1
00:00:02,720 --> 00:00:05,880
Speaker 1: Hi. This is Laura Vandercamp. I'm a mother of five,

2
00:00:06,160 --> 00:00:10,200
Speaker 1: an author, journalist, and speaker. And this is Sarah Hart Hunger.

3
00:00:10,480 --> 00:00:13,480
Speaker 1: I'm a mother of three, a practicing physician and blogger.

4
00:00:13,480 --> 00:00:15,800
Speaker 1: On the side, we are two working parents who love

5
00:00:15,840 --> 00:00:19,320
Speaker 1: our careers and our families. Welcome to best of both worlds.

6
00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:22,400
Speaker 1: Here we talk about how real women manage work, family,

7
00:00:22,560 --> 00:00:25,800
Speaker 1: and time for fun, from figuring out childcare to mapping

8
00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:28,360
Speaker 1: out long term career goals. We want you to get

9
00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:34,000
Speaker 1: the most out of life. Welcome to best of both worlds.

10
00:00:34,120 --> 00:00:37,040
Speaker 1: This is Laura. This is episode one hundred and seventy one,

11
00:00:37,200 --> 00:00:41,000
Speaker 1: which is airing in mid November. We recorded it in

12
00:00:41,120 --> 00:00:45,800
Speaker 1: early mid October. We have a fascinating guest today, Colleen Blanco,

13
00:00:45,840 --> 00:00:48,760
Speaker 1: who is an attorney at a private equity firm, who

14
00:00:48,840 --> 00:00:52,720
Speaker 1: is sharing the story of her first son's birth eight

15
00:00:52,920 --> 00:00:57,960
Speaker 1: nine years ago, who is very premature and he fought

16
00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:01,280
Speaker 1: through several months and then nick you and is doing

17
00:01:01,400 --> 00:01:04,200
Speaker 1: great now. And she will talk about that journey and

18
00:01:04,240 --> 00:01:08,360
Speaker 1: how difficult that was and challenges associated with extreme prematurity,

19
00:01:08,880 --> 00:01:12,440
Speaker 1: with advice for any of our listeners who are facing

20
00:01:12,560 --> 00:01:16,200
Speaker 1: such a nick you stay or potential prematurity in their pregnancies,

21
00:01:16,280 --> 00:01:18,600
Speaker 1: or if you have friends who are going through such

22
00:01:18,640 --> 00:01:23,000
Speaker 1: an experience, how you can be supportive Sarah, you're I

23
00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:26,399
Speaker 1: mean your babies were all what thirty eight thirty nine weeks? Right? No,

24
00:01:26,600 --> 00:01:30,400
Speaker 1: all babies were forty and over. Oh my goodness, three

25
00:01:30,480 --> 00:01:32,919
Speaker 1: out of three. I never got a never got any

26
00:01:33,319 --> 00:01:37,120
Speaker 1: bonus bonus days on this. So yes, I have no

27
00:01:37,280 --> 00:01:40,400
Speaker 1: personal experience with prematurity, but I have plenty of clinical

28
00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:44,720
Speaker 1: experience with prematurity because my residency was particularly heavy on

29
00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:47,440
Speaker 1: nick you and of course I still actually see babies

30
00:01:47,440 --> 00:01:49,480
Speaker 1: in the NICKU, not that I am their primary caregiver,

31
00:01:50,040 --> 00:01:52,880
Speaker 1: but because I'm a consultant and because premis and other

32
00:01:52,960 --> 00:01:56,000
Speaker 1: nick you babies do get a lot of ENDO related issues.

33
00:01:56,360 --> 00:01:58,960
Speaker 1: I'm in there when I'm on call, usually at least

34
00:01:58,960 --> 00:02:01,200
Speaker 1: a couple of days out of the week, so my

35
00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:03,800
Speaker 1: ties have remained close. And I guess I'm glad to

36
00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:07,280
Speaker 1: have had that extra training time during residency. Yeah, I

37
00:02:07,320 --> 00:02:09,520
Speaker 1: mean it's quite a place. It seems like a very

38
00:02:10,160 --> 00:02:12,840
Speaker 1: it's an alien landscape. I mean, like when it was

39
00:02:12,880 --> 00:02:16,160
Speaker 1: actually my very first rotation at the regional nick you

40
00:02:16,440 --> 00:02:19,440
Speaker 1: shout out during the regional hospital, it was slightly terrifying.

41
00:02:19,760 --> 00:02:21,960
Speaker 1: They have a lot more coverage in terms of providers

42
00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:24,120
Speaker 1: now than they did back then, and I just remember

43
00:02:24,280 --> 00:02:28,320
Speaker 1: being like anything could happen. But the nurses are amazing.

44
00:02:28,720 --> 00:02:31,560
Speaker 1: And there's also a special type of nurse practitioner called

45
00:02:31,560 --> 00:02:35,280
Speaker 1: a neonatal nurse practitioner, where all they do is care

46
00:02:35,440 --> 00:02:39,160
Speaker 1: for you know, newborns, and they're awesome. They're just at

47
00:02:39,240 --> 00:02:41,560
Speaker 1: least from a residence standpoint, they knew everything and they

48
00:02:41,600 --> 00:02:44,079
Speaker 1: were so helpful and I learned a lot from them.

49
00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:46,600
Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean, because I can't even it's just

50
00:02:46,639 --> 00:02:51,080
Speaker 1: hard to picture because I think of my full term newborns.

51
00:02:51,080 --> 00:02:55,919
Speaker 1: They felt so fragile and tiny, and they're huge at

52
00:02:55,960 --> 00:02:58,919
Speaker 1: like eight pounds compared to these premis who are being

53
00:02:58,919 --> 00:03:01,960
Speaker 1: born at you know, just shy of two pounds in

54
00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:04,920
Speaker 1: the case of Colleen's baby, or but even you know,

55
00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:07,280
Speaker 1: three pounds, four pounds is still like half that size.

56
00:03:07,320 --> 00:03:10,360
Speaker 1: I mean, it just it is hard to even capture

57
00:03:10,400 --> 00:03:13,600
Speaker 1: very fragile chiny as one or like five hundred grams,

58
00:03:13,639 --> 00:03:16,160
Speaker 1: which is like, what is that just over one pounds?

59
00:03:16,200 --> 00:03:20,120
Speaker 1: Oh wow? Wow, Yeah, that's I mean, it's amazing how

60
00:03:21,240 --> 00:03:26,760
Speaker 1: modern medicine, can you know, cope with that that? I

61
00:03:26,760 --> 00:03:28,960
Speaker 1: mean that development over the past you know, a few

62
00:03:28,960 --> 00:03:32,680
Speaker 1: decades has been incredible, although there's some equally important work

63
00:03:32,720 --> 00:03:35,760
Speaker 1: going on in terms of, you know, reducing the number

64
00:03:35,760 --> 00:03:38,080
Speaker 1: of premature berths in the in the first place, managing

65
00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:40,720
Speaker 1: conditions so that you know, as many days as these

66
00:03:40,840 --> 00:03:44,000
Speaker 1: potentially very fragile babies can be kept in the womb.

67
00:03:44,480 --> 00:03:47,880
Speaker 1: That that's better. Yet I sort of remember with my life.

