Residency Interview Travel – Family Edition

One of the decisions that I struggled with during interview season was whether or not to bring my family with me on my interviews. My daughter was 18 mos old when I was doing my interview travel which, as parents know, is an unpredictable age. She has always been a pretty calm, happy, easy-to-please kiddo, but you never know what strange

» Read more

Nuts and bolts of hiring a house cleaner

In my last post, I talked about why my husband and I hired a cleaning lady during the later part of my intern year. Today we’ll be talking about the actual mechanics of hiring a cleaning lady. Without further ado, let’s get started! How much does a house cleaner cost? Obviously, that depends. You can find a nice overview here, though

» Read more

Why I gave in and hired a cleaning lady

I am not the tidiest person you have ever met. I’m not even close to the tidiest. My desk is usually cluttered with papers and my clean laundry usually sits in the hamper for at least a few days before it gets put away. But compared to my stay-at-home husband, I am freaking Martha Stewart. My husband is one of

» Read more

Lucina melodi review

If you have no interest in breastfeeding, stop reading here. I pumped at work for my daughter for a year, while I was a medical student. Frankly, pumping is a pain the rear. It takes a lot of time, and for most people requires a power outlet. I was extremely lucky while I was breastfeeding that my pump was highly

» Read more

IMPORTANT UPDATE: USMLE Changes Breastfeeding Policy!!

Hey everyone! I recently posted about breastfeeding while taking the UMSLE step exams. As it turns out, NBME (the organization in charge of the USMLE exams) has changed their policy! They gave in and created a mechanism that allows nursing mothers an additional 60 minutes of break time during the exam. This is a separate process from applying for additional

» Read more

Reader Question: Breastfeeding and USMLE

Update: NBME recently changed their policy on breastfeeding during USMLE test sessions to allow extra break time for breastfeeding moms. More information on the new policy can be found in my update post here.  Warning: This post is about the gory details of breastfeeding and breast pumping during USMLE exams, the things I wish someone had told me. If you don’t want

» Read more

Breastfeeding in Medical School

My daughter was born during my second year of medical school, and I am happy to say that we exceeded our breastfeeding goal (exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months and some breastfeeding for one year). Negotiating third year with a breast pump in tow was definitely a challenge, though! If you are expecting to be toting your new friend Medela to

» Read more