Seconds

It's July second.  Our second baby boy is on his way.  My second year of residency has begun.  I never thought "seconds" could be so significant.

Without a doubt this pregnancy has flown by.  At my doctor's appointment last week, Denise's (my doctor's nurse practitioner) eyes made it all begin to settle in.  Moments after telling her that I wasn't having very many contractions, she had to ask me again.  She had checked me and there had been significant change.  She was sure I had some sort of labor or was going to soon.  The look on her face said it all.  She even left the room to go talk to Dr. Hedrick given my history of rapid labor to make sure there wasn't anything else we should do.  Reality set in.  Panic set in.  Quickly.

After that appointment I figured the baby was going to just fall out any minute.  A bump on the road, a cough, or a sneeze and surely it would all be over.  It's four days later, and I'm still pregnant.   Now, instead of being panicked, I'm impatient.  Isn't it kind of crazy that women get to a point that they are begging for the worst pain of their lives on themselves?

Anyway, in an effort to talk about something else and get my mind off of every second that I'm not in labor, here's to my second year of residency.  For many of my fellow classmates, yesterday was a big day.  They handed over the reigns to the next class of residents.  And like me, some are moving to other cities to finish their residencies.  Two moved to Kearney, and one out to Scottsbluff.  Needless to say, it has been a busy few weeks for people.  However for me, the beginning of the year was less monumental.  I still woke up and got ready the same way.  I parked in the same spot, and took the same steps up to the lounge.  The only big change was turning in my pager.  And that is a BIG deal.  The little 1-inch by 2-inch black block that has dictated my life for the last 12 months is no longer mine.  It has been reassigned to another incoming intern to give them palpitations in the middle of the night.  Don't worry, I'll get another one when I finally start in Grand Island, but for now, I'm going to enjoy actually being able to leave work at work.  So long #888-3832!

No, I haven't started maternity leave yet.  In my opinion, thankfully so.  My anxiety would be through the roof if I didn't have something else to keep my mind off of the impending due date.  I'm on another pretty easy rotation, so it isn't going to be putting me in labor any sooner either.  I'm just hanging out in the ENT clinic - another 9-to-5.  It is only a two week rotation given my upcoming "vacation", but hopefully, something (actually someone) will make it even shorter.  For now, as much as I try not to, I'm counting the seconds.