the ceremony with the sunlight streaming through the trees and the waterfall in the background. It couldn't have been more perfect. The rest of the weekend was spent with good friends and lots of food and laughter on a 40 acre piece of property in Nelson. We couldn't have asked for anything more...

The time keeps flying by! I can't believe the wedding was almost four months ago and that we are half way through our first year of residency now. Six more months (and counting down!) and I will be finished half of my training. Six more months and Layne will be finished the first of five years of his training. We are plugging along...another year without sleep. I still get the days mixed up sometimes although I'm not completely convinced anymore that I can blame it on being awake for days at a time as I am closer to 40 than I am to 30 now!

The snow has started falling and the cold is kicking in. We haven't been out for a ski yet but we will be soon. We did manage to get some kayaking in this summer. FUN!!

We got out on our mountain bikes and did some exploring. Although I did wipe out, I managed not to break anymore ribs this past biking season. Layne found a new squash partner so he's back at it. I need to find someone else to play squash with that doesn't switch hands in the middle of the game! (Yes, he can play equally well with BOTH hands).

We are looking forward to Christmas in Vernon with Layne's parents and his sister and her family. We will have Lochlan with us as well so it will be busy with three little boys running around! We hope to get some skiing in at Silver Star. Although he's not swooping down the slopes yet, Loch is a little skier now. Another couple of years and he'll be swishing past us wondering what is taking Layne and I so long to get to the bottom of the hill.

So, that's the latest from the north. I hope this finds you all well and that you will be enjoying some much deserved R&R over the holiday season.

We will keep you posted on things to come...

L&L&L

Out of Limbo...

It's been a crazy year, our fourth year of medical school. A different crazy from third year. Third year is a sleepless blur. Fourth year has been sleepless for different reasons entirely, mostly due to the fact that we've been sleeping in beds other than our own since August. It's been a whirlwind really. September was Terrace, October was Vancouver, November and December were here in PG (but with a strange dude of a roommate and a classmate (we love her) living with us). January was Vernon, February was residency interviews and visiting relatives, March was Nelson and April, finally, back home again, still housing a classmate. So, we've either not been home or have been home and not had our house to ourselves for eight months. It's time...

This week, we are in the last week of our last rotation of our last year of medical school. Can you believe it? I can't. In two and a half weeks we will write a licensing exam and three days after that on May 10th we become Dr. Malley and Dr. Harvey. I wonder if I'll ever feel like a doctor because I certainly don't right now. What does being a doctor "feel" like, I wonder? I surprise myself sometimes at the things that I know and that come rolling off my tongue when questioned by an attending. However, I am more present to the amount of knowledge I know that I don't know yet. It will come. As my Dad would say, "millions have gone before you and they're all just fine".

So, we are certainly looking forward to the end of school and some time off before we start residency. I will be doing my whole residency here in PG and Layne will do the first three of his five years up here. We'll then have to move to Vancouver so that he can finish off his last two years down there. At first we were disappointed to find out that we were matched to PG but realistically, there is no way with our debt load that we would have been able to financially make it down there. We really miss our friends and family and it would have been nice, for that reason, to be in Vancouver. However, the bright side of the coin is a cheaper cost of living, being familiar with the hospital and the docs, not having to "learn the ropes" and the hallways and the doctor's offices all over again and a great house. None of these things would have been the case if we had been matched to Vancouver. By the time we move to Vancouver for the completion of Layne's residency, I will have been practicing for a year already. This will be a great place for me to get my feet wet as a new physician, practicing alongside those who have known me and taught me for six years. What a nice way to start out as a newbie.

Wedding plans are coming along for the big day on August 23rd. With only 20 people and a simple theme things are rolling along smoothly. We will be having our ceremony at a waterfall on Layne's sister's property just outside of Nelson. We have rented a beautiful outdoor property with a funky house/lodge in Nelson for the weekend. It will be fun and relaxing. We'll post and send lots of pictures!

We have been able to spend some great time with Lochlan. He'll be three in just over two months. Crazy! He's getting big and funny and chatters non-stop. Layne is a doting Daddy.

Yes, some of our own will be coming along in the next year or two...well, that's the plan anyway. We'll see what fate has in store. As one of the Gynecologists at the hospital has told both Layne and I, my eggs are "getting old" so we'd better get on it!

During our time off between school and residency, we will be doing some renos to the house. No major knocking down of walls or anything but we will be replacing flooring and painting and changing all of the doors to spruce it up a little. We are excited to give it a little face lift.

We will have a house full for the weekend of our grad ceremony, May 10th, here in PG. Layne's parents (Kim & Rhonda) and sister (Tara) and her two little ones (Zack & Ayden), my parents (Kathy & Laurence) and brother (Reid) and Lochlan will all be here for the festivities. It will be the first time that our families will be together and we are delighted and excited! Mom and Tara, Zack & Ayden will stay on for a few days after. We are looking forward to extra time with them.

Having Lochlan and working on the house will fill our time off before heading into residency. We start at the end of June. I am excited and dreading it at the same time. Layne is the smart one choosing Psych - one call shift per week, only until 11pm. I, on the other hand, have chosen to torture myself for another two years, the first year being the worst. First year residency in Family is like third year over again but with more responsibility and less sleep. So, if you don't hear from me or I'm grumpy when you do, that will be why!

