Eat when you can...

First, a digression:

There are certain days that are marked on one's memory with indelible ink. June 3, 2002 is one of those days for me. That was the first day of my first rotation of the third year of medical school. I was scheduled to rotate at the County, and was unlucky enough to draw the short straw of the on-call team. Which meant I was stuck in dress shoes and socks for the next 40 hours (work hour limits not yet even being tested). I was also unlucky enough to be on a team with a chief resident who couldn't (or wouldn't) understand it was my first day of my first clinical rotation, and of an attending surgeon who never paid attention to me.* I performed my first real rectal exam (without supervision, which I now realize is a big no-no). I saw my first patient die that day. I got no sleep, and started the process of learning to wake up at the sound of any ambulance or helicopter (which still affects me to this day). In retrospect, the only reason it does not rank among the worst days of my life is that this was all still new to me, and I did not fully realize that this was the typical lifestyle for surgeons at the County. Once I did get some sleep, I ruled out surgery as a career by the end of the week.

But that day is also the day I learned the most important lesson of my clinical years of school: Eat when you can, Drink when you can, and Don't mess** with the pancreas. Later, as a second year medical resident, I learned a slight variation from my attending, Joe Szot at the VAMC in Iowa City: (1) Don't stand when you can sit, (2) Don't sit when you can lie down, and (3) If you see a donut, eat it.

It struck me yesterday that these rules also apply to new parenthood. Watching Karen learn them reminds me an awful lot of watching younger medical students at Minnesota (or at Iowa, the new interns) learn these important rules. Unlike the modern residency, however, there are no work hour limits, and we are always on call.

*Four weeks later, he told me I was the worst surgical resident he had ever worked with. When I tentatively replied that I was only a third year student, he--without missing a beat--replied that I should "keep up the good work". That experience has forever affected the way I interact with my own trainees.

**The word used was not "mess", but this is a family-oriented blog.

Tummy time!

Some cute pictures of Mike and Steve having some tummy time last night. You can see from the corner of the second picture that Knute tried to get in on the action, too.

A few more pictures

I finally got around to getting some pictures off of my iPhone, so now I get to see if I can figure out how to post them!!

Steve had his first real tub bath last night. He tolerated it much better than the first tub bath where we had him in the little newborn sling attachment. It's supposed to make newborns feel more supported and secure, but the problem is that they aren't submerged in the water at all, so I think he just got cold and cranky. Being in the warm water last night seemed to agree with him more. Coincidentally I snapped these photos when Daddy's arms and hands were strategically placed, so he won't have to worry about blackmail pictures on prom night.

And here are just a couple more pictures I liked...