UAMS Pediatrics

The "Mole" they call me.  I'm spending 8 wonderful nights working while normal people are sleeping.  I'm doing my rotation in the NICU this month and instead of taking dreadful overnight call every 4 days, I get to work a string of nights holding down the warmers & incubators.  The first night is usually tough getting used to the new schedule, but I am pretty good at staying up late the night before I start.  The mornings are easy because I can fall asleep anywhere and anytime (a gift I've developed since becoming a resident!).
From residuals to blood gases, there's definitely stuff to do, but it's usually not too bad.  That is except when one baby drops their blood pressure to 40s/20s, while another has a blood gas with a pH of 7.13.  Babies going into SVT and deciding they don't want ventilatory support anymore by pulling out their ET tubes, are also some of my favorite moments.  What's great about this is that you get to handle it all by yourself (and feel like a real doctor), but have an attending Neonatologist mere feet away if you need any help.

When not saving little babies, I spend the rest of my time just waiting for admissions so I can practice my skills at intubation and umbilical line placement.  Of course I also spend time poring over textbooks to further my education.  It's amazing how productive you can be at night when there's no one to talk to.  I've booked a vacation, caught up with my Questions of the Day, worked on my 3rd year schedule, and a handful of other things I'd never get done so quickly during the day.

It can be somewhat isolating, but I manage to call my friends & family on my way to work and meet for breakfast after a shift or an early dinner before a shift in order to still feel connected.  And alas, it's only 8 nights.  Soon I will return to the life of a normal person (well a resident at least) and see sunshine on my way to work instead of when I'm falling asleep.