Delivering Babies

Had OB call last night. So I was the guy for delivering those babies. Arrived on the L&D floor and saw that there were 5 laboring patients. For the record, thats not a small load. Not super busy, not crazy, but certainly enough to convince me that I was going to be up all night. Because if you have five, you can probably count on getting one or two more that come in during the night. And the five patients were a mix of primes and multis, meaning that some were having their first, some their second or third time around. This also means that some are going to go faster than others... so I am expecting a night of steady deliveries. Between that, outpatients, and progress notes I was ready to rock and roll.

Well, as per the theme of L&D this is exactly how it didn't go. Three of the mothers progressed pretty rapidly, and the three of them gave birth to three perfect kiddos in a matter of 18 minutes. Now I am pretty good, but I am not good enough to be in three places at once. So I miss out on two of them.

After that the night was actually pretty slow. The other two mothers took their time, and there wasn't a single outpatient until 6 AM. I got plenty of sleep, and even got to deliver a few babys. Always a good time. I will be honest though, I don't think I am ever going to get to a point where deliveries don't make me nervous. Its just not a smooth process. There is pushing, fluids, and then screaming, contractions... you get the idea.

AND, bonus, because I am doing ER this month, and you aren't allowed to see new patients after a 24 hour call, I got to head home "early"... that being 16 hours later than any reasonable person, and 12 hours later than every other high liability performance intense job does (pilot, trucker, heavy machinery, captain...). But I digress, the point is that I had this whole day post call, AND I had plenty of sleep. Its like a bonus day. So I am pumped. Now if only the weather was nice I could mow the lawn :)

A Different Day.

Now, I recognize that I might not be far enough into my residency to make calls about what is different and what is routine, but today was pretty different. I worked the ER this morning, its a fun time. But its ordinary. I am used to it. I see patients with problems that I have seen before. Its challenging, but its routine.

But this afternoon was something different altogether. UICOMP holds an annual Faculty golf outing. And since all the residents are faculty (Thats right, I am actually considered faculty at a university now... *checks self* whew... still conservative. That was close) we get to go. In fact, we HAD to go. They made us do it.

Except it wasn't a golf outing. Or at least it didn't have to be. There were three choices for the day. You could either go to the golf outing, the RiverPlex, and/or go out to Dinner. Well, I didn't want dinner, because I want to be home with my wife. And I don't golf, so I figured that was out too. And for those of you who don't know me, I am rarely one to turn down a hot tub. So I had an afternoon of playing in the pool, hot tubbing, eating free lunch, and weight lifting. And I was paid for it. Very cool. But very different.

Tomorrow its back to the "routine", including call. OB call too. Wish me luck. If I get it, I might be able to post another entry from the call room on some down time.

Tiger

Residency in Full Swing.

So I have been cheating on this blog with my other blog: How To Be Totally Awesome. And because of that this blog has taken a huge back seat. Which is somewhat unfortunate because this is the blog that I intended to use to chronicle my journey through residency, as well as to put some of my views out there for ideas and comments.

But that aside, I am back. I will try to work with both blogs, this one will always play second fiddle I think, only because my other one has advertisements, and there in needs to be updated more frequently to stay entertaining. That said, this one probably has more meaning, and hopefully a lot more depth.

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A lot has happened between my last post and this one. For one, we closed on our house. Which was a great thing. An expensive thing, but a great thing. We are so happy with our home. Check out Mandi's Blog for details on that. She covers things a lot better than I do.

We have done some renovation, mostly painting with a few other things. Again, Mandi's blog has details on that.

Probably a greater change for me was the beginning of my Family Medicine Residency here in Peoria. Its been a huge adjustment. Going from a lifetime of learning, to a lifetime of clincal decision making. I know this is an abstract way to think of it, but having information poured into your brain for year after year after year, and then to have to turn around and spit it out in a way that helps people, and that works... its an interesting change.

I think I am doing a fair job, I try to ask the other doctors around me to critique me, and to offer me feedback and so far its all good. I feel confident in my knowledge, and in my ability to make the proper calls on the floors.

And speaking of the floors, call has been a real adjustment. There is nothing positive to say about staying up all night, being sleep deprived, hungry, and annoyed for more time than I care to think about at a time. Our call on weekdays lasts from 5:00pm to 7:30am the next morning. Keeping in mind I have to work the day before, and until 1:30 the day after too. Thats 30 hours at a time. Sometimes without sleep! Its nuts, not fun, and probably not safe. I am hopeful that the policies that are being considered will change that. For my sake, but moreso for patient's sake.

And weekend call isn't much better. Its only 24 hours at a time or less, but then its on the weekend. And it kills any hope of having the kind of good time I would like to have.

Now don't get me wrong, I am not trying to complain. I can handle the work. I have worked over 80 hrs a week before, so this is no biggie. And its FUN work, its challenging work, and its what I have been training to do for years! I can honestly say that I love it. And I am blessed to be able to do it. That said, it IS an adjustment, and one that I am finding harder to make than I thought it would be.

I also got a vacation. Thanks to a scheduling flub up I got vacation THIS August, when I thought I was going to get vacation NEXT August. I took full advantage, and went to WI to see my grandparents. It was a blast, great weather, and Bond Lake was great! Overall though, the best part is seeing my Grandparents. Time with them is priceless.

All in all there has been too much to cover in one post. Hopefully I am somewhat caught up with my blogging here, so that I can go ahead and stay current from here on out. More to come!


Tiger Striped Doc