Welp, summer was over - it was back to MS3! I had time for one four week clinical rotation until it was going to be too risky to be on rotations while pregnant. I decided to keep it close to home and start with OB/Gyn. I started out on the labor and delivery suite. It was entertaining to run into rooms and each patient would say something like... "whoa! when are you due!?"

I was definitely the "pregnant medical student", which was fun and I seemed to be memorable to most. I was also entering into a new class of MS3 students and was able to meet a few of my new colleagues.

It was definitely hard to transition back into clinical care. All of the acronyms were new again and learning how to learn new diagnoses and terms specific to the field of OB/Gyn was difficult. Thank goodness I had the slightest introduction to the field by having a baby already... I remember specifically when the instructors would show us diagrams of the cervix at full dilation, or discuss pregnancy related complications - they would glance my way, haha, and I would reassure them that I wasn't scared, haha - it was my second, and they would breath a sigh of relief.

The rotation was fast paced. Especially for someone who had never used the computer systems. The last time I logged into the inpatient record was 4 years ago! I was a bit slow navigating the electronic medical records, but slowly found where to location information quickly. In the evenings I had lecture that resulted in getting home after my little guy finished dinner. I would hop on the bus and head home to greet the family, and bury my head in a book after bedtime and look up the next day's patients. It was a whirlwind.

I finished the rotation with a week and a half of surgical service. I was on Gyn Onc and the hours were pretty intense. I would arrive at the hospital a little before 5AM to pre round on my patients. Luckily I convinced Paul to drop me off at the hospital each morning. He got out of bed early to take me. On the outpatient clinic rotations I didn't have to be at the hospital until 8AM, so I would study in a coffee shop until clinic opened. Mornings are much more efficient and fresh for me. Studying in the morning before the world wakes up also allowed me to have the evenings with my little man during his last few weeks as an only child!

While the week day hours were crazy, we did set aside some time for family fun. We went to the zoo on the weekend and let our little man check out his favorite animals: the elephants and giraffes! The monkeys also put on a show and were howling like crazy. One Sundy morning we also made Uncle Tuffy buttermilk pancakes - I made them into Mickey shapes, which was a family favorite!

I am glad to be on the other side of my first rotation. The first rotation back seems to be the most difficult, as its such an adjustment from the research world. I also made it through without having my baby in the OR's while on Gyn Onc! Thank goodness for compression socks!

Now it was time to snuggle in and enjoy the last few weeks as a family of three before baby #2 arrived, and I was back at the hospital as a patient!

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