Sunday, May 24, 2015

insomnia, crying and other fun pregnancy happenings like retraining a 3 year old dog!

Dear Readers,

FYI -this blog may turn very MiM-ish (Mothers in Medicine a wonderful blog to follow if you don't already) by the way.

I am now in my final month of pregnancy or 35+5 in OB speak. She could come at any time, preferable after 37 weeks but before 39 so that I get a term baby girl with maximum maternity leave. I'm already contracting but they are sporadic and not painful so I'm sure just practice at this point. 
I'm just glad we have made it this far and besides being smallish (10-25%ile for size) she seems perfect. She is currently breech so still hoping for a big switch but I've also resigned myself to the fact that a scheduled section between 39 and 40 weeks will most likely be the outcome and is not the end of the world. I purposely had no birth plan so there is nothing to ruin or disappoint me when I don't have the perfect birth. Any birth will be perfect as long as she arrives safely. 

I am SO close to being done with pedi residency. I just got back from vacation/babymoon which was amazing and now the only thing standing between me and graduation is three days of adolescent clinic, one overnight call and five 1/2 day continuity clinics. I'll work until I deliver but since I'm on research this coming month I'll be focusing on setting up my Pedi Neuro projects. I can't wait!

In other news we decided to do some intensive training with Sancho prior to baby girl's arrival so there is that. We are currently less than one day in and it is emotionally difficult for me, I think I've been crying more hours than not.  Coupled with insomnia, averaging 2-4 hours of sleep/day and hormones and I'm an emotional wreck!

We had him in a board and train while we were away for two weeks and he lost quite a bit of weight from the stress and not eating. And they used a pinch collar for corrections which caught his neck a few times and left a rather nasty looking sore. I know he is fine and it probably doesn't even bother him but it looks awful and I hate to have to correct him when he doesn't listen... But I'm going to do this. We need Sancho to be at 100% with recall and commands by the time baby girl arrives. I have no doubts he will be great with her but he is a pitbull and there are so many misconceptions that we can't afford to have him not listen on a walk, someone witnesses him pulling or snapping at another dog and it is perceived by someone as aggression or danger to the baby. So I'll figure out how to train him without loosing it and we will all be better for it....




That's about all I've got going on here. Goals for today include packing bags for hospital (just in case and to be ready) and working on Sancho training. 

Happy Memorial Day weekend to you!





Friday, March 20, 2015

Happy Match Day, Happy Friday, Happy Mom-to-be!

Happy.

It has been awhile.... Awhile since i've blogged, and awhile since I've been happy.

But I am doing both now.

First of all, congrats to all those who matched today. I remember match day and it was a good day. So much fun, so much excitement. The anticipation! And then the relief and joy!!!

Our program  (Pediatrics) filled and we got our first three choices for Pedi Neuro candidates which makes me quite happy!  (Also all three spots went to women! Yes we do hold up half the sky, thank you very much!)

I have been struggling a bit over the past few months and I think it was due to to a multitude of factors. Fatigue, a difficult schedule with lots of back to back-call/ER/call-months and a bunch of sick patients, chronic patients, emotionally difficult to deal with patients and a very busy time at the hospital with a ton of volume and not a lot of support. Add in pregnancy and it was enough to make me want to give up, quit and retreat to Greece with my dog, husband, a books to sustain me.

But I somehow made it through and here I am, just two weeks away from being done with night float, call or anything inpatient until fellowship! And that is a good feeling.

Oh and another reason to be happy. I'm pregnant and viable at 26 weeks today. Of course I'm quite content for baby to stay safe inside for another 11+ weeks but I can breathe a sigh of relief. My pregnancy while not perfect or fun or glamorous hasn't been that bad. I'm heathy and she is perfect so far as we can tell and that makes me very happy!

So here is a happy dance for you because I feel like we should celebrate. I hope to get back to this blog now that I'm out of my tunnel of darkness and have a bit more time. I have much to reflect upon and share from my second year of residency but for today I simple want to be happy!