Not the same....

So.. I think that was for sure a record for longest streak of not writing on my blog. Wow. I had a friend say once that Instagram killed her blog. That statement could not be more true for me. Instant journaling, no need to sit down and type things. So Instagram is just not the same as a blog. Well, for me I need a little writing here and there, but I will say that becoming pregnant killed my blog. I found out I was pregnant in mid December and have been chronically tired/ill since then. I finally got some meds around 14 weeks and they helped the vomiting. I puked a lot less with this baby than with Miles that is for sure. Miles it was a lot of puking. This baby has been just so tired and nauseous but only a puke here and there. In the first trimester I don't puke until about 11 weeks, same went with Miles. My situation is completely different this time around as far as what I am doing but this one has been hard because I have to take care of Miles....and Brad. I have done the dishes 1 time since becoming pregnant. Thank you Brad. :) I have made maybe 3 real meals, and I can't eat onions or salsa or I am very sick for like 24 hours and have to eat tums and take a pepcid and drink carbonation and I still burp five thousand trillion times and still feel like my throat is burning and I need to puke. So...I love onions and its rough without them. Same went with Miles. I crave.....fruit smoothies, hamburgers (in the first trimester) now not really at all. Chocolate is not good to me at all, I try to like it but it tastes like nothing. I crave fruity jelly candies like sour patch watermelons (my favorite candy anyway) and hot tamales. I don't crave anything weird that I normally don't like. So nothing too exciting in the craving areas.

We ate out like 4 times a week in the first trimester because I would spend my days on the couch and food just made me ill, I ate 3 meals of cereal every day. I wonder what goes on in my body that makes me so sick. Its really annoying when people don't get sick when they are pregnant. When I am pregnant I will tell you this is my last baby, then when I deliver I think, "I can do that again".

Exciting happenings:

Got pregnant
found out we are having a girl which is right around when I started feeling better so it was a really good happiness turning point in my pregnancy. Went from not really realizing I was having another sweet baby to it becoming more real.


Brad got Junior AOA (a high achieving award based on grades, research, and extra curricular activities-basically National Honor Society of Med school, and only top 8% in the class are awarded Junior AOA) It sorta kinda maybe made all of med school stress and grades and step worth it. Sorta. :) May I add that this was such a blessing and we have known all along that he has been so blessed in every class and rotation to be able to do so well. He always says he has angels helping him. When he was being awarded at a banquet I thought back to how hard med school has been on both Brad and I, I thought of him driving me home from the hospital and dropping my mom off at the airport because I delivered late, and then dropping me off at home, I sat on the couch, he sat Miles in my lap and left to the library to go study. Then I cried. My first day home with a new baby and I'm alone in this new city with no one to call, no one beside me and my first time as a mom. That's pretty much how 2 years went by. Brad was around at times but it was always, "Okay gotta go study". Does that sound horrible? Ha! It was in some ways, but in other ways I think it prepped me for how life is going to go, residency and life of a doctor are no cake walk, but if Brad gets home before 5 its a nice surprise. Although, 3rd year has been a dream comparatively. Of course he still has to do well in his rotations but its more hands on doing what he likes, so he is happier and he only has 1 test every 8 weeks. So not so stressed all the time in the Clark household.

So first two years were hard, but I learned a lot. We learned a lot as a family and couple being away from family and I have made amazing friends that help lessen the load. So AOA was nice. A nice oh that was worth it feeling. AOA will make Brad very competitive for his residencies. It will get him the interview anywhere he wants and the rest is up to him. I mean...who can resist freckles combo-ed with dimples right?

back to exciting happenings!

I don't even know who reads my blog anymore but I just journal to journal so if you are still reading then you must be SUPER bored today. JK JK.

So Brad decided his 'career choice'. If you think going to med school is your choice think again. The real choosing comes in med school. There are so many options of WHAT doctor you can be. Brad always always said, Orthopedic Surgery. You know bones and joints and what not. They do knees, shoulders, ankles etc, and his brother is an Orthopod. LOL thats not a real word but it sounds good. So his brother does Ortho and Brad has always said, there is nothing else I like, there is nothing else I would do. I remember one night we were laying in bed. (OH HI baby kicking the computer. Love you). We were laying in bed and I said, "Somebody asked me what you were going to do today and I said Ortho and it felt really weird so I started naming all of these other things that I don't think you like but it felt weird to say Ortho, like I was lying to them." He responded with, "Well I am 100% Ortho, so you can tell everyone that is what I am doing". Then I said, "Well I don't think you are going to do Ortho, I get that weird feeling when I say you are doing it."