68
00:03:47,880 --> 00:03:50,920
Speaker 1: I had some worries about prematurity with the last pregnancy

69
00:03:50,920 --> 00:03:52,560
Speaker 1: with Henry, and he was in fact born right at

70
00:03:52,600 --> 00:03:54,960
Speaker 1: thirty seven weeks, so I guess just cross that line

71
00:03:54,960 --> 00:03:59,160
Speaker 1: where then he wasn't considered premature. But you know, in

72
00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:03,120
Speaker 1: the course of going from I had looked up the

73
00:04:03,160 --> 00:04:06,600
Speaker 1: statistics on this, like what their viability is at various points,

74
00:04:06,640 --> 00:04:08,880
Speaker 1: And when you go from about twenty three weeks to

75
00:04:08,920 --> 00:04:12,160
Speaker 1: twenty nine weeks, you rise from something like you know,

76
00:04:12,240 --> 00:04:14,960
Speaker 1: ten percent survival to ninety percent survival. So if you

77
00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:18,160
Speaker 1: do the math there, you're basically going up by about

78
00:04:18,200 --> 00:04:21,840
Speaker 1: two percentage points a day. I mean, it's not continuous

79
00:04:21,880 --> 00:04:24,039
Speaker 1: like that. It's probably more clustered at the beginning than

80
00:04:24,080 --> 00:04:26,680
Speaker 1: at the end. But still I had that moment every

81
00:04:26,720 --> 00:04:29,440
Speaker 1: you know, time, during that window of time, like every day,

82
00:04:29,440 --> 00:04:32,080
Speaker 1: I'd be like two percentage points more like I may

83
00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:33,880
Speaker 1: not have done anything else today, but I hear I've

84
00:04:33,920 --> 00:04:37,040
Speaker 1: kept this little boy in my womb for two percentage

85
00:04:37,040 --> 00:04:41,720
Speaker 1: points higher, And so that felt sort of motivational, I guess,

86
00:04:41,480 --> 00:04:44,760
Speaker 1: as we were going along for that. But fortunately, yeah,

87
00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:47,520
Speaker 1: it is hard work keeping him in there. So it

88
00:04:47,600 --> 00:04:51,599
Speaker 1: is hard work keeping him in there. So he was good. No,

89
00:04:52,680 --> 00:04:55,400
Speaker 1: it's such a tough story. It was, you know, so moving.

90
00:04:55,440 --> 00:04:57,880
Speaker 1: We don't actually talk so much in the interview about

91
00:04:58,360 --> 00:05:01,440
Speaker 1: the fact that she was having twins and that one

92
00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:05,920
Speaker 1: of the children died right away after being born. And

93
00:05:06,360 --> 00:05:08,719
Speaker 1: so I just think as I'm listening to this interview

94
00:05:08,800 --> 00:05:11,760
Speaker 1: again about like, you know, how she was coping with

95
00:05:11,920 --> 00:05:14,040
Speaker 1: the nick you stay at the same time that they

96
00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:17,240
Speaker 1: were grieving this second child, that they thought they were

97
00:05:17,279 --> 00:05:20,440
Speaker 1: having twins and then only had one surviving baby who

98
00:05:20,480 --> 00:05:22,720
Speaker 1: was then fighting for his life. And I mean, it's

99
00:05:23,200 --> 00:05:27,080
Speaker 1: just so incredible that, you know, he made it, you know.

100
00:05:27,320 --> 00:05:29,200
Speaker 1: So I hope our listeners find this to be an

101
00:05:29,279 --> 00:05:33,160
Speaker 1: inspiring story too. Well. Sarah and I are delighted to

102
00:05:33,200 --> 00:05:36,560
Speaker 1: welcome Colleen Blanco to the program. So, Colleen, can you

103
00:05:36,600 --> 00:05:40,880
Speaker 1: introduce yourself to our listeners? Sure, Hi, everyone, My name's

104
00:05:40,920 --> 00:05:44,400
Speaker 1: Colleen Blanco. I'm thirty nine years old. I live in

105
00:05:44,400 --> 00:05:48,320
Speaker 1: Westchester County, New York, and I'm an attorney in house

106
00:05:48,520 --> 00:05:51,880
Speaker 1: at a private equity firm. And I have three children. Yeah,

107
00:05:51,920 --> 00:05:55,000
Speaker 1: And so Colleen was willing to share her story on

108
00:05:55,040 --> 00:05:57,320
Speaker 1: the program of not so much what is going on

109
00:05:57,400 --> 00:06:00,200
Speaker 1: currently in her life, but what went on about eight

110
00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:04,120
Speaker 1: nine years ago when you were starting your family, And

111
00:06:04,360 --> 00:06:06,360
Speaker 1: so why don't you tell us a little bit about

112
00:06:06,400 --> 00:06:09,599
Speaker 1: your your journey with your your first pregnancy and what

113
00:06:09,680 --> 00:06:13,600
Speaker 1: happened as a result of that. Sure. So, I it

114
00:06:13,640 --> 00:06:15,160
Speaker 1: was my first pregnancy and I found out I was

115
00:06:15,200 --> 00:06:19,000
Speaker 1: pregnant with identical twins, which was shocking to say the least,

116
00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:22,599
Speaker 1: because they don't run in our family. And it's your

117
00:06:22,600 --> 00:06:25,840
Speaker 1: first pregnancy, so you're not really expecting that. And I

118
00:06:25,920 --> 00:06:28,240
Speaker 1: had been told that, you know, they'll probably come early,

119
00:06:28,360 --> 00:06:31,760
Speaker 1: like most twins do. But around twenty four weeks, actually

120
00:06:31,800 --> 00:06:35,800
Speaker 1: twenty four weeks on the dot, my water broke prematurely

121
00:06:36,160 --> 00:06:37,800
Speaker 1: at home in the middle of the night, and so

122
00:06:37,839 --> 00:06:40,400
Speaker 1: we had to go to the hospital and I found

123
00:06:40,400 --> 00:06:44,000
Speaker 1: out from various ultrasounds when I was there that they

124
00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:46,760
Speaker 1: were let me sorry, let me back up. I thought

125
00:06:46,800 --> 00:06:49,640
Speaker 1: that they were fraternal twins when I was getting all

126
00:06:49,640 --> 00:06:52,039
Speaker 1: of my sonograms leading up to that. So I found

127
00:06:52,080 --> 00:06:54,680
Speaker 1: out that they were actually identical twins when my water

128
00:06:54,720 --> 00:06:56,440
Speaker 1: broke and I was in the hospital and they had

129
00:06:56,440 --> 00:07:00,640
Speaker 1: something called twin to twin transfusion syndrome, which I had

130
00:07:00,680 --> 00:07:04,039
Speaker 1: never heard of. But uh, and Sarah you've probably familiar,

131
00:07:04,360 --> 00:07:06,839
Speaker 1: but it's when ident It only happens with identical twins

132
00:07:06,880 --> 00:07:10,120
Speaker 1: where the blood flow in the placenta is not not

133
00:07:10,320 --> 00:07:13,120
Speaker 1: even between the two children, and so one of my

134
00:07:13,360 --> 00:07:17,160
Speaker 1: sons was much smaller than the other. So yeah, basically,

135
00:07:17,280 --> 00:07:20,680
Speaker 1: I was on bed rest in the hospital for about

136
00:07:20,760 --> 00:07:24,960
Speaker 1: five weeks with various sonograms throughout, and you know, they

137
00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:27,400
Speaker 1: came to a point where they were showing that the

138
00:07:27,400 --> 00:07:29,600
Speaker 1: twins were in distress, so I had to have an

139
00:07:29,600 --> 00:07:33,280
Speaker 1: emergency sea section at twenty four weeks. Five days. So

140
00:07:33,320 --> 00:07:35,240
Speaker 1: you said five weeks, but you meant five days of

141
00:07:35,280 --> 00:07:38,040
Speaker 1: bed rest five days? Yes, sorry, sorry, because at first

142
00:07:38,080 --> 00:07:39,520
Speaker 1: I was like, oh my gosh, So they made it

143
00:07:39,520 --> 00:07:44,520
Speaker 1: we right, they madden to that noish, although every single

144
00:07:44,600 --> 00:07:47,400
Speaker 1: day counts in every day. Yeah they said, yeah, everyone

145
00:07:47,440 --> 00:07:51,040
Speaker 1: said that, and so yeah, sou so at that. So

146
00:07:51,080 --> 00:07:53,480
Speaker 1: we had the emergency sea section and my son Andrew

147
00:07:53,640 --> 00:07:57,040
Speaker 1: was one pound ten ounces and my son William was

148
00:07:57,240 --> 00:07:58,920
Speaker 1: even smaller than that. In fact, I think we got

149
00:07:58,920 --> 00:08:00,880
Speaker 1: it in gram So we used to Graham's at that

150
00:08:00,880 --> 00:08:03,600
Speaker 1: point because they're so little, and so yeah, they were

151
00:08:03,600 --> 00:08:07,600
Speaker 1: whisked away to the NICU immediately, and my son William

152
00:08:07,640 --> 00:08:09,640
Speaker 1: only survived for two days because he was just too small.

