Relief!

At last! I passed my boards!

Lyla's First Tooth!

Lyla got her first tooth on Monday! We were all excited until we realized that teeth mean crying--lots of crying. Crying during the day, crying in the car, crying at night--inconsolable, gut wrenching, gum-splitting crying. It's only for a few minutes, except at night when it can last half an hour--poor thing. Our pediatrician recommended whisky on her gums. I thought about it and after doing a little reading and getting a second opinion decided to opt against it. I tried the oragel which she didn't seem to enjoy, and there was a little left on my finger so I tried it myself and found out why she didn't like it--it makes your mouth tingle like crazy. We've given her a bit of tylenol but I don't want to rely on that, so we may just stick to the frozen teethers. The tooth may also explain why Lyla has boycotted solid foods the past week or so. She wants nothing to do with eating at all--won't even open her mouth. She had her six-month check up on Tuesday which went well, except that her hight and weight both dropped from about the 20% to 10%. The PA we saw wasn't concerned but I am. She is ALMOST 14 pounds (13lbs 15oz), 24 1/2 inches. Lyla is also becoming the master roller, going from tummy to back, then back to tummy, over and over again. I will get some photos up eventually--it's just been a very busy couple of weeks!

The Interview Trail

We have had an exciting couple of weeks at the Ellicott household. Last weekend we all traveled to Richmond, VA for my first residency. Our good friends Shannon and Kevin live in Richmond and we were very excited to be able to visit them too. We left early Thursday and most of the drive was uneventful. Lyla was great in the car--she slept and played and hardly fussed at all. About 20 minutes outside of Richmond we ended up with a flat tire, and the drama began. I have to say, I was quite impressed with Mike's mechanical skills--he had that tire changed and ready to go in 20 minutes flat (no pun intended!)--had I been on my own I definitely would have been sitting there for two hours waiting for AAA to come. It did require completely emptying the trunk of all our luggage to get to the tire. We must have looked interesting at the gas station.

When we arrived at Shannon and Kevin's Mike had to rush off to get a new tire since the spare was a doughnut, and I had to rush to get ready for the pre-interview dinner. One resident during dinner complained a lot about how busy/ tired she was adn how stressful intern year is, and the other kept yawning the entire evening. Great. Now I really can't wait for intern year.

We went to bed and we were all tired, except for Lyla who had slept 5 hours in the car. Plus she's had a cold so she's not been feeling her best. When Lyla finally settled down, probably close to midnight, Mike woke up coughing and wheezing, having an allergic reaction/ asthma attack to Shannon and Kevin's cats, and/or down comforter!! Then Lyla was up too coughing and crying. Mike went to go sleep in the car since it was 1am and we didn't know what else to do and the room was making him cough more. Lyla would only sleep in bed with me which she isn't usually allowed to do, so I slept very lightly from 1:30-4:30 when I had to get up to get ready. The fun was just starting.

The interview itself was fine. VCU has a beautiful hospital, and it's huge and intimidating. The "Children's Hospital" is really just one floor of the main hospital. During one interview the doctor didn't ask me a single question, other than what questions I had for him. Then he talked for 20 minutes. I found that rather unsettling. There was nothing wrong with the program, and on paper it seemed quite nice, but I just didn't get a good "gut feeling" about it. I'm not sure why though.

After the interview I went back to my car and when I reached in my pocket for the car key it was gone and there was a hole in my pocket. Of course I had left my phone in the car because I didn't want to forget to turn it off. I went back to the lobby and tried to call Mike but couldn't because it was long distance. I tried to call Shannon and Kevin but didn't know their number since it was stored in my phone which was locked in the car. I looked up their number in the phone book but it was unlisted. I tried calling the program coordinator who had met us that morning, but I just got her voice mail. I couldn't go to her office since I didn't know where that was because she had met us in the lobby. That is when the panic ensued. I was stranded in the mega center hospital with no car, no phone, no way to communicate with anyone! I finally went up to the peds floor and a nice therapist had some pitty on my and gave me her password so I could make a long distance phone call. As I was waiting for Mike and Shannon and Kevin to come get me, I put my hand in my pocket, and realized that the hole opened up to the lining of my jacket and the key was way in the back on the other side of my jacket!!!! At that point I was too exhausted to know what to do, other than go back to Shannon and Kevin's house and drink a lot of wine.

The rest of the trip was nice. Saturday we went to Charlottesville with Shannon, Kevin, and our friend Carrie who also went to UVA and now lives in Richmond. We met our friends Diana and Erin and their babies Payton and Chloe and went for lunch and walked around UVA. After that we went to Carrie's house for wine and appetizers, then back to Shannon and Kevin's for dinner. That was Halloween so Lyla and Payton got dressed up in their costumes and we got some great photos!

The drive home was long but uneventful. This weekend we're doing it all again, this time to Danville, PA to visit Geisinger Medical Center which is supposed to be very nice (featured in Time Magazine a couple weeks ago). I have an interview virtually every week from now until early January, with the exceptions of Thanksgiving and Christmas. I'm tired just thinking about it.

The rotation I'm on now is fun but extremely tiring and the long hours combined with daylight savings are depressing me. I am in the hospital at 6 (in the dark) and get home around 5 (in the dark) but it feels like 7 to me, and I hardly get to see Lyla, and she's been crabby in the evenings and not adjusting to standard time well either, and we're all just waiting for this rotation to be over. Next one is Radiology. I'll still have to be there early, but hopefully get home earlier. I don't know how I'll stay awake sitting in a little dark room looking at X-rays and CT's all day, but I should probably learn how to read those things because right now they just look like black and white blobs on the computer screen. I don't think it would be appropriate for me to say, "Well, Ms Jones, we're not sure what's wrong with you, but it appears there might be a big white blob in your lung."

So that's that! Lots to tell. I'm looking forward to our trip to Geisinger, but would really like some time to rest and play with Lyla. Oh, you probably want to know what Lyla's been up to, huh? This is becoming a rather long post. Lyla is perfecting her rolling from tummy to back. She is very deliberate now and not just accidentally tipping over. She's still not sitting completely on her own, but will sit unsupported for 20-30 seconds. She is starting to get the hang of rolling from her back to tummy--we're all very excited when she does it and she just looks confused! She's doing great on her tummy, holding her belly off the ground, and playing. She loves to play in the exersaucer at daycare. She's very vocal and smiley in the mornings, but lately pretty grouchy in the evenings. She's boycotted "solid" foods and most of the time won't even open her mouth to get a taste--very frustrating for me. She has her six-month doctor appointment next Tuesday after our trip. I'm crossing my fingers they get a supply of H1N1 vaccines by then!