Trust Me, I'm a Doctor Mom

Last week, my little guy ate only Kimchee for dinner.  He usually loves rice mixed with soy sauce and sesame seeds. But last night, he only wanted Kimchee (rinsed with water). It was fresh from the Korean market that day and it was very delicious.

Since then, he has these unusual meals consisting of a single course.  We keep a daily log so it wasn’t that he had had extra snacks before his mealtimes.  Our pediatrician said toddlers get picky with eating so not to worry. But it makes cooking for him challenging because I have to make different things in hopes that he’ll eat something else other than his one course.  Thankfully, I don’t worry as much since he is still pooping like a champ!

Some of his meals include 1.5 Claussen pickles, 1 slice of Farmer John’s ham, a big bowl of grapes.  Yesterday, his dinner was a big bowl of cantaloupe.  Jeff and I were chowing down on Papa John’s pizza. Usually he loves pizza!

I wonder if he’s going to be a selective eater.  When he was younger, after he had finally outgrown his food allergies, he ate everything! He used to love salmon, eggs and avocados. Now he won’t eat any of the super nutritious (and easy to cook) foods!

If anyone has advice to get selective eaters to eat more than one course, I’d love your words of wisdom. He seems lean to me already!   He won’t even try one bite- he closes his mouth and says NO!

Here are some cutie pics of all the fun I missed while at work today.

I got home early and took him to the aquarium. He refused to walk by himself though so I had to carry him for a big chunk of the visit. Next time, I’ll have to bring the ERGO with me.

My view at the beginning of the aquarium visit

Leopard sharks & garibaldi, oh my!

Thank you for sharing my day with me. Now it’s time to sit and watch a little TV. His choice tonight was Sight Words Level 3!

Yesterday was my second Friday off in a long time.  This week had some long days and I was excited to not have to work and spend some one-on-one time with Jacob. Our morning was spent looking at a few houses in Carmel Valley and then we went to our friend’s house for a play date. Her oldest is 1 year old older than Jacob and he is learning to share.  Jacob napped for an hour there so I was able to enjoy eating a little slower than my usual stuff-food-in-my-face-as-quickly as possible routine.

Learning to share.

No tears from either boys. Success!

After our play date, I had to stop and get a few things for my BBQ Slow Cooker pulled pork for dinner. My friend was going to come over and spend the rest of the day with us so I wanted to tidy up a bit before she came over.

At Von’s, Jacob really wanted some grapes. What do doctor moms do in these situations? They ‘wash’ the fruit in their mouths first before giving it to their kid. I was imagining what germs were outside the grapes. Every time I do this in the store, I vow to bring a bottle of water or tub of water to wash the fruit but I never do. I can barely remember to bring my own shopping bag.

Aunt E came over and we hung out at the beach for a little while. Jacob was demonstrating the Little Mermaid ‘Out of this World’ pose (he’s never seen this movie before), watering the kelp, running toward the ocean, his usual bit. He loves the beach and water.

While getting dinner ready, I was trying to close the kitchen cabinet door before Jacob could pull out any heavy Le Creuset pots.  He screamed and started to cry and I thought it was because I was stopping him from playing with the pots. But he kept crying and I wondered what had happened! He started grabbing his right eye and I thought, oh no! The corner of the cabinet door must’ve hit him in the eye!!! He’s still recovering from his previous eye injury from a month ago. I maimed our child! His modeling career is over! What if we have to go to the ER? Will it bruise? Will his vision be affected? I need to hold pressure and put an ice compress on! How could/did this happen?  The doctor mom in me had a million thoughts racing at once and felt so guilty and angry at myself!

There was a pinpoint drop of blood lateral to his still healing wound. I thought, he’s going to bruise and people are going to think we abuse our child. He shook away my attempts to place a cold compress on his temple.  I was certain Jacob would hate me and not want to play with me anymore. I felt like the worst mom in the world!