I have to say that, with the amazing life and love that I have, I have been feeling kind of out of sorts lately. I am LOVING my last elective this month which is Palliative Care - working with the terminally ill and dying. I really didn't expect to like it so much. However, the pace is much slower and the hours are minimal compared to the rat race that I am used to. Is it pathological to feel discombobulated when you have time off? Normally I am loving my down time but I feel like the past three weeks of down time has almost sent me off the edge. I think I have to relearn how to relax! That is definitely something med school takes away, or maybe something it adds - if you are not sleep deprived, running around, hungry and have a list of 75 things to do then you are not doing your job. From that to quiet mornings, while I thought I would love it, has been kind of stressful. I know, those of you running around with insane lives are thinking, I wish I had some quiet mornings. Yes, I was of the same mind. Oh well, it won't be long before I'm back to the insanity of intense medical training so I can feel "normal" again (whatever that means).

I think that's all for now. I will try and post some pictures as well and hope you enjoy them.

Love to you all xox

Man oh man...

Wow, I can't believe that it's been 3 months since my last blog. I thought to myself, wow, a Blog, what a great way to try and let everyone know what's going on without big gaps of time in between...hhhmmm....well it's the thought that counts isn't it? I don't know. I guess part of being in med school is the associated guilt about having little time for those you love and think about often. I find that if I'm not at the hospital (Layne had 3 days off this last month) or sitting with my head buried in the books trying to keep up with reading for exams, then it's sleep, oh heavenly sleep! Oh, and then there's the trying to find time to eat thing. I find lately that eating usually happens in one big feast at about 10 or 11 at night. Coffee for breakfast seems to be the order of the day.

Well...let's see...since last blog from the boonies where I did my rural rotation, I have completed my rotations in Opthamology, Dermatology, ER and Orthopedics.

Opthamology - I would rather poke myself in the eye with a sharp stick every day rather than have to look in people's eyes all day long. I do have to say though, Thank God for Opthamologists as your eyes are so important and they discover some very weird and wonderful things, which if caught in time, they can usually do something about. Cataract surgery is a pretty cool thing to watch. It's amazing to be able to restore someone's sight with such a short, fairly uncomplicated procedure.

Dermatology - not nearly as gross as I thought it would be. Again, I think I might rather rub my skin raw than be a Dermatologist. I did see some pretty interesting conditions though. Unfortunately, many dermatological conditions can only be managed, not cured.

ER - loved it of course. I must say though that I didn't happen to come across any "emergencies" while I was doing my rotation. It seems that lots of people think that a sore throat and a sniffle qualify as an emergency. Hhhmmm....quite baffling really. I am very good at using my inside voice and not looking directly at the person and saying, "Are you kidding me? You have a cold. Get some nose spray and Kleenex". Or my other favourite is, "I need stitches". Hhhhmmm, let me get my microscope out and see if I can find the gaping wound that you claim to have sustained. Oh, I know, bad student doctor, bad! I did grapple with "Does that make me a bad person?" The answer, after talking to many a physician, is a resounding NO. You just get good at "reassuring" people that they are just fine.

Orthopedics - cool stuff. Any bone or joint you can think of is involved. I quite like it and the surgeries are interesting. Everything from tendon releases to joint replacements to amputations. Unfortunately I was struck with the super bug going around and was knocked out for a week of that rotation (which happens to have been last week). So, I'm a bit bummed about not having seen more but I'll have another shot at it in residency.

As for what's next on the list...General Surgery. Interesting and exhausting. Layne just finished his Gen Surg rotation and I think he will need almost as many weeks to recover. I start tomorrow morning. I'm about 75% back in the game after the superbug. Hopefully they won't kick me out of the OR again for having germs.

As for the most interesting/sad/gross thing I've been involved in. Well, it seems that trying to commit suicide with a firearm to the jaw is common in these here parts. Two in one weekend. The last guy we were up with until two in the morning trying to sew up what was left of his face so that he could be transported. I wasn't sure what that would be like. It was like business mode, do what you can for the guy so that he remains stable and hopefully lives. The hard part was when we were wheeling him into the OR and his Mom was talking to his bloody, bandaged face, telling him how much she loved him. I felt tears start...and then onto the OR and the tears subsided. An interesting phenomenon. Maybe a protective instinct. I don't know what it is, but it kicks in in those situations so you can remain clear-headed and get the job done.

So the next four weeks should prove to be another medical adventure. This year has been an interesting ride. Six more months to go. Two weeks off in August and then straight into our last year. Crazy. We are in the process now of choosing our electives for our fourth year. Next year is also the year where we are going to be going insane trying to apply for residency positions, kind of like applying to med school all over again. We'll be flying all over the place to interview for residency spots. It will be interesting to see where the chips may fall. It could mean staying in BC or it could mean being on the other side of the country for a couple of years. Who knows?

On the home front all is great. When Layne and I actually do get to see each other, we are usually pretty exhausted and spend time just hanging, studying and sleeping. We have managed to get in some x-country skiing and some squash as well as a little bit of gym time. Layne successfully completed his first indoor cycling class! And he actually enjoyed it!

We had a fun Christmas in Pemberton with his family, his little guy Lochlan and his sister and her husband and their two boys. It was rambunctious and loud, but lively is more fun than quiet. The big hit over the holidays was the chocolate fondue fountain that Layne got me for Christmas. Yes my friends, a dream come true for this self-professed chocoholic. Yes, he is enabling me in my addiction and I love him even more for it. We had several chocolate fondue-fests that were absolutely insane. Think of it...think of a small waterfall...only with chocolate. HEAVEN!!!

We also managed a couple of days on Salt Spring Island relaxing and being pampered (I've turned my Layne into a true spa-boy!) before heading back to the hospital. A bit of heaven before heading back to reality.

I hope this finds you well. I look forward to hearing from you and finding out what is going on with you. Send pictures!!

Take Care,
L xo