Comparing residency and taking care of a newborn

I know I've made comments about in previous posts comparing residency with taking care of a baby, but just for fun I thought I would list them down here. Because this is my idea of FUN. (not really, but my mind is too boggled and stressed with various things at the moment and I need a break)

There are many similarities between residency and taking care of a newborn. Here are some I can think of at the moment - and which one, in my opinion, is harder. (Side note -- does this mean I am doing the equivalent of TWO SIMULTANEOUS RESIDENCIES?? I deserve bonus life points for this! Except...nobody cares...and both are the result of my own choices. Sad.)

Similarity #1: Chronic sleep deprivation.
This one is obvious. Residency = being on call, sometimes very often, i.e 30 hour calls of death every 4 days in the ICU -- oh how I do NOT miss those! I specifically remember last year after being in the hospital approximately 28 hours one of the ICU fellows saying to me, "now, I know all you want to do is leave right now but you have to tie up all these loose ends before you go" (said in a tone that implied I was lazy and inconsiderate to even THINK of leaving before I typed one-liners about each of the ICU patients in their chart). That was not a good moment. I felt like stabbing him in the eyeball.

Newborn = lots of sleep deprivation. But on a different scale...right now, 5 weeks in, it feels more like a slow march towards mind-bending exhaustion. Because while you have to be very alert and working while on call, at least you can sleep when your baby sleeps. But it's only 2-3 hours at a time. And after being on call you do get to come home and crash for a day before going back to work, while you don't get that luxury with baby.

I could go on and on about this topic but I will not (this is not interesting to anyone except me anyway). Winner of this round = baby, because the sleep deprivation doesn't end, even though you can sleep a couple hours here and there. While with residency, even with a brutal call, it will eventually end and you can sleep for a long time afterwards.


Similarity #2: It's a thankless job for the most part.
My patients rarely thank me for doing my job -- it's not that all my patients are rude people, just that if I've done a good job they aren't conscious and we don't usually see them after we've dropped them off in recovery after their surgery. Usually all they remember of me is probably me poking them to place an IV. Sometimes this is a blessing because some patients are really annoying and/or crazy and I don't want them remembering my face anyway :).

Obviously, baby cannot thank me right now. Hopefully in the future I will get some sign of appreciation =)

Winner of this round = residency. Because when you spend 10-12 hours a day keeping sick people alive and nobody appreciates you, it sucks. And no matter how devoted one is to their job, I would like to think that being a good parent is a higher priority.


Similarity #3: Once you think you've figured something out, everything changes.
Some of the wisest advice/perspective I've gotten from other moms and parenting websites is that babies constantly change. What works one week does not work the next. You think you got the whole sleeping/eating routine down? Yeah, only worked like a charm for a few days and then - BAM - suddenly baby switches everything on you.

Residency is just like this. Our rotations switch every 2 weeks to 1 month. Every time I get the hang of what I'm supposed to be focused on during that particular rotation, and get to know all the nurses/techs/etc, it's time to switch to something else. To make things even more challenging we rotate in and out of 4 different hospitals, each with a completely different work environment. Lovely.

Winner this round = tie.  

Similarity #4: Both are very difficult jobs, but bring great satisfaction.
Finally something positive. Mostly everything difficult I've done during my life so far has produced great rewards/satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment. Hiking 5 days to Macchu Pichu? Worth it. Running a marathon? So proud of myself! Intubating someone in the ER in the middle of the night after other people tried and couldn't do it? Feels pretty awesome. So here's to parenting -- probably the most difficult thing I will ever do but hopefully also the most rewarding.