153
00:08:09,720 --> 00:08:12,600
Speaker 1: He was the twin that wasn't getting enough blood flow

154
00:08:12,640 --> 00:08:14,880
Speaker 1: from the placenta. And then yeah, my son and then

155
00:08:14,920 --> 00:08:18,280
Speaker 1: our crazy journey began with the with the nicuu. You know,

156
00:08:18,320 --> 00:08:20,400
Speaker 1: I know that there's some there's a there's a big

157
00:08:20,440 --> 00:08:22,720
Speaker 1: diversity of babies in the NICU. Like there's kids like

158
00:08:22,760 --> 00:08:24,560
Speaker 1: Andrew who are all the way in the back of

159
00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:26,240
Speaker 1: the nice and like stay in the back of the

160
00:08:26,320 --> 00:08:28,600
Speaker 1: nic queue because they, you know, need the most care.

161
00:08:28,600 --> 00:08:30,320
Speaker 1: And then there's you know, kids that are born that

162
00:08:30,440 --> 00:08:31,960
Speaker 1: only need a week in the NICU because they might

163
00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:35,040
Speaker 1: have some you know, feeding issues or something. So we

164
00:08:35,040 --> 00:08:36,920
Speaker 1: were in the back of the NICU for a very

165
00:08:36,960 --> 00:08:42,120
Speaker 1: long time. And yeah, we uh, we were there until

166
00:08:42,240 --> 00:08:45,319
Speaker 1: Hurricane Sandy. And then we were at m y u

167
00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:50,559
Speaker 1: H in Manhattan and we got a call or actually

168
00:08:50,559 --> 00:08:51,920
Speaker 1: we couldn't get through to the Nicku. I used to

169
00:08:51,960 --> 00:08:55,240
Speaker 1: call every day, and we had visited earlier that day

170
00:08:55,480 --> 00:08:57,240
Speaker 1: and then on the news we saw that they were

171
00:08:57,280 --> 00:09:02,120
Speaker 1: evacuating m yu So yeah, so we lived in a

172
00:09:02,120 --> 00:09:05,160
Speaker 1: story of Queen's at the time. So we raced to

173
00:09:05,960 --> 00:09:08,360
Speaker 1: the Triboro Bridge to get over into Manhattan, and they

174
00:09:08,360 --> 00:09:11,360
Speaker 1: had closed it because it was dangerous to get over it.

175
00:09:11,720 --> 00:09:14,200
Speaker 1: But my husband managed to convince them. He actually like

176
00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:16,400
Speaker 1: went like this to show them how small my son was.

177
00:09:16,760 --> 00:09:19,280
Speaker 1: So that made them open the bridge for us, and

178
00:09:19,280 --> 00:09:22,040
Speaker 1: we literally drove over the Triboro Bridge by ourselves, raced

179
00:09:22,080 --> 00:09:24,480
Speaker 1: into Manhattan, you know, waited until they brought all the

180
00:09:24,480 --> 00:09:28,160
Speaker 1: babies down. Had to take an ambulance to a new hospital,

181
00:09:28,600 --> 00:09:30,520
Speaker 1: and we actually went the ambulance to us to the

182
00:09:30,520 --> 00:09:32,640
Speaker 1: wrong hospital first, which I thought was hilarious. We all

183
00:09:32,640 --> 00:09:35,359
Speaker 1: show up with our babies on like you know, respirators

184
00:09:35,360 --> 00:09:39,240
Speaker 1: and nasal canula and they're like, no, wrong hospital. So

185
00:09:39,280 --> 00:09:42,080
Speaker 1: we got back in the ambulance and went back and

186
00:09:42,120 --> 00:09:44,679
Speaker 1: then he was in Montafior Hospital in the Bronx for

187
00:09:44,760 --> 00:09:49,079
Speaker 1: about another month. He got out right before Thanksgiving. I

188
00:09:49,120 --> 00:09:52,160
Speaker 1: think it was November twenty fifth. Those are both hospitals

189
00:09:52,160 --> 00:09:55,760
Speaker 1: with excellent nick u's. Did your babies start at NYU, like,

190
00:09:55,840 --> 00:09:58,559
Speaker 1: did that they didn't have to be transferred in the beginning? Yeah? No,

191
00:09:58,640 --> 00:10:01,280
Speaker 1: I think on the level of nick you at both

192
00:10:01,400 --> 00:10:05,160
Speaker 1: was like level three or four four, yeah, which is

193
00:10:05,200 --> 00:10:09,000
Speaker 1: the highest. And actually for our listeners, you know, some people,

194
00:10:09,200 --> 00:10:11,760
Speaker 1: that is like a consideration, especially if you're having a

195
00:10:11,800 --> 00:10:14,280
Speaker 1: more complicated pregnancy, to think about where you're delivering and

196
00:10:14,320 --> 00:10:17,120
Speaker 1: what the Nikki facilities are like. Because in your case,

197
00:10:17,160 --> 00:10:21,040
Speaker 1: you were really lucky to have started somewhere like NYU,

198
00:10:21,120 --> 00:10:25,240
Speaker 1: because sometimes a transfer can be dicey. Yeah, yeah, yeah,

199
00:10:25,280 --> 00:10:29,040
Speaker 1: for sure. I had to y. Sorry, I had just

200
00:10:29,040 --> 00:10:32,719
Speaker 1: thought of that. That's so funny. So we've experienced the

201
00:10:32,760 --> 00:10:35,000
Speaker 1: same place, or maybe not. I mean I was, you know,

202
00:10:35,320 --> 00:10:38,079
Speaker 1: a different part of it, but no, so that, I mean,

203
00:10:38,120 --> 00:10:43,199
Speaker 1: that's an amazing story. I mean just that the evacuation,

204
00:10:43,400 --> 00:10:45,360
Speaker 1: and I cannot I'm hardly even to picture you guys

205
00:10:45,440 --> 00:10:48,360
Speaker 1: like desperate there on the triborough bitch in a storm

206
00:10:48,840 --> 00:10:52,199
Speaker 1: with the police trying to get across to your baby.

207
00:10:52,280 --> 00:10:53,880
Speaker 1: But I think this is an interesting point you think

208
00:10:53,880 --> 00:10:56,120
Speaker 1: about because obviously you can't be there the whole time

209
00:10:56,160 --> 00:10:58,400
Speaker 1: for like three months. So I mean you had to

210
00:10:58,520 --> 00:11:01,040
Speaker 1: go back to school, You had to go back you know.

211
00:11:01,080 --> 00:11:02,520
Speaker 1: I'm sure your husband had to go back to work

212
00:11:02,559 --> 00:11:03,959
Speaker 1: or if he was in school too at the time,

213
00:11:04,280 --> 00:11:08,000
Speaker 1: because because you were in school, right whenn't this happened right? Right? Yeah?

