Monday, January 8, 2018

Babies in Medicine pt 2

This is part two on the balance of having babies while also being in medical school. 
To see part 1 click here.

Patrick
Our littlest son was born in April 2016 at the end of my third year of medical school. Years three and four of most schools are "clinical years" meaning jumping from rotation to rotation, hospitals to clinics, etc etc trying to figure out what field of medicine you really want to be in. This meant that I was pregnant through all of my third year while bouncing around all my rotations. In general this time was great for being pregnant if you can work it the right way. For me, I benefited in having most of my more demanding rotations where I'd be on my feet more towards the beginning of the year. I did surgery and OB rotations early on which was a blessing because I didn't have my big belly in the way or the fatigue of a third trimester pregnancy being on my feet all day. The one tricky thing for me is that one surgeon I worked with did a lot of cases that needed intra-operative imaging meaning all the docs wore lead vests during the cases. I was early in my pregnancy, no one knew about it and I wasn't comfortable being in on those cases. Luckily it worked out for me but it could have been more difficult.
As the year progressed and my belly grew rounder my rotations mellowed out, more clinic type rotations, less hospital work. Pat was born in the last week of my psych rotation which consisted of my basically sitting around all day. After he was born I used my month of "vacation" time for 4 weeks of zero responsibility. Then I took a study month for round two of board exams and flew to the east coast for my physical exam portion of boards with a 6 week old at home. We then had a bit of a break before the madness of 4th year started so I spent a bit of extra time at home with my growing family.

Transitioning into 4th year with audition rotations, residency applications and interview travel was extra tricky because these were the things that "really mattered" towards my career but I still had a little baby at home to take care of too. Yet again I toted my pump around, learned how to pump while driving long distances, didn't make excuses for my circumstance and my family while on interviews and cried often in hotel rooms by myself missing my baby and my family (#hormones!). I picked elective rotations to fill my schedule that were a lot easier and less demanding so I could be home as much as possible. I saved up my "non-clinical" time and used it later in the year for online courses while at home snuggling my boys. I completed 2 audition rotations, 13 residency interviews in multiple states and all the credits I needed to graduate. And in the end, I did it!
I could write a whole post on this topic itself but briefly, I chose family medicine because of the availability and understanding of this field of medicine to women with families. Plus I really like primary care and continuity with patients, obviously! I knew going into this whole life course that in the end I wanted to be a doctor and a mother and here I am doing both. It's been challenging in ways that I can't even begin to describe but my life is fuller and I truly believe I am a better doctor because I am also a mother to two sons.


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