Pre-Orientation Orientation

It is time to finally post an introduction. Sorry to the 36 visitors that I've had before this first post.

I am starting this blog as I am going through a major transition in my life. I have spent the last eight months at home, raising my son. (He was born 10/10/10 - my husband and I like to think we hit the baby jackpot.) Before I was a stay-at-home mom, I was a medical student. Long story short, I took a year off between medical school and residency to take care of my son full time while my husband continued to work.

It has been the most challenging and rewarding year of my life. More of that story will be told later.

 I start my medical residency in pediatrics days from now. My husband, an attorney, just left his job to become a stay-at-home dad while I complete my medical training. Why? It simply is what works best for our family. Well, we hope it is what will work best for our family.

We started the transition into our new lifestyle this week. I had what I like to call "pre-orientation orientation" at work. I spent half of the week at work, training in pediatric resuscitation. Of course, I started my triumphant return into medicine with a bang. When it was my turn to be code leader, the [fake] patient died. What a start back after 13 months off!

My husband and my son seemed to have a great start this week. My son was his normal, happy self with his dad. That was a huge relief. My husband went above and beyond his instructions to "stay alive until I get home" and had a good time with our kiddo. That was also a relief. I struggled a bit more as 1. I have spent the past 8 months reading "Quack, Quack!" and not studying medicine, and 2. I whole-heartedly missed being with my son.

That brings me to the point of this blog. I hope to use it as a tool to help me balance the many aspects of my life. The next few years will be overwhelming difficult, but they also will be overwhelmingly rich. I am blessed to have the two best jobs in the world - taking care of my child, and taking care of your children. I hope you'll stick around as I try figure out how to best take care of my child, your children, and myself! (And maybe my husband too.)