First glimpse

I had my first ultrasound yesterday. I was a bit nervous. I was thinking: "What if there's nothing in there?!" I guess part of me was still in disbelief of this awesome miracle.

But then I saw the little bean with its heart flickering. It was an awesome feeling :)

I informed my program of this life-changing event and I'm so happy that everybody was very supportive. The last thing I wanted to do was screw up the rotations. But I was reassured by the chief residents that there will be no problems at all and that there will be more than enough coverage. I'm really lucky to be in a big program.

My step 3 is in 2 weeks and I'm sooo relaxed and so ready to get rid of the USMLEs!

Letting go...

I am a self-proclaimed control freak. Everything must and should be according to my plan. I don't know where I got this attitude from. All I know is that I've been like this since I was 6 years old.

My life experiences these past 3 years have been a roller coaster ride but most of all, it has been an eye-opener and a form of self-discovery. I can no longer deny it: I AM NOT IN COTROL. God is the captain and He turns the wheel. I simple must let go and let Him take me wherever He wants. I must trust in Him.

As soon as I realized this great revelation, things started to unfold and all my dreams are slowly coming true. I got matched into a great program and now I am expecting a miracle baby....God is good. With Him everything and anything is possible :)

Yup..It's POSITIVE!

My husband and I have been trying to conceive for quite sometime. I was given a <1% chance for natural pregnancy due to Diminished Ovarian Reserve even though I am still at the prime of my reproductive years. We went through fertility treatments but all failed. We were devastated. But prayers kept me strong. All I asked from God was to give me the strength to accept my fate and not to focus on what I don't and can't have. My husband and I started talking about adoption during Holy Week. I was in the phase of acceptance. Life moved on for me.

Due to my upcoming exam and the excitement of starting residency I haven't been paying attention to my monthly visits from Aunt Flo. I looked at my calendar and she was supposed to be due last Thursday. It's now Saturday...I think she got lost. So I casually took a pregnancy test:

As you can see I took 2 tests just to be sure. I was in disbelief. Not in a million years did I think I could get pregnant....This is the greatest miracle God has ever given me :)

Everybody's out!

The weather this weekend was great! My sister-in-law and I went downtown for some shopping. Almost everybody was wearing shorts and flip-flops!

While driving by the lake we saw people jogging and riding their bikes, totally taking advantage of this short-lived 60+ deg weather.

 Shoppers were everywhere! Which of course made traffic really bad. But can you blame them?

Fashion in residency?

Residents are known to work long hours a day. In my program,  residents work an average of 65 hours a week. Some programs would even drive their residents to work 70 hours a week! With this hectic schedule it is but natural for residents to wear the most comfortable clothes possible. I agree. But it doesn't mean that they can't be fashionable either ;)

My goal is to be as comfortable as possible without sacrificing looking good. Two can blend. Why not?

For me pants and blouses with comfortable flat shoes will be my staple outfit. There will be no place for heels in my turf. Not only do I hate wearing heels but I will be on my feet all day long, no way will I even try to balance on heels.

So how do you blend comfort with fashion?

Take for example this simple yet colorful blouse which I got from Forever 21 for only $11.50:

If you pair it with an ordinary black pair of pants it will definitely be very comfortable. But if you add a black simple vest like this:

The outcome would be this:

And of course you can pair the vest with other blouses. Mix and match is the key.

Yesterday my sister-in-law took me shopping as her congratulatory gift for my new job. She's so sweet! First we went to H&M. They had a huge sale going on. I always like their selections. Not too pricey yet the clothes are trendy and durable.

Next we went to The Water Tower Mall and visited several stores from Banana Republic to the Limited.

It was fun to shop but in the end we were both exhausted and called it a day. I am not one to splurge and I only buy things when they are on sale or decently priced...Unless I really really want it...Next on my list: winter outfits and comfortable shoes....

*Pardon the quality of the photos as I was using my phone to take these snaps....

Internship must-haves

Ok folks I found this awesome website that contains free downloads that are great to help your internship become manageable as possible.

Medfools for IM

Enjoy :)

I hate good-byes

How do you say good-bye to people you care about?

This has always been my problem. I get too attached to people and when it's time to leave I have a hard time :(

I have decided that June 15 will be my last day at work. People found out and there were a lot of hugging and choked-up tears after that. It made me sad all day....

I still have 2.5 months with them. I will definitely make the most out of these.

Saying good-bye sucks :(

Getting Licensed

I have begun the process of gathering all requirements to apply for a temporary physician license here in IL back in February. I know that I have a lot of things to fulfill before I can send out the application.  I need to fill out the forms, send some forms for my school to sign, send some forms to 2 other hospitals to sign coz I had rotations at these hospitals during clerkship, have my school furnish certificates of affiliation between these hospitals, have an affidavit notarized saying that 2 weeks of my Psychiatric rotations were integrated in other clinical rotations, have the Philippine Regulations Commission sign a form proving I was board certified back home, etc., etc., etc. So I'm really glad I started this process 2 months ago.

Gathering all these documents is not a piece of cake for someone who is thousands of miles away from her medical school. So I created very detailed and specific instructions for my cousin back home to do all the necessary paperwork for me. Poor girl. But I have no choice. And of course it took my school almost 2 months to complete everything.

Finally, all the necessary documents are here. Now all I have to do is mail them out to my program coordinator and she will do the rest. Whew!