214
00:11:08,040 --> 00:11:09,720
Speaker 1: I was going into my third year of law school,

215
00:11:09,720 --> 00:11:13,040
Speaker 1: so it actually I was actually doing my summer associate

216
00:11:13,600 --> 00:11:15,840
Speaker 1: job at a law firm, and I was like the

217
00:11:15,880 --> 00:11:18,440
Speaker 1: only summer associate I went to law school later. I

218
00:11:18,440 --> 00:11:19,760
Speaker 1: went when I was thirty, and so I was the

219
00:11:19,760 --> 00:11:22,520
Speaker 1: only pregnant summer associate that year because everyone was like

220
00:11:22,559 --> 00:11:25,760
Speaker 1: twenty three. But yeah, so I had to bail out

221
00:11:25,760 --> 00:11:27,640
Speaker 1: of that early. But I ended up going back to

222
00:11:27,720 --> 00:11:30,680
Speaker 1: school on time, and I just would visit. And this

223
00:11:30,760 --> 00:11:33,000
Speaker 1: is a point I would make for anyone going through

224
00:11:33,040 --> 00:11:36,199
Speaker 1: this is you know, I went every day. It made

225
00:11:36,280 --> 00:11:39,400
Speaker 1: me feel better, but I didn't feel obligated to go.

226
00:11:39,960 --> 00:11:42,080
Speaker 1: You know, I never spent the night because I needed

227
00:11:42,120 --> 00:11:45,360
Speaker 1: to have that separation. And I think it's if this

228
00:11:45,440 --> 00:11:47,520
Speaker 1: is if you're going through something, especially with an extremely

229
00:11:47,559 --> 00:11:50,160
Speaker 1: premature child, do what you need to do to survive

230
00:11:50,280 --> 00:11:54,800
Speaker 1: because it's really a roller coaster, and you know you

231
00:11:54,800 --> 00:11:57,520
Speaker 1: shouldn't as much as women feel pressure as mothers, you know,

232
00:11:57,679 --> 00:12:00,920
Speaker 1: like try to not feel that way because whatever you

233
00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:03,360
Speaker 1: do for yourself is right in that situation. It's just

234
00:12:03,880 --> 00:12:06,120
Speaker 1: it's probably the most stressful situation I've ever been in,

235
00:12:06,280 --> 00:12:09,040
Speaker 1: and you know, you just need to be kind to

236
00:12:09,080 --> 00:12:11,240
Speaker 1: yourself and your spouse. You know, there was a lot

237
00:12:11,280 --> 00:12:13,560
Speaker 1: of at the beginning, a lot of tension there too,

238
00:12:14,440 --> 00:12:15,839
Speaker 1: but you know, you really need to rely on each

239
00:12:15,880 --> 00:12:18,200
Speaker 1: other and just give yourself a break and do what

240
00:12:18,240 --> 00:12:21,760
Speaker 1: you need to do to get through it. It is

241
00:12:21,800 --> 00:12:24,760
Speaker 1: a marathon and not a sprint, which is something. Can

242
00:12:24,760 --> 00:12:26,600
Speaker 1: you talk about that because it's you know, I think

243
00:12:26,600 --> 00:12:29,640
Speaker 1: people imagine the emergency scenario, but like, you know, okay,

244
00:12:29,679 --> 00:12:31,360
Speaker 1: you have this tiny, tiny little baby and then they're

245
00:12:31,360 --> 00:12:34,240
Speaker 1: in the NICU. But I don't think and I get

246
00:12:34,280 --> 00:12:36,320
Speaker 1: it because I've seen it at least I sort of

247
00:12:36,320 --> 00:12:38,040
Speaker 1: get it because I see it from the provider end

248
00:12:39,160 --> 00:12:41,960
Speaker 1: that this is a very very long drawn out like

249
00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:45,080
Speaker 1: you don't get to exhale, like weeks and weeks and

250
00:12:45,120 --> 00:12:48,840
Speaker 1: weeks go by and things can still happen. And you know,

251
00:12:48,880 --> 00:12:51,520
Speaker 1: we always learned the slogan never trust a PREMI not

252
00:12:51,640 --> 00:12:53,800
Speaker 1: meaning that in a bad way, but mostly just like,

253
00:12:54,120 --> 00:12:57,920
Speaker 1: take any change in their vital signs or demeanor very seriously,

254
00:12:58,200 --> 00:13:01,880
Speaker 1: because you know, a twenty four week premature infant, you know,

255
00:13:01,960 --> 00:13:03,880
Speaker 1: four months down the road, maybe doing very well, but

256
00:13:03,920 --> 00:13:05,920
Speaker 1: if they get a little bit distended in their abdomen

257
00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:07,680
Speaker 1: like that could mean that they have a very serious

258
00:13:07,679 --> 00:13:10,240
Speaker 1: problem going on, whereas that's much less likely in a

259
00:13:10,240 --> 00:13:12,800
Speaker 1: full term baby. So Okay, I'm going on a big digression,

260
00:13:12,840 --> 00:13:15,760
Speaker 1: but what I'm saying is if somebody's listening to this

261
00:13:15,840 --> 00:13:19,160
Speaker 1: and it's either has threatened prematurity or you know, is

262
00:13:19,200 --> 00:13:21,520
Speaker 1: starting to go through this, like, can you talk about

263
00:13:21,720 --> 00:13:24,040
Speaker 1: how you took care of yourself and dealt with it

264
00:13:24,080 --> 00:13:26,520
Speaker 1: as such a long duration, because I can imagine, I

265
00:13:27,280 --> 00:13:31,800
Speaker 1: can't even imagine. I mean, it must have been so difficult. Yeah, yeah,

266
00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:34,000
Speaker 1: especially at the beginning, but even like you said, with

267
00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:36,280
Speaker 1: the distended stomach that came up, you know, when we

268
00:13:36,280 --> 00:13:38,720
Speaker 1: were in monthifor so, it was over three months, and

269
00:13:38,800 --> 00:13:40,800
Speaker 1: we thought we were kind of only focused on his breathing.

270
00:13:40,800 --> 00:13:43,000
Speaker 1: That was his primary problem at the you know, for

271
00:13:43,200 --> 00:13:45,440
Speaker 1: his entire stay. But there was like a little bit

272
00:13:45,480 --> 00:13:47,960
Speaker 1: of I forget what it's called necrosis or something of

273
00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:52,760
Speaker 1: the necritizing enterocolitis exactly. Yes, And it's truly like you

274
00:13:52,880 --> 00:13:55,720
Speaker 1: never get a break. There's always something new, and you

275
00:13:55,840 --> 00:13:59,440
Speaker 1: kind of just become less affected by the positive nights too.

276
00:13:59,559 --> 00:14:02,120
Speaker 1: You call every morning and and you know, they'd be like, oh,

277
00:14:02,120 --> 00:14:03,439
Speaker 1: the baby had a good night, and it's like, okay,

278
00:14:03,480 --> 00:14:06,600
Speaker 1: but tomorrow's another day. So yeah, it's very much a

279
00:14:06,640 --> 00:14:10,040
Speaker 1: roller coaster. At the beginning of our stay, Andrew actually

280
00:14:10,120 --> 00:14:14,320
Speaker 1: had sepsis, so we were prepared for him to die, honestly,

281
00:14:14,360 --> 00:14:16,439
Speaker 1: like we were. The doctors were preparing us for that.

282
00:14:16,559 --> 00:14:18,600
Speaker 1: It was it was just something that he was so

283
00:14:18,640 --> 00:14:20,440
Speaker 1: small that they didn't think that he would he would

284
00:14:20,440 --> 00:14:22,680
Speaker 1: be able to pass through it, but he he did amazingly.

