Looking Back

While the first trimester was all about hiding the bump, these days I'm all about flaunting it! With the ambiguity of whether this is a food baby or a real baby behind me, I'm really enjoying showing off my burgeoning bump before it gets too large and unwieldy.  I'm still trying to stretch my pre-pregnancy wardrobe as I go along but it's getting harder and harder.  I've fully succumbed to maternity pants but even with the elastic waist, I still prefer dresses and skirts.

This past week marked my one year anniversary at my first "real" job post-training.  This year has been filled with ups and downs and while overall, post-fellowship life is way better, it is not without its challenges.  In medicine, the path is well-established with clear choices at each intersection -- first college then medical school, followed by residency and possibly fellowship -- hard work and good working relationships with peers and mentors can pretty much guarantee a smooth course.  But when you near the end of this path, the future becomes a bit more fuzzy.  As physicians, this is usually when the panic sets in as we undergo a delayed adolescence trying to figure what we really want to do with our lives -- private practice vs. academics vs. industry?  Where do I really want to settle down?  And how does the rest of your life fit into all of this?  Often times, our personal lives have been on hold during training and now we are flooded with too many choices and decisions.  This may not be how everyone feels, but these were certainly thoughts that plagued my mind when I was choosing my first job.  And these were the same questions that continued to come up throughout the last year as I would periodically re-evaluate my current career path and goals.  As a woman, it becomes even more complicated when we try to factor in when to start a family.  A recent New York Times opinion piece really resonated with me and I'm sure I will be reconsidering it all again in a few months when my baby girl makes her debut.

This anniversary also got me to reflect about why we started this blog in the first place.  Life By Appointment is a reminder to make time to enjoy life outside of work.  It serves as a reminder for me and Sarah but I also hoped that through the blog, we could reach out to women interested in medicine or in earlier stages of their training, as well as working women in other career paths -- a reminder for all of us that while our careers are certainly a big part of our lives, we are not solely defined by what we do for a living.  The posts (and Instagram and Twitter feeds) have certainly slowed down because sometimes, I am simply enjoying life too much to stop and take a picture.

Dress: Bailey 44 'Sorrell Dress'. Wayfarers: STUNglasses. Tan satchel: Mulberry 'Alexa'. Bracelet: Hermes. 

Sandals: J. Crew (old).