Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Funny dog video!
This is super funny! Thanks to Ben's veterinarian brother for sending this on! The end is the best!
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Two weeks in, and all is well
Okay, I'm back! I hope everyone has enjoyed the last two posts by Ben regarding Amelia's arrival. We're now about 2 and a half weeks into our new life as a family of 4, and I must say, things are pretty good. I remember that when Ally was born, I felt like I had been run over by an 18-wheeler, I was experiencing sleep deprivation like never before (i..e, like pulling repeat all-nighters for weeks on end), and I was thinking to myself, "what the heck did we get ourselves into???!!! I want my old life back!" But with round 2, things have seemed much more easy going and natural. Even the nights haven't been that bad. I don't think it is necessarily that Amelia is a better baby than Ally was, but probably more a function of the fact that we've "been there, done that" so we knew what to expect with a new baby. Even so, I think we are all still in a period of some adjustment, especially Ally. But to be fair, in addition to getting a new baby sister, Ally has completely potty trained, moved into a bigger bedroom, had a birthday, and had both sets of grandparents visiting, all within a span of about 3 weeks. So a lot has changed in her life, and being that she is 3 years old (and a 3 year old's mind is not the most rational of entities), she is sometimes a bit more emotional and clingy than normal. But now that all the visitors are gone, and it's just us, I think life is calming down and we are settling into our new normal. And to Ally's credit, she is a very loving big sister, giving Amelia lots of hugs and kisses.
One thing that has been completely different is my labor/delivery experience with Amelia compared to the one with Ally. So with Ally, I was induced at 41 weeks, and the whole ordeal took over 20 hours. But it was a very slow experience, and even when it came time to push, that was pretty low-key as well (I was completely numb to the pain thanks to the epidural). I felt like the recovery from Ally's L&D was pretty slow as well, as I think my butt was pretty much glued to the couch for the first 3 weeks. Also, I think it took like 4 days for my milk to come in and a full 2 months to really get the hang of nursing. But with Amelia, everything has been in fast forward. I started feeling contractions at about 11:15pm on Friday the 27th (1 week before my due date), and after letting a few go by, we realized that they were consistently about 5 minutes apart. So we got out of bed and started packing our bags, as we had not even gotten around to that yet! We got our next door neighbor to come over to stay with Ally, and headed to the hospital. When we got to the hospital, I was about 5 cm dilated and definitely having contractions. I promptly asked for the epidural, and while it definitely helped, I could still feel quite a bit of pain. Shortly thereafter, my water broke, and like three EXTREMELY PAINFUL contractions/pushes later, Amelia popped out. Total time of L&D: approximately 4 hours. My recovery has been faster this time too, no more maternity clothes, and I am even entertaining ideas of going for a run sometime soon! My milk came in really fast this time, and nursing seems so much easier this time too. So all in all, things are going quite well, and I am truly enjoying having this time to take a step back, spend time at home, and get acquainted with this new phase of life.
One thing that has been completely different is my labor/delivery experience with Amelia compared to the one with Ally. So with Ally, I was induced at 41 weeks, and the whole ordeal took over 20 hours. But it was a very slow experience, and even when it came time to push, that was pretty low-key as well (I was completely numb to the pain thanks to the epidural). I felt like the recovery from Ally's L&D was pretty slow as well, as I think my butt was pretty much glued to the couch for the first 3 weeks. Also, I think it took like 4 days for my milk to come in and a full 2 months to really get the hang of nursing. But with Amelia, everything has been in fast forward. I started feeling contractions at about 11:15pm on Friday the 27th (1 week before my due date), and after letting a few go by, we realized that they were consistently about 5 minutes apart. So we got out of bed and started packing our bags, as we had not even gotten around to that yet! We got our next door neighbor to come over to stay with Ally, and headed to the hospital. When we got to the hospital, I was about 5 cm dilated and definitely having contractions. I promptly asked for the epidural, and while it definitely helped, I could still feel quite a bit of pain. Shortly thereafter, my water broke, and like three EXTREMELY PAINFUL contractions/pushes later, Amelia popped out. Total time of L&D: approximately 4 hours. My recovery has been faster this time too, no more maternity clothes, and I am even entertaining ideas of going for a run sometime soon! My milk came in really fast this time, and nursing seems so much easier this time too. So all in all, things are going quite well, and I am truly enjoying having this time to take a step back, spend time at home, and get acquainted with this new phase of life.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Amelia's Here!