285
00:14:23,120 --> 00:14:24,920
Speaker 1: And so yeah, in terms of how we took care

286
00:14:24,960 --> 00:14:28,400
Speaker 1: of ourselves during that time, we went out to eat

287
00:14:28,440 --> 00:14:30,920
Speaker 1: at the diner across the street from from n Yu

288
00:14:31,320 --> 00:14:35,320
Speaker 1: a lot, which was you know, very comforting but probably

289
00:14:35,320 --> 00:14:37,880
Speaker 1: not the healthiest. You know. We had some friends visit,

290
00:14:37,920 --> 00:14:39,840
Speaker 1: my mom would come, you know, we didn't want a

291
00:14:39,880 --> 00:14:41,800
Speaker 1: ton of people coming to visit, but you know, we

292
00:14:41,840 --> 00:14:44,400
Speaker 1: would have my mom come in sometimes and you know,

293
00:14:44,440 --> 00:14:46,720
Speaker 1: spend the day with me there, having someone else there

294
00:14:47,160 --> 00:14:50,160
Speaker 1: while you're you know, while you're doing kangarooing and stuff.

295
00:14:50,160 --> 00:14:52,480
Speaker 1: It's nice because it can be kind of boring. I

296
00:14:52,520 --> 00:14:55,440
Speaker 1: listened to a lot of podcasts and music when I

297
00:14:55,480 --> 00:14:59,000
Speaker 1: was kangarooing him. You know, spent a lot of scrolling time.

298
00:14:59,200 --> 00:15:01,600
Speaker 1: But you know, it kind of took you out of

299
00:15:01,640 --> 00:15:04,400
Speaker 1: where you were, and you know, having headphones in with

300
00:15:04,440 --> 00:15:06,760
Speaker 1: all of the it's a very loud place with all

301
00:15:06,840 --> 00:15:08,800
Speaker 1: of the beeping in the alarm, so having headphones and

302
00:15:08,840 --> 00:15:13,120
Speaker 1: helped a lot. How old is he now? He's eight?

303
00:15:13,400 --> 00:15:15,320
Speaker 1: He's eight. Okay, we're gonna take a quick break and

304
00:15:15,320 --> 00:15:30,560
Speaker 1: then I have a comment about the loudness. Okay, we're back.

305
00:15:30,600 --> 00:15:34,000
Speaker 1: So what I was going to say is, actually, believe

306
00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:35,640
Speaker 1: it or not, nick U's in the last i don't know,

307
00:15:35,800 --> 00:15:39,560
Speaker 1: five or years or so have actually become a little

308
00:15:39,560 --> 00:15:42,040
Speaker 1: bit more sensitive. And I think the trend is really

309
00:15:42,040 --> 00:15:44,600
Speaker 1: that they're trying to work on keeping certain rooms really

310
00:15:44,680 --> 00:15:47,440
Speaker 1: quiet during certain hours because there's been studies that show

311
00:15:47,560 --> 00:15:50,000
Speaker 1: like if you can mimic the daylight cycle and like

312
00:15:50,040 --> 00:15:52,800
Speaker 1: a lot of calm and like there's a movement towards

313
00:15:52,880 --> 00:15:55,120
Speaker 1: like not you know, grouping the exams on the baby.

314
00:15:55,160 --> 00:15:58,000
Speaker 1: So I actually wonder if your experience would be slightly

315
00:15:58,040 --> 00:16:00,760
Speaker 1: different in twenty twenty than it had been twenty twelve.

316
00:16:01,520 --> 00:16:05,280
Speaker 1: So that's just a fascinating little tidbit that they're continuing

317
00:16:05,360 --> 00:16:09,480
Speaker 1: to work on that, because yeah, it back when I

318
00:16:09,560 --> 00:16:11,800
Speaker 1: trained back of the Stone Ages of like two thousand

319
00:16:11,800 --> 00:16:15,480
Speaker 1: and eight or nine or whatever. Yeah, it was always

320
00:16:15,480 --> 00:16:17,440
Speaker 1: loud and bustling and hustling in there, and I find

321
00:16:17,440 --> 00:16:19,160
Speaker 1: that now and I am in a different health system,

322
00:16:19,160 --> 00:16:23,840
Speaker 1: but it's more hushed, Yeah, slightly more womblike than that.

323
00:16:24,360 --> 00:16:26,800
Speaker 1: Poor babies are thrust into this and they're in a

324
00:16:26,880 --> 00:16:31,440
Speaker 1: rough shape anyway. So yeah, so we were talking about

325
00:16:31,440 --> 00:16:34,520
Speaker 1: sort of how you can manage this. So if you have, yeah,

326
00:16:34,560 --> 00:16:37,760
Speaker 1: advice for people who are going into or who have

327
00:16:37,840 --> 00:16:42,840
Speaker 1: friends who have, you know, a premature child, How could

328
00:16:42,840 --> 00:16:46,320
Speaker 1: people be supportive of you and what should everyone expect?

329
00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:50,280
Speaker 1: I think if you have other children, Luckily you know

330
00:16:50,480 --> 00:16:52,920
Speaker 1: silver Lining. This was our first child. So there were

331
00:16:52,960 --> 00:16:56,040
Speaker 1: other families that had kids in the NICU with other children,

332
00:16:56,680 --> 00:16:59,200
Speaker 1: which I can't even imagine how hard it would be

333
00:16:59,240 --> 00:17:01,920
Speaker 1: to manage that. So I think, you know, being very

334
00:17:01,960 --> 00:17:04,000
Speaker 1: upfront with your family asking for help, if you have

335
00:17:04,040 --> 00:17:07,439
Speaker 1: family nearby or friends childcare for that, that would be

336
00:17:07,480 --> 00:17:08,919
Speaker 1: very helpful. Because you do want to spend a fair

337
00:17:08,960 --> 00:17:11,080
Speaker 1: amount of time. I did. I wanted to spend a

338
00:17:11,080 --> 00:17:13,639
Speaker 1: fair amount of time in the NICKU. You know, like

339
00:17:13,680 --> 00:17:17,400
Speaker 1: I said earlier, do what you need to do. Don't

340
00:17:17,400 --> 00:17:20,959
Speaker 1: feel pressure to be there all the time. Seek out therapy.

341
00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:23,199
Speaker 1: Me and my husband started therapy almost immediately because of

342
00:17:23,240 --> 00:17:26,199
Speaker 1: the you know, the trauma of losing William and you know,

343
00:17:26,320 --> 00:17:28,199
Speaker 1: just having a child in the nick I thought that

344
00:17:28,240 --> 00:17:31,639
Speaker 1: was really helpful. Early Intervention. I don't think this is

345
00:17:31,800 --> 00:17:34,119
Speaker 1: just a I think this is state by state, but

346
00:17:34,160 --> 00:17:37,040
Speaker 1: at least in New York, your your children can get

347
00:17:37,200 --> 00:17:40,600
Speaker 1: certain therapies like physical therapy, speech therapy, ot through the

348
00:17:40,680 --> 00:17:43,919
Speaker 1: state through a program crowd called Early Intervention, which I

349
00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:46,800
Speaker 1: actually had never heard of before. You know, we started

350
00:17:46,800 --> 00:17:48,720
Speaker 1: taking him to the pediatrician after he was out of

351
00:17:48,720 --> 00:17:50,920
Speaker 1: the NICKU. So if you have a lot of downtime

352
00:17:51,160 --> 00:17:54,560
Speaker 1: in the NICU and your child was extremely premature, they

353
00:17:54,640 --> 00:17:57,200
Speaker 1: probably will need a little bit of you know, therapy,

354
00:17:57,359 --> 00:18:00,000
Speaker 1: probably PT at the beginning, but you know, over time,

355
00:18:00,080 --> 00:18:03,760
Speaker 1: I'm other therapies too potentially, so start looking into that

356
00:18:03,880 --> 00:18:06,000
Speaker 1: and it takes a long time sometimes to get ramped up.

