Day in the Life: Halloween + Babies Edition

Good morning from the couch! I’m taking it easy this morning and watching Grey’s Anatomy while I put this post together. I shadowed labor & delivery last night (omg babies!!) and didn’t get to bed until almost 1am. Wayyyyy past my bedtime, so I didn’t set an alarm and slept in until 8:30, so rare for me! I thought it would be fun to share a little day in the life from yesterday. It wasn’t an exceptionally exciting day aside from shadowing and lots of halloween candy, but it’s a pretty good representation of what MS2 has been like so far!

6:00am I stayed up late last night carving a pumpkin and watching Hocus Pocus with my friends in hopes I would sleep in, but no such luck. Going to need a coffee late to stay up for L&D.

6:15am COFFEE, read the news, and listen to my favorite classical NPR station

8:00am Force myself off instagram and make some oatmeal with peanut butter and apples

8:05am Lecture time! I watch the recorded versions, so I start with the one on tubular acidosis. There is so much going on in the kidneys!

9:00am Finished with the lecture – time for a little review! I go all the way back to the first few lectures of this module and refresh myself on kidney anatomy and basic concepts.

10:30am I put the finishing touches on a project on surprise billing while listening to the Bad on Paper podcast episode with Carly Heitlinger. I’ve been reading Carly’s blog for almost a decade and was so impressed by her vulnerability, strength, and willingness to answer almost anything! It was a fantastic episode.

11:00am Time to workout! I hit play on my online workout and move my body for 30 minutes. Feels so good to sweat!

11:30am Cool down, shower, keep listening to the BOP podcast episode, and eat lunch. I make a salad with arugula, fried eggs, and a bacon vinaigrette. Highly recommend! And of course had to eat some Halloween candy.

1:00pm Back to work. I alternate one of today’s lectures with reviewing an older lecture. It helps me learn more efficiently to break up the passive lecture watching with an active review of a previous lecture.

4:00pm FINALLY done with lectures. I was really losing my concentration towards the end. I made coffee to give myself a little boost – I don’t usually have coffee this late in the day but I’m shadowing labor & delivery until midnight so I think it will be fine!

4:15pm I’m hosting a few online Beautycounter events and need to set up a few things. I love sharing this awesome company and their advocacy work!

5:10pm Time to get ready to head to the hospital to see some little pumpkins come into the world! I’ve never seen the labor process and I’m pretty nervous I’m going to pass out. But I’m also super excited!! I eat a peanut butter sandwich and watch Parks & Rec on Netflix while I get myself together.

6:00pm I get to the hospital a little early and get a coffee. I’m not a night owl so I want to be sure I stay awake!

6:30pm I listen to the day team sign out to the night team. This is a time when the residents heading home give an update on every patient to the residents who will be on the floor overnight. Babies are born at all hours of the day so it’s important to convey where all the mamas-to-be are in the process.

8:00pm I tag along with the residents while they perform exams to see how labor is progressing and check in with new patients. When we’re not seeing patients, I’m studying a bit. There is a lot of downtime but it sounds like we should have some babies tonight.

11:00pm OH BABY! There were lots of babies taking their sweet time tonight but I was finally able to watch a delivery and it was pretty incredible!! What a high!!

12:00am I hung around to see if there might be another delivery, but no luck and I’m tired. Time to head home and get to bed.

This was one of the best days in a while!! I love when I can mix studying and clinical learning together – it really makes all the sitting and sacrifice worth it. I really can’t believe it’s November, it’s still super hot here. I hope you had the best Halloween!!