Our little bundle of joy arrived a week early and without much warning! We left for the hospital at about 12:30 this morning, and met Amelia at 3:15. I'll let Beth fill in all the fun details later -- the primary purpose of this first-ever Singing Scientist guest post is to put up a few much-anticipated pictures before the eastern seaboard goes night-night. Here they are!
Hopefully we'll be taking Amelia home tomorrow morning!
UPDATE: If you were curious (I was), Ally clearly wins the hair contest. From nearly three years ago:
...and here's a real blast from the past, from December 1979:
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| Amelia at t + 5 minutes. She has Ally's (and Mommy's) hair! |
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| She has feet!! (Note: we double checked. She has all five on the left as well as the right, prints notwithstanding) |
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| Big sister meets little for the first time. |
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| Don't think the Tootsie-Roll Pop is insignificant. We're hoping this 'gift' from Amelia goes a long way toward sibling harmony. So far so good. |
The video version, so you can feel like you're here.
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| Amelia looks great in this one... |
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| ...and Ally looks great in this one. A job for Photoshop? |
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| Nurse leaves behind a stethoscope. Super-cuteness ensues. |
UPDATE: If you were curious (I was), Ally clearly wins the hair contest. From nearly three years ago:
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| Take THAT, little sis! |
...and here's a real blast from the past, from December 1979:
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Employment!
At the moment, it doesn't seem possible that there could be life after the PhD because it feels like this process is never going to end. But in reality, there is life on the other side, and it comes in the form of employment for next school year. I have signed a contract to stay at UNC next year and teach part time as a Lecturer in my department. I am really excited about this opportunity, because I'll get to keep teaching Physiology and working with the undergrads and masters students in our lab, I'll get to be part of the faculty, and I will be honest, I am really looking forward to the change of pace, professionally speaking.
But until then, so much work still to be done!
But until then, so much work still to be done!
Friday, April 20, 2012
The dissertation and the five stages of grief
I am nearing the end of my dissertation data collection and I must say, I feel like I have been running a marathon that just won't end. Right now, I feel like I've hit the wall at mile 20; I know I just have a 10K to go, but man I really really don't want to run those last 6.2 miles! With 5 subjects to go and 2 weeks until my due date, it has become pretty apparent that I won't be finishing my data collection before I give birth. The exceptions might be either a) the baby comes 1 or 2 weeks late and/or b) we decide not to go all the way to 20 subjects. In any case, I'm not holding my breath.
As I have trudged through this process, I came to realize that the dissertation process makes you feel a lot of things, including the 5 stages of grief. I have definitely made the rounds through these 5 stages multiple times (see below).
DENIAL
I'm not sure I've spent a lot of time here, although recently my denial has been about the fact that I'm having a baby potentially any day now. I keep thinking to myself, "Oh I have lots of time before she comes," but in reality it could be tomorrow or it could be after Mother's Day. But as far as the dissertation goes, I think that denial could take the form of dragging your feet on getting your data collected because you think that you have all the time in the world, when in reality, you have to remember that it takes a lot of time to analyze the data, write up the results, get it to your committee, actually find a time when all 5 of your committee members can congregate for your defense, and then make the corrections to your document before getting it to the Graduate School by their deadline for graduation.
BARGAINING
I have spent a bit of time here. It usually goes something like, "Okay, if so-and-so helps me out here, and maybe if I can get all 6 of these subjects scheduled in the next 2 weeks, and if the baby wouldn't mind staying in utero for 2 weeks past her due date, then I can finish my data collection by Mother's Day." Although now that I think about it, that probably overlaps with denial, haha!