357
00:18:06,040 --> 00:18:07,600
Speaker 1: So it might just be good to know that you

358
00:18:07,640 --> 00:18:09,199
Speaker 1: know what the process is so that you can hit

359
00:18:09,240 --> 00:18:11,720
Speaker 1: the ground running when you're you know, when your child

360
00:18:11,800 --> 00:18:14,520
Speaker 1: is out and I think it usually starts around six months,

361
00:18:14,520 --> 00:18:16,639
Speaker 1: depending on which therapy it is, So just kind of

362
00:18:16,640 --> 00:18:18,560
Speaker 1: familiarizing yourself with that because there was a lot of

363
00:18:18,600 --> 00:18:21,679
Speaker 1: new terminology for us, and it just I think you know,

364
00:18:22,080 --> 00:18:24,439
Speaker 1: when if you're familiar with something, it's more comfortable to you,

365
00:18:24,520 --> 00:18:27,440
Speaker 1: and you know not it's easier for you to move

366
00:18:27,480 --> 00:18:31,960
Speaker 1: forward with it. Absolutely. How many months did he stay

367
00:18:32,160 --> 00:18:35,240
Speaker 1: in the nick? You just shy of four months? And

368
00:18:35,280 --> 00:18:37,600
Speaker 1: what was that getting out of that process? Like, because

369
00:18:37,600 --> 00:18:39,080
Speaker 1: I'm sure that was sort of like when is it

370
00:18:39,119 --> 00:18:41,720
Speaker 1: going to happen? You have to reach certain milestones right

371
00:18:41,760 --> 00:18:43,879
Speaker 1: for them to allow him out. Can you talk a

372
00:18:43,920 --> 00:18:46,880
Speaker 1: little bit about that? So his problem was mostly breathing.

373
00:18:47,480 --> 00:18:49,399
Speaker 1: He was on a respirator, then he was on the

374
00:18:49,400 --> 00:18:51,840
Speaker 1: CPAT machine, and then he was on nasele canula for

375
00:18:51,880 --> 00:18:56,119
Speaker 1: a long time, and they have to be without support

376
00:18:56,440 --> 00:18:59,760
Speaker 1: and not de SAT. It's called desaturation right in your

377
00:18:59,760 --> 00:19:02,080
Speaker 1: ox such at your blood oxygen level for a certain

378
00:19:02,119 --> 00:19:04,280
Speaker 1: number of nights or certain number of days before they

379
00:19:04,280 --> 00:19:06,520
Speaker 1: can get out and so and the clock restarts if

380
00:19:06,520 --> 00:19:08,679
Speaker 1: they have any d SAT during that time. So there

381
00:19:08,760 --> 00:19:10,480
Speaker 1: was a lot of that. I forget if it was

382
00:19:10,600 --> 00:19:12,800
Speaker 1: five days or ten days, but it was like you'd

383
00:19:12,800 --> 00:19:14,720
Speaker 1: get to four days and then overnight there would be

384
00:19:14,720 --> 00:19:16,760
Speaker 1: a d SAT and you would start all over again.

385
00:19:17,400 --> 00:19:19,000
Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean, and then one day they just,

386
00:19:19,119 --> 00:19:21,520
Speaker 1: you know, they just told us, hey, he's been d

387
00:19:21,640 --> 00:19:23,800
Speaker 1: SAT free for you know, however many nights so you

388
00:19:23,800 --> 00:19:25,560
Speaker 1: could take him. And we were like, uh, you know.

389
00:19:26,119 --> 00:19:28,760
Speaker 1: It's so it's very odd having and after having like

390
00:19:28,800 --> 00:19:31,639
Speaker 1: two full term children after this, it's very odd to

391
00:19:31,640 --> 00:19:33,639
Speaker 1: take you know, your baby home after having them in

392
00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:35,960
Speaker 1: the hospital for four months. You're like, what you might

393
00:19:36,080 --> 00:19:37,679
Speaker 1: because you've been a parent for four months, but you

394
00:19:37,720 --> 00:19:40,720
Speaker 1: haven't really like had the normal experience. So you take

395
00:19:40,720 --> 00:19:42,240
Speaker 1: this baby home and you're just like, how are you

396
00:19:42,320 --> 00:19:44,560
Speaker 1: allowing me to take this baby home? It's he's needed

397
00:19:44,600 --> 00:19:47,120
Speaker 1: so much support and now we're just taking him home.

398
00:19:47,200 --> 00:19:49,280
Speaker 1: Like it just but it was just you know, it

399
00:19:49,320 --> 00:19:50,679
Speaker 1: was like it wasn't like that, but it was just

400
00:19:50,680 --> 00:19:52,840
Speaker 1: one day he was ready and you know, did your

401
00:19:52,920 --> 00:19:55,040
Speaker 1: friend would he's had you know, he didn't have He's

402
00:19:55,080 --> 00:19:57,639
Speaker 1: had other you know, you know he needs therapies and

403
00:19:58,200 --> 00:20:00,359
Speaker 1: stuff like that. But I mean, no other hot hospital

404
00:20:00,400 --> 00:20:04,520
Speaker 1: stays or that's amazing. Did your hospital have you room

405
00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:06,320
Speaker 1: in because I know we used to do that. Well

406
00:20:06,359 --> 00:20:09,520
Speaker 1: we still do that even at our hospital, where some

407
00:20:09,640 --> 00:20:11,800
Speaker 1: families will spend like a night in like a separate

408
00:20:11,880 --> 00:20:14,080
Speaker 1: room but in the hospital in case anything happens or

409
00:20:14,080 --> 00:20:15,760
Speaker 1: they have a question. Did you guys get to do

410
00:20:15,760 --> 00:20:18,000
Speaker 1: that or I guess not. We only stayed over the

411
00:20:18,080 --> 00:20:20,879
Speaker 1: night of Hurricane Sandy because we kind of had to,

412
00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:22,640
Speaker 1: Like I think we didn't have Oh no, I think

413
00:20:22,680 --> 00:20:24,280
Speaker 1: we had the car. But yeah, we only stayed over

414
00:20:24,280 --> 00:20:27,000
Speaker 1: that one night. You can. I think I think there

415
00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:30,159
Speaker 1: were some families that did. But I always want I

416
00:20:30,440 --> 00:20:32,800
Speaker 1: always wanted to go home. Honestly, it was just the

417
00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:36,160
Speaker 1: separation was was good for my mental health at that point.

418
00:20:36,240 --> 00:20:37,880
Speaker 1: Oh no, I just meant for the very last night

419
00:20:37,920 --> 00:20:39,840
Speaker 1: before you took him home. That's a thing in a

420
00:20:39,880 --> 00:20:41,720
Speaker 1: lot of places so that you can kind of ease

421
00:20:41,720 --> 00:20:44,560
Speaker 1: that transition, like, Okay, we did our twenty four hour

422
00:20:44,640 --> 00:20:47,080
Speaker 1: room in and then you go home. Oh no, no,

423
00:20:47,119 --> 00:20:49,600
Speaker 1: I don't think that that was offered to us. So no,

424
00:20:49,720 --> 00:20:51,679
Speaker 1: it was just kind of like, come get your baby,

425
00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:55,040
Speaker 1: and we did. And so you said, there weren't really

426
00:20:55,040 --> 00:20:57,640
Speaker 1: any big incidents. Then once you once you came home

427
00:20:57,680 --> 00:21:01,960
Speaker 1: that he was he was relatively stable. But how how

428
00:21:02,040 --> 00:21:04,520
Speaker 1: has the prematurity then then played out? I think a

429
00:21:04,520 --> 00:21:06,879
Speaker 1: lot of people don't know how it what what is

430
00:21:07,040 --> 00:21:09,880
Speaker 1: likely to happen as as a result of extreme prematurity

431
00:21:09,960 --> 00:21:13,479
Speaker 1: in terms of child's developmental path Yeah, I think it

432
00:21:13,480 --> 00:21:16,679
Speaker 1: can be like very wide ranging. For Andrew. People have

433
00:21:16,720 --> 00:21:18,560
Speaker 1: commented on how amazing it is that he doesn't have

434
00:21:18,640 --> 00:21:22,440
Speaker 1: more severe, severe issues, like you mean, you could have CP.