Pinpoint blood. The other red area was a previous injury that is still healing.

Too fast, too furious

Thankfully, I was wrong. He bounced back to his usual fun self.  The traveling and outdoors tuckered him out and he went to bed early. Aunt E and I finally finished ‘Big Little Lies’ with our new Amazon Fire stick. I was very disturbed with the ending. My  husband watched 15 minutes of the show and predicted what was going to happen.  It was well made though, that is for sure.

I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe weekend! Those cabinet corners are dangerous!

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Jacob woke up at 3:30am today. I went to bed later than usual catching up on ‘The Voice’. I thought, I really should go to bed earlier because I had a full day ahead of me but I couldn’t turn it off! It is SO good! So when I heard Jacob cry at 3:30am, I was hoping I’d be able to let him cry it out a little and he’d settle down. After a few minutes, I felt bad so I went into his room. Usually, I can tuck him back into the crib with a few gentle rubs/pats but this morning he had his arms reached out for me. As soon as I picked him up, he did the put his head on my shoulder and wrap his arms around my neck. That usually means he’ll fall asleep shortly!

I laid in the bed in his room and I think we fell asleep for a few minutes. Then he bolted upright, gave me a smile and then wanted to play. My phone was facing up and lit up! DOH! He went for it and wanted to play with it.  He didn’t want to be rocked back to sleep so I gave in.  I turned on Moana, kept one eye on him and laid next to him while he squealed and watched happily.   I started to wonder why he was so awake.  Could his kimchee dinner have given him reflux?  Yes, that is all he ate yesterday for dinner. Kimchee, some anchovies banchan (Korean side dishes) and peaches for dessert. But he seemed happy as a clam.

Finally at 6:15, I had to get ready for work.  I had a long day ahead of me.  He cried and was clingy as I turned on the lights, changed his diaper and had to brush my teeth and wash my face. I’ve established a routine of showering at night to maximize sleep.  As he saw the nanny, he clung to me tighter and cried louder knowing what it meant that I was going to leave for the day. That is always heart-wrenching because I’d much rather play with him!

I got through the day humming Maui’s ‘You’re welcome’ song.  I had a few robotic cases and my day ended with a c-section. This young lady was a few years younger than me and having her 4th baby.  She looked amazing, by the way! She was a lean gal with a big belly.  Her pregnancy was complicated by gestational diabetes requiring insulin and macrosomia (big baby).  While I was preparing for the c-section, I counted my blessings that I had had a normal pregnancy and normal size (8 lbs, 10 oz- but that’s a story for a different day) baby.

Ever since I had Jacob, seeing babies born is an entirely more emotional experience for me.  I can relate to what the patients are experiencing- anticipation, worry, joy, relief, happiness… It is beautifully overwhelming when you can hear the baby cry and can hold him/her.  I tear up each time and am so proud of and happy for my patients!

The baby was a beautiful 8 lbs, 5 oz. baby girl. Her smallest of the four.  We all laughed and the energy in the operating room was joyful and relief that everything had gone smoothly.

I got home around 6pm to a happy little boy of my own.  I was happy to spend a few hours with him and putting him to bed.  His dinner was kimchee and fruit.  He wasn’t interested in rice or bok choy. Is that a complete dinner, I wondered.  He had eaten enough during the day so I wasn’t too worried. I just prayed he wouldn’t get reflux.  He slept through the night that night.  I slept like a log too with an early bedtime of 9:30pm.

Thank you for sharing my day with me.  Please stay tuned for website updates and more fun adventures of work and motherhood.

Here are a few photos from my nanny during the day.

I hope to:

(1) Share my fun nuggets of adventure as an anesthesiologist by day and mom by 24/7 of my currently 2-year-old, Jacob, and newcomer, Cameron.  I make it a point to take daily pictures.  What better way to share?

(2) Reflect on the challenges of being a first-time mom (of 2) and doctor.