ANGER
Oh yes, I have definitely spend a good bit of time here. It is usually when I feel like the people who are supposed to be helping me out with data collection aren't stepping up, or when I put in an order for supplies and the order gets lost. Or worse, when someone tells me they are going to help me out in any way they can, and then they end up not being true to their word, or they seem to have all kinds of time to help out another student with data collection but when it comes to me, they are all booked up. Or sometimes I get a little angry at myself for choosing a project that is so time intensive with the data collection. But then I also get angry when I start to think about other people who did their dissertations before me from our department, and how their advisors seemed to go really easy on them in terms of the type of projects they did and how it only took them a fraction of the time to complete their dissertations compared to mine. And yet, they have still come away with a PhD. This last point really makes my blood boil, so I try not to think about it too much.
DEPRESSION
Along with anger, I have spent a good bit of time here too. It usually takes the form of, "I feel like I am never going to finish this stinking degree, and I'm not sure my committee really cares if or when I finish either." Or also, "what I am going to do if I can't find those last 3 cancer survivor subjects?" Or also, "if I can't get this activity assay data to look right, I don't know what I'm going to do."
ACCEPTANCE
There are a few occasions when I have some waves of clarity about the whole process. Intellectually, I do know that this chapter of my life will come to a close, and that everything will work out the way it is supposed to. I also know there are certain things about the process that are not in my control, but as long as the ball is in my court, I just have to keep plugging away.
As I have trudged through this process, I came to realize that the dissertation process makes you feel a lot of things, including the 5 stages of grief. I have definitely made the rounds through these 5 stages multiple times (see below).
DENIAL
I'm not sure I've spent a lot of time here, although recently my denial has been about the fact that I'm having a baby potentially any day now. I keep thinking to myself, "Oh I have lots of time before she comes," but in reality it could be tomorrow or it could be after Mother's Day. But as far as the dissertation goes, I think that denial could take the form of dragging your feet on getting your data collected because you think that you have all the time in the world, when in reality, you have to remember that it takes a lot of time to analyze the data, write up the results, get it to your committee, actually find a time when all 5 of your committee members can congregate for your defense, and then make the corrections to your document before getting it to the Graduate School by their deadline for graduation.
BARGAINING
I have spent a bit of time here. It usually goes something like, "Okay, if so-and-so helps me out here, and maybe if I can get all 6 of these subjects scheduled in the next 2 weeks, and if the baby wouldn't mind staying in utero for 2 weeks past her due date, then I can finish my data collection by Mother's Day." Although now that I think about it, that probably overlaps with denial, haha!
ANGER
Oh yes, I have definitely spend a good bit of time here. It is usually when I feel like the people who are supposed to be helping me out with data collection aren't stepping up, or when I put in an order for supplies and the order gets lost. Or worse, when someone tells me they are going to help me out in any way they can, and then they end up not being true to their word, or they seem to have all kinds of time to help out another student with data collection but when it comes to me, they are all booked up. Or sometimes I get a little angry at myself for choosing a project that is so time intensive with the data collection. But then I also get angry when I start to think about other people who did their dissertations before me from our department, and how their advisors seemed to go really easy on them in terms of the type of projects they did and how it only took them a fraction of the time to complete their dissertations compared to mine. And yet, they have still come away with a PhD. This last point really makes my blood boil, so I try not to think about it too much.
DEPRESSION
Along with anger, I have spent a good bit of time here too. It usually takes the form of, "I feel like I am never going to finish this stinking degree, and I'm not sure my committee really cares if or when I finish either." Or also, "what I am going to do if I can't find those last 3 cancer survivor subjects?" Or also, "if I can't get this activity assay data to look right, I don't know what I'm going to do."
ACCEPTANCE
There are a few occasions when I have some waves of clarity about the whole process. Intellectually, I do know that this chapter of my life will come to a close, and that everything will work out the way it is supposed to. I also know there are certain things about the process that are not in my control, but as long as the ball is in my court, I just have to keep plugging away.
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