435
00:21:22,880 --> 00:21:25,200
Speaker 1: You know, there could be kind of real serious issues.

436
00:21:25,240 --> 00:21:28,199
Speaker 1: And Andrew has more I would say global delays. He

437
00:21:28,240 --> 00:21:31,080
Speaker 1: gets he gets PT, he gets OT, he gets speech,

438
00:21:32,040 --> 00:21:36,159
Speaker 1: he has attention issues. So you know, it's not you know,

439
00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:39,000
Speaker 1: it's not an easy path and it's not to compare

440
00:21:39,080 --> 00:21:41,280
Speaker 1: him with my other children, but it's just so different,

441
00:21:41,320 --> 00:21:43,760
Speaker 1: like a premature baby versus a full term baby. But

442
00:21:43,880 --> 00:21:46,919
Speaker 1: you know, he's on grade level academically, he's very bright.

443
00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:49,800
Speaker 1: So we've been very lucky to not you know, have

444
00:21:49,840 --> 00:21:53,280
Speaker 1: to face those sorts of issues. But it's more kind

445
00:21:53,280 --> 00:21:55,359
Speaker 1: of his uh you know, I would say gross motor

446
00:21:55,359 --> 00:22:00,320
Speaker 1: and fine motor and oral motor. That's amazing. He's breed

447
00:22:00,400 --> 00:22:07,040
Speaker 1: level a moment, you know exactly. So then you know,

448
00:22:07,080 --> 00:22:09,520
Speaker 1: I mean you were doing this while you're in law school?

449
00:22:09,560 --> 00:22:11,960
Speaker 1: I don't, I don't know, you know how then he

450
00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:14,400
Speaker 1: comes home and you you are having to I mean,

451
00:22:14,520 --> 00:22:16,080
Speaker 1: is there any sort of leave you took at the

452
00:22:16,119 --> 00:22:20,040
Speaker 1: time or you guys, just what was your then care

453
00:22:20,160 --> 00:22:23,440
Speaker 1: situation for you being in law school and him coming

454
00:22:23,480 --> 00:22:26,040
Speaker 1: home from the hospital then as this tiny baby even

455
00:22:26,080 --> 00:22:29,399
Speaker 1: though he's four months old. Yeah, we it was a

456
00:22:29,400 --> 00:22:31,399
Speaker 1: combination of so I made my schedule kind of. I

457
00:22:31,400 --> 00:22:34,040
Speaker 1: took a regular class load, but it was also going

458
00:22:34,080 --> 00:22:36,920
Speaker 1: into my third year, which anyone that has been through

459
00:22:36,960 --> 00:22:39,119
Speaker 1: law school kind of knows you already have you already

460
00:22:39,200 --> 00:22:40,920
Speaker 1: you may have your job locked in at that point,

461
00:22:40,960 --> 00:22:43,520
Speaker 1: which I did, so there was a lot of a

462
00:22:43,520 --> 00:22:46,119
Speaker 1: lot of pressure removed there. But yeah, it was a

463
00:22:46,240 --> 00:22:48,879
Speaker 1: kind of we had this crazy schedule with my mom coming,

464
00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:52,440
Speaker 1: my husband's mom coming and based on my schedule, when

465
00:22:52,480 --> 00:22:55,560
Speaker 1: I could take care of him myself. And that lasted until,

466
00:22:55,680 --> 00:22:57,640
Speaker 1: you know, until the summer where my where we could

467
00:22:58,080 --> 00:22:59,480
Speaker 1: take care of from ourselves, and then I had to

468
00:22:59,480 --> 00:23:02,359
Speaker 1: study for the which was, you know, another thing. But

469
00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:04,639
Speaker 1: but yeah, it was just a lot of family. Luckily

470
00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:07,399
Speaker 1: we you know, we have family relatively close by, so

471
00:23:07,440 --> 00:23:09,200
Speaker 1: that's that was a huge help and continues to be

472
00:23:09,240 --> 00:23:11,520
Speaker 1: a big help for us. And then a couple of

473
00:23:11,560 --> 00:23:15,200
Speaker 1: years later, you decide to have another baby. So can

474
00:23:15,240 --> 00:23:19,280
Speaker 1: you talk about that sort of mental process, like having

475
00:23:19,320 --> 00:23:23,800
Speaker 1: been through this trauma of what happened with the twins

476
00:23:23,840 --> 00:23:26,320
Speaker 1: and having a child then being extremely premature, and then

477
00:23:26,600 --> 00:23:28,480
Speaker 1: you know, here you are having a pregnancy which sounds

478
00:23:28,520 --> 00:23:31,560
Speaker 1: like it was relatively normal then the second one, but

479
00:23:31,640 --> 00:23:34,320
Speaker 1: I'm sure there's a lot of trepidation involved in that

480
00:23:35,119 --> 00:23:38,080
Speaker 1: for sure. So I knew from the beginning that I

481
00:23:38,320 --> 00:23:40,280
Speaker 1: would need to have a sea section that based on

482
00:23:40,320 --> 00:23:42,280
Speaker 1: how they had to do the sea section my first

483
00:23:42,320 --> 00:23:45,119
Speaker 1: time that I vaginal birth was not an option for me.

484
00:23:45,400 --> 00:23:49,119
Speaker 1: That was a little bit disappointing, but yeah, I mean

485
00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:51,359
Speaker 1: I so I had to have a sea section of

486
00:23:51,440 --> 00:23:56,400
Speaker 1: thirty eight weeks for both of my youngest children. And yeah,

487
00:23:56,440 --> 00:23:59,160
Speaker 1: it's so it's it's so surreal to just like get

488
00:23:59,200 --> 00:24:01,520
Speaker 1: your baby and meatia it lee and you know, go

489
00:24:01,600 --> 00:24:05,320
Speaker 1: home after three days in the hospital. You know, see

490
00:24:05,359 --> 00:24:07,960
Speaker 1: what see what kids can do at certain ages. Because

491
00:24:08,160 --> 00:24:10,960
Speaker 1: Andrew was delayed and continues to be delayed. So it's

492
00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:13,879
Speaker 1: it's just it's almost like having like my middle son, Matthew.

493
00:24:13,920 --> 00:24:16,000
Speaker 1: It's almost like having he's my first because this is like,

494
00:24:16,040 --> 00:24:18,480
Speaker 1: you know, a typical, a typical way that you have

495
00:24:18,480 --> 00:24:21,320
Speaker 1: a child and see them develop. But I also think that,

496
00:24:21,400 --> 00:24:24,320
Speaker 1: you know, we appreciate Andrew and what he's able to

497
00:24:24,359 --> 00:24:27,480
Speaker 1: accomplish that much more seeing you know, where he started

498
00:24:27,560 --> 00:24:29,520
Speaker 1: versus what a full term baby is able to do.

499
00:24:30,119 --> 00:24:31,879
Speaker 1: But yeah, we waited a while too. We waited about

500
00:24:31,880 --> 00:24:33,880
Speaker 1: five years, so we definitely were a little bit gun shy,

501
00:24:34,960 --> 00:24:38,080
Speaker 1: but we're happy that we have more more children. He

502
00:24:38,200 --> 00:24:41,359
Speaker 1: did it again. So I have a question because I

503
00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:45,080
Speaker 1: heard a little rumor, maybe from your email, that Andrew

504
00:24:45,400 --> 00:24:50,840
Speaker 1: was mentioned in a certain state of the Union. Yes,

505
00:24:54,040 --> 00:24:56,320
Speaker 1: I should have I should have at it, not by name.

