May has been busy already!

I think I say this every single time I post something: so many things to cover in this next post let alone what is yet to come in the next few months.

I’m currently en route back from Houston, Texas after having attended a meeting at MD Anderson Cancer Center. It’s a private conference of sorts but I was able to submit for consideration to present thanks to my mentor in Montana at the Billings Clinic. Because of him, I was granted the opportunity to present my research there, and maybe use it a way to preview the program before I officially interview there for fellowship in August. 

The interview schedule is about 15-16 programs deep at the moment, and now I just have to decide which, if any need to get cut. I will interview between June and August and by October 2019 I will go through yet another “match day” and find out where our little family will be headed for the next 3-4 years (the length depends on the program).

Our little Adler is keeping our hands full.

She’s now walking with more confidence and excitement with her own independence (and thankfully less tears when she falls down. She discovering what it means to take care of babies at daycare, which is sort of insane to me, seeing her play with a baby doll.

She helped me plant the starts to the garden as you saw in the last post. And this week she helped me shop for some of the key things for our little veggie plots to flourish (and some tomato starts because no matter how hard I try I can't get tomato seeds to grow well)

We celebrated Easter with friends and even got to enjoy a little mini-egg hunt of our own while I was on the night shift. Turns out we would be hard pressed to find something as motivating for walking outside on unlevel ground than easter eggs!

I’ve been busy at work getting things set up in our make shift simulation center for a new exam that we as OB/GYN residents have to take in order to graduate. It’s a laparoscopic surgery skills exam that is geared for general surgeons but they are extending it this year and we have to take it too. We didn't really have any simulation set up for this skills exam but Meri and I have been working on acquiring equipment and the set up for us to practice and we are nearly there!

We’re working on establishing a curriculum from the ground up, including getting funding to buy new monitors and such to practice with. It’s just one more thing to fit into our schedules this summer during interview season—why not? (also, below is Leanne keeping Meri from getting motion sick/preventing passing out by keeping an ice pack on her back :) -- she's much more prone to fainting these days because she is PREGNANT! She's due right around Thanksgiving.

Meri and I got to experience a call shift where we were the “acting” chief residents for the shift while the actual 4^th year residents were all away at a conference. Here's a representative sample of our feelings at 4 AM, hour 21 of the shift:
 
Let’s just say that my pants looked like this after one of the scariest cases I’ve been a part of:

Thankfully post-call we were able to enjoy some ice cream and swing time with our friends Ali, ChiFong and Karen (who, by the way, Adler now recognizes in our family photo albums 😊). Chi and Karen also have some exciting news - Chi Fong is pregnant too! She's due just prior to Meri, in mid October. There's going to be A LOT of babies at graduation next year.

Amidst all of the things above, Tom accomplished something that I think is really impressive- a half marathon!

He ran it all alone, and in the rain. Addie and I showed up in the last 1.5 miles to support him which truly wasn’t enough support but he made it look easy to run that many miles without getting ample opportunities to train because of my work schedule.

Speaking of work, I had to work on Mother’s Day (and last year I was post-call on mother’s day, not sure which is worse). But, it actually worked out well because the weather on Mother’s day was terrible, but the day before it was gorgeous and sunny in the high 60’s!

We had so much fun doing our tradition of going to a nursery to pick out flowers for the garden

This year we found a particularly amazing nursery that was HUGE. So many greenhouses I could have spent hours (and $$$) there!

We also toured a local azalea garden

It turns out it was basically just someone’s (really big) back yard, but it was still fun to see! We got to see and learn a little bit about farm life as well with this tractor which Adler LOVED!

We then had our first BBQ of the year and it’s amazing to see the progression of Adler’s abilities. Last year at this time she was frustrated about not being able to eat the corn on the cob and look at her go now!

Life is full of the little moments that we treasure like hiding under the laundry basket with addie:

Or putting on our backpacks in the morning before “school”

Life is so incredibly different with Adler in it. It’s full of many challenges and there are definitely times when I wonder what we’ve got ourselves into with residency schedules, fellowship interviews and having a little one.
 
But, I now finally understand what all those other parents used to say to me before I was pregnant. “It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

It’s true. It is incredible hard. It’s scary. It makes a lot of things different or non existent compared to what life was like before she existed, but just like all the cliché statements, once you see that smile or get the hug from Addie, nothing else matters anymore.
 

So, I definitely kept my mind on Addie as I stepped in front of an audience in Houston, intimidated by my surroundings and the notion of presenting research at such a prestigious institution for gynecology oncology.

And just when I let myself feel guilty about leaving home for three days (the first time I’ve been away from her for this long before!) I remember what Tom told me in a text message last week: “What sort of mom would you want? The mom flies to a conference after doing a life saving surgery and getting blood all over her leg? Or whatever other people do?”

So, for Tom and his unconditional support I’m so grateful. For Adler and her smiles and hugs I am grateful. And for you all that support me even though I am continually absent from your lives while I pursue my career. Thank you. And howdy from Houston!