Gina Bean!

I should’ve known they’d figure out a way to make sure all the NICU residents have a couple calls when they’re on service.  They’ve just moved our calls around to make sure they’re on nights when there is a call room available for use.  Although that means last night wasn’t my final call, it means that the 12th IS my final call instead of the 22nd.  In a few short days, I will be call-free for the remainder of residency!

(If I decide I don’t want to do a fellowship, then I’m done with call forever!!!)

And…25 more days of NICU, with all 4 days off remaining.

We’re supposed to have 2 NICU calls when we’re on service, but with the call room situation, there’s a chance I won’t be taking my second NICU call later in the month.  (The department has 7 call rooms and there will be 7 other people on call that night, with me being the non-essential 8th person on call.)  I just wish I knew if I could celebrate finishing all my calls or not yet…

The past 3 weeks my parents enjoyed a little (big) vacation to Vietnam and they returned today!  Luckily today was one of my short days in the NICU (27 days left, woohoo!) so Evan and I had plenty of time to head down there and hang out with them.  They both look well and happy, though tired from the long flight back, and they had a handful of funny pictures to show us.  Mom and Dad were most excited to show the fabrics they’d picked out for my wedding dress and my sisters’ bridesmaids dresses, and I must say, they did a beautiful job.  (It’s very cute how quickly Dad pointed out that one of the finer details was something he’d picked out.)

My parents also brought back wedding gifts!  Already!!!  I did the right thing and opened them immediately, of course

I started NICU on Monday for a month, and then I have my elective and ER to finish up 3rd year.  I’m not really counting those couple rotations since they’re easy and since I’ll be in the ER next year anyway, so I like to think I only have til May 3rd before I’m done with residency!  28 days and counting…and I’m even looking forward to those last few clinic days!!!

Evan thinks Moira sleeps predominantly on the right side of her face after noticing that the whiskers on that side are curled while the opposite ones are straight.  I have a feeling this will lead to both of us watching her pretty closely as she lays around.

Tomorrow, for Jasmine’s birthday celebration with her adoptive family, we’re going to the medieval fair in Norman and then having a cookout.  A cookout with burgers and topped off with beer floats!

We went out for Jasmine’s birthday dinner and managed to shorten our wait time for a table by shrinking the truth a little and saying we had fewer guests than were actually coming.  The highlight of the evening was definitely passing baby Kate around (this is what happens when you bring a baby out to play with a bunch of pediatricians).  This is a daring thing to do since she’s 4 and a half months old and could cry at any moment, but luckily she handled it like a champ.  (And I taught her all about Star Wars from my phone!).  After much oohing and aahing over the baby, we called it an evening a little early since people have to work the next day, and split.

I don’t have to work the next day though, so I insisted on playing some more Lego Star Wars 3 when we got home.  This was probably a mistake since I yawned through most of the level, but at least I finally had something to blame for my terrible aiming in game.

Jasmine’s the only person I know born on April Fools’ Day, and somehow it fits her.  (Not saying she’s a fool or anything, but you know…it just seems right that she’s the only person I know born on that day.)  Looking forward to dinner with friends tomorrow and then the Medieval Fair and cooking out this weekend for her!

Newborn calls this month have been filled with non-newborn related stuff, and it’s been awesome.  In the past week and a half, I’ve learned I’m no sonographer and I’ve learned crimson paint looks suspiciously like petechiae.  I won’t miss residency, but I will definitely miss all my friends.

Except for a few phone calls this morning and running to the grocery store to pick up stuff for dinner (which Evan prepared), I was able to bum around all day.  It was an absolutely perfect way to spend a cold Oklahoma spring day.  It really just makes me wish May would hurry up already so we can be bumming around by the pool too.

The thought of leaving Moira at Camp Bow Wow for 2 weeks while we’re in Mexico makes me rather sad, so I think we’re going to ask Evan’s mom to dogsit her until she has to take her dog to Camp Bow Wow also when she flies out to join us.  I don’t want the poor dog to think we’ve abandoned her…

After tonight is over, I’ll only have one newborn call and two NICU calls left, and that’s it.  No more calls in residency.  My remaining rotations are NICU, elective (a no-call month), and the ER.  Since the elective is super-easy and I’ll be on vacation (in Mexico!!!) and I’m working part-time in the ER next year, I like to think I only have 35 days left of residency instead of 97.  Which is totally freakin’ awesome.

In addition to playing Lego Star Wars III all day, I also managed to get some studying done (yay!) and finish up the schedule for Jasmine and me next year so we can send it on to Shannon, who will need to figure out who will cover the weekends we’re not working.

Figuring out the schedule for next year and having a day off today just makes me oh so, very excited about finishing residency and having tons of free time in less than 100 days!!!