Wahbam! I was right. After he started third year he really liked Ortho rotation. He liked the surgeries but then he noticed an Interventional Radiologist doing a surgery (I'm not sure of the exact situation). But they just came in did a quick procedure/minimally invasive surgery using digital imaging technology and spent 15 minutes and they were done. Where as these other surgeons were going on and on for 5 or more hours. So he realized #1 he didn't love the intricate tedious surgery. #2 he didn't love clinic-he was good at it, but it drained him to talk to all of these people and he wasn't happy after.

So....IR (interventional radiologists) get to do surgeries and don't have clinic. Wahlah. Bingo. Whazam. It took him a few weeks to 'decide'. That means he watched like 59595959 videos of surgeries on youtube and read everything there is to read about it. He had to make sure it was a good field for the long term. There are always rumors flying around about dying field etc. But, I think he has had several experiences shadowing and what not where he knows its right for him, in the sense that he felt its what he is supposed to do, not only for his personality but for his destiny of sorts. :)

So that was an interesting path. I had never even heard of IR until 3rd year of med school. It was a new thing. So they do all sorts of surgeries from head to toe, all minimally invasive and using digital imaging. From removing fluid from a newborn's lungs, to burning out brain tumors in the middle of the brain. Those I am sure have technical names in which I can't ever remember nor do I try to remember. I am married to a medical brain and I am the ABSOLUTE opposite of a medical brain. How does he live with me!? I just have to have a strong sense of self and realize that my skill sets are not medical. I could probably do CPR if I had to..and thats the cap of my medical knowledge.

So if someone calls me telling me all their symptoms and says, "What do you think Brad would say?" I for sure don't whip out a diagnosis. I say, "Here is Brad, I have no idea." I am married to him doesn't  mean I know anything that he knows, he doesn't come home and teach me what he learned that day. Thankfully. My brain is already fried rice. And I may point out that 3 years of medical school don't make you a doctor. 4 years make you a doctor but even at that point.....you still have (in Brads case) 6 years left before you are an official 'doctor'. So..it takes time.

Wow I got distracted. So IR. He chose it. Yay. That means we have one year of an intern year which could be separate or together with his remaining 5 years of residency. 2 of Diagnostic Radiology and 3 of Interventional Radiology. 6 years total. He begins applying this summer I believe and he interviews beginning in late September through October. He is planning on doing an away rotation (4 weeks) for the entire month of September.

I always said this baby was going to be different. I said, " I don't want to be pregnant during the summer and I want you around for like a month after I have the baby." So he leaves Aug 29 and I am due Aug 18. And I am pregnant all summer. So.....I just ate my words like a sandwich.

I just know I can't be alone again, and if I have to call my 3rd cousin to come stay with me for a week I will. Its not a matter of "Oh Brittany you can come hang out with me" Its a matter of I need someone with me to talk to and to help me not feel alone at night and even during the day. So.. I need someone to stay with me.

I would go home if I could and maybe I will for the last two weeks, but traveling with a brand new baby always freaks me out with airborne illnesses and what not. I would rather keep the baby home safe and sound.

So we are in a fun spot right now, about to finish 3rd year of medical school and start 4th year full of interviewing and deciding what your top choices are. Then in March of 2016 we will open a letter that will tell us where we matched, or where we are going to be spending our next 6 years of life. I really enjoy looking for housing at all of Brad's top school choices. Its just fun. Some of his choices we would have to rent an apt probably less nice than here because they are big cities and some places we could buy a nice house. So there are pros and cons there, but ultimately I think Brad just wants to find a good fit that feels right. So, I'll be patient and in the mean time I'll look at zillow.

Oh, another happening. I started working customer support for Chatbooks in October of 14. It was a really good thing for me, and I can work my own hours at my own time. Not to mention I love it and its perfect for me. Which I think kills my blog too, because I spend all this time on the computer now in all of my spare time just working and that makes me not want to spend any other time on the computer, nor do I really have time to just surf around now. Any spare time I have, I am working for Chatbooks. Which I love and it has been a huge blessing in so many ways.

Miles is growing up and I need to seriously write in his baby book. I have not done a thing in the past 5 months being pregnant. I always say...oh I need to write that down. Then never do. I feel less guilty about it though because I have 2 Instagram accounts in which I flood with pictures and what we are doing so that is a really good sense of journaling. I also take thousands of videos so once I get those to DVDS we will be all set.

Well there was a quick Clark update. Until next time.