The Stacey Sizzle: January 2011

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Moving to Ann Arbor in 2012

I was pretty sure that no one was going to understand Andrew's picture. Lets just say that some people really took Lebron James betrayal to heart and still make weekly references to his infamous press conference.

If you don't know how matching into a residency works...allow me to explain (forgive me, this is not very good writing but my mind is working off much less sleep than normal).

First, apply to tons of schools with residency programs in your desired field (ours was Ophthalmology... eye surgery). The number of schools you should apply to varies but the more competitive the field, the more applications to send out. We applied to about 70.

Next, wait for interview offers. This is agonizing. Each program only has between 2-7 spots to fill and you always wonder why a certain program offers an interview while another program does not. There doesn't seem to be any distinguishable pattern to the process. Also, many interview offers are for the same day making it necessary to choose which one to go to and which ones to drop. Again, agonizing. It is especially fun when there are two interviews back to back on different sides of the United States. Andrew probably spent at least 5 nights sleeping on the floor of an airport.

Next, spend thousands of dollars flying to interviews all around the country (by the way, thanks to all those who let Andrew crash on their couch :)). After each interview, call your wife and tell her how it is the coolest university with the best faculty on the planet and it might be your new number one. She will promptly remind you that you have said the same thing about all the other programs. Become very confused about where you want to end up and what your real priorities are.

We ended up with 14 interviews which we ranked (if you know Andrew and I, you know that coming up with a rank list took us HOURS and HOURS of contemplation and debate to complete).

Each program also ranks the candidates they interviewed and submits that list.

Then the MATCH (a mysterious third party) takes all these rankings and puts them into a statistical algorithm that works some mathematical magic and spits out the best match for each candidate (theoretically this should be the highest program on your rank list that liked you the best as well). Make sense?

What all this means is that last week, our future was decided by a statistical algorithm. Scary. I didn't know whether to be relieved that we didn't have to make the final decision or frustrated that so much was out of our hands. Still, it has been a busy few months. We finalized our rank list and submitted it the day after Cameron was born (while we were still in the hospital). Then last Thursday we got the phone call...

In 2012, we'll be going to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

How do we feel about this? I think I can safely reveal that the University of Michigan was very high on our list and Andrew literally became tongue-tied when he found out (Andrew is rarely ever caught speechless). I'm excited for a new adventure (even if it will be a cold one). We probably won't move until the summer of 2012 but we don't find out about our match for intern year (2011) until March (confusing I know...welcome to med school). It is SO nice to finally have somewhat of a plan for the next 4 years.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

We Gonna Take Our Talents...

To Ann Arbor, MI (in 2012, explanation to follow.)

Sunday, January 9, 2011

New Arrival

I made it sound like the birth story of our little Cam is full of dramatic details, but really its just your typical birth story without even the drama of naturally going into labor. If you want to read a really dramatic birth story, you should read this one instead (courtesy of a former roommate).

This time around, we decided to schedule an induction which made it much less stressful to plan for Luke's care and make sure Andrew would be available, etc. I felt good about the decision but it was so weird to drive to the hospital and feel perfectly fine. Even weirder to change into the gown, get an IV, and play games on Andrew's itouch, all while feeling no pain at all. They kept bringing forms for me to sign, etc and I vaguely remembered having to sign the same forms with Luke only I was screaming in pain and extremely annoyed that they were pushing me paperwork.

They waited until the petocin made me feel a few very light contractions and then I got the epidural. Ah, epidurals! I could never say a single negative thing about them. They are just pure heaven. I am always a little jealous when I hear women talk about their wonderful experiences with natural childbirth. I am totally convinced that it is a great experience for many women and one that I sincerely wish I could try sometime. But after getting that epidural I was reminded that I will never be an natural childbirther. Maybe its my personality, pain tolerance threshold, or tendency towards extreme sassyness when I'm uncomfortable, but drugs are the only way for me to enjoy the experience.

Of course, that part didn't last forever and eventually I did feel what they so carefully call, "pressure". You can guess the rest although I will say that it took much longer than expected to push this little guy out. When he finally did come, the doctor said something like, "Whoa, that's a big baby! Didn't expect that!" I opened my eyes and was pretty shocked as well. Luke was only 7 lbs 5 oz and broke my tailbone, so I was happy to walk away with a only few stitches.

We had a long list of names that we liked and each day we tried to widdle it down a little. Once again we were filling out the paperwork as they were kicking us out the hospital doors. I don't know why names are so hard for us to commit to. I never thought I would name one of my children Cameron. It was never on any "baby name list" that I ever made. But a few months back when we had the ultrasound (to find out the gender) Andrew said afterwards that when he saw the baby up on the screen he just couldn't stop thinking that his name was Cameron. We entertained many possibilities since that time but I think we both kind of thought that would end up being his name in the end. He definitely looks like a Cameron to me. Reese is a family name on both our sides (but it's spelled Reese in my family and Reece in Andrews....so don't think we're related or anything :).

Each day we are getting to know this little guy better and better. For instance, I recently discovered that he can sleep much longer with me cuddling up beside him, he hates baths and diaper changes (really I think he hates the cold like his mama), and the key to his heart is lots and lots of food. I can't even physically keep up with the amount of milk it takes to keep this little guy happy.

Luke is handling all the change in his life very gracefully. He likes the baby but doesn't really pay much attention to him for the most part. However, he does insist on watching the same Little Einsteins DVD all day (which we give into) and he has been carrying around this beat up plastic tube full of suckers and other random stuff wherever he goes....whatever makes him happy for right now. He is a funny kid.

We are having some real baby pictures taken next week but in the meantime, here are a few more:

I've decided that some women look great after they give birth and others just don't...no matter how much makeup they put on. I'm of the latter half. SWOLLEN.