506
00:24:56,359 --> 00:24:59,240
Speaker 1: It's not like Obama was like Andrew Blanco made it

507
00:24:59,240 --> 00:25:02,240
Speaker 1: through the nique, but yeah, they I guess the State

508
00:25:02,240 --> 00:25:04,800
Speaker 1: of the Union was, you know, shortly after Hurricane Sandy,

509
00:25:04,920 --> 00:25:08,600
Speaker 1: and they had invited one of the nurses. I cannot

510
00:25:08,600 --> 00:25:11,080
Speaker 1: recall her name, unfortunately, but they had invited one of

511
00:25:11,080 --> 00:25:13,920
Speaker 1: her to be a guest of him and Michelle Obama,

512
00:25:14,240 --> 00:25:17,040
Speaker 1: and so he acknowledged her during his State of the

513
00:25:17,119 --> 00:25:19,040
Speaker 1: Union and said, you know that she kind of coordinated

514
00:25:19,080 --> 00:25:21,840
Speaker 1: the evacuation of the nineteen I think it was nineteen

515
00:25:22,160 --> 00:25:25,040
Speaker 1: premature babies out of the m y U nick you

516
00:25:25,680 --> 00:25:28,399
Speaker 1: So yeah, I wasn't watching it. My friend actually texted

517
00:25:28,440 --> 00:25:30,560
Speaker 1: me to tell me and she said, oh, you know,

518
00:25:30,680 --> 00:25:34,119
Speaker 1: Obama mentioned Andrew and I was like, my name, but no,

519
00:25:34,960 --> 00:25:37,560
Speaker 1: it was But it was cool enough that is and

520
00:25:37,560 --> 00:25:39,560
Speaker 1: that's a lot close to have ever been to the

521
00:25:39,560 --> 00:25:44,600
Speaker 1: st Yeah, we're basically best friends. Yeah, exactly when you

522
00:25:44,640 --> 00:25:46,920
Speaker 1: and Obama here like that. After this podcast, you can

523
00:25:46,920 --> 00:25:50,879
Speaker 1: be on Michelle. I hear she listens to us for

524
00:25:50,920 --> 00:25:56,240
Speaker 1: guests ideas. Definitely, so we Sarah, do we want to

525
00:25:56,240 --> 00:25:57,320
Speaker 1: go ahead and do the Love of the Week or

526
00:25:57,400 --> 00:26:00,719
Speaker 1: did you have any more questions? I think that was

527
00:26:01,119 --> 00:26:04,200
Speaker 1: mostly it. I guess we'll tell us how old all

528
00:26:04,240 --> 00:26:07,240
Speaker 1: three of yours are now and I don't want you

529
00:26:07,240 --> 00:26:09,000
Speaker 1: don't have to go through a full day in the life,

530
00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:10,560
Speaker 1: but can you just give us a summary of what

531
00:26:10,560 --> 00:26:13,840
Speaker 1: life looks like for you right now, eight years post

532
00:26:13,920 --> 00:26:18,119
Speaker 1: this incredibly difficult and dramatic time, I'm assuming things have

533
00:26:18,200 --> 00:26:23,359
Speaker 1: settled out a little bit. Yes, So Andrews eight, Matthews three,

534
00:26:23,640 --> 00:26:28,480
Speaker 1: and Natalie is just about eighteen months, and we're totally done.

535
00:26:28,600 --> 00:26:32,919
Speaker 1: That's it. And yeah, they you know, obviously a day

536
00:26:32,920 --> 00:26:35,480
Speaker 1: in the life is a little bit different now. But

537
00:26:35,760 --> 00:26:38,720
Speaker 1: my eight year old, Andrew, he goes to school two

538
00:26:38,800 --> 00:26:42,000
Speaker 1: days a week in person, it's a hybrid model around us.

539
00:26:42,480 --> 00:26:45,240
Speaker 1: And my three year old goes to pre k three

540
00:26:45,320 --> 00:26:48,119
Speaker 1: days a week, half days, and my eighteen month just

541
00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:51,720
Speaker 1: drives us insane the entire the entire day. She's very,

542
00:26:51,840 --> 00:26:55,040
Speaker 1: very precocious. So yeah, I mean, I have my this

543
00:26:55,119 --> 00:26:58,960
Speaker 1: is my home office slash bedroom, and I just kind

544
00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:01,639
Speaker 1: of have breakfast with them, come up here, do some work.

545
00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:04,119
Speaker 1: We typically have lunch together, or I'll hang out for

546
00:27:04,119 --> 00:27:06,080
Speaker 1: a little bit with them during lunch and then come

547
00:27:06,119 --> 00:27:08,840
Speaker 1: back up here. And the days are just kind of

548
00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:13,720
Speaker 1: like for everyone just melding together and just one long,

549
00:27:13,920 --> 00:27:17,000
Speaker 1: you know, groundhog Day. But saper lining is I'm spending

550
00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:19,439
Speaker 1: a lot more time with them than I ever would have,

551
00:27:19,760 --> 00:27:22,120
Speaker 1: and maybe even more than I would ever want to.

552
00:27:22,200 --> 00:27:25,520
Speaker 1: But were you were you pre pandemic, commuting to the

553
00:27:25,520 --> 00:27:28,760
Speaker 1: city every day. I was, Yeah, it's shut down just

554
00:27:28,840 --> 00:27:32,679
Speaker 1: about in mid March. So yeah, I've been home since,

555
00:27:32,760 --> 00:27:35,120
Speaker 1: and I don't I mean, I don't think that we're

556
00:27:35,200 --> 00:27:39,239
Speaker 1: going back anytime soon. So that'll be so interesting if

557
00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:41,560
Speaker 1: you find out you never have to come back. Oh

558
00:27:41,600 --> 00:27:44,080
Speaker 1: my gosh, yeah, I would, you know, I was working

559
00:27:44,080 --> 00:27:46,000
Speaker 1: one day from home anyway, and it would be great

560
00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:47,560
Speaker 1: if I can make that like two days from home

561
00:27:47,640 --> 00:27:49,680
Speaker 1: or I doubt three, but two days would be wonderful.

562
00:27:50,320 --> 00:27:53,719
Speaker 1: But I do like going going in sometimes I do

563
00:27:53,760 --> 00:27:56,920
Speaker 1: think there's some positives to it. But I hope, yeah,

564
00:27:56,960 --> 00:27:58,680
Speaker 1: I mean, I hope that like most people, I think,

565
00:27:58,720 --> 00:28:00,959
Speaker 1: you know, having this more flexibility and seeing that your

566
00:28:01,040 --> 00:28:03,480
Speaker 1: job can still you can still do your job and

567
00:28:03,520 --> 00:28:06,800
Speaker 1: companies can still function with people working remote. I hope

568
00:28:06,800 --> 00:28:08,840
Speaker 1: it leads to a bigger change. And that's a really

569
00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:11,200
Speaker 1: good point, and it does not have to be all

570
00:28:11,280 --> 00:28:14,280
Speaker 1: or nothing. That's a really good point. Might be the future.

571
00:28:16,160 --> 00:28:21,120
Speaker 1: I think it will be put that out there. Very cool, awesome, Well,

572
00:28:21,160 --> 00:28:24,880
Speaker 1: this is quite a story, and yeah, for great advice

573
00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:27,640
Speaker 1: for any listeners who are facing a nick you stay

574
00:28:27,760 --> 00:28:30,760
Speaker 1: or have friends who are going through that as well.

575
00:28:31,359 --> 00:28:33,400
Speaker 1: So we always lend with a love of the week.

576
00:28:33,520 --> 00:28:35,639
Speaker 1: So Sarah and I can go first, so that you

577
00:28:35,880 --> 00:28:38,960
Speaker 1: are listening to us if you run time to think

578
00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:42,440
Speaker 1: about it, Sarah, what are you talking about this week?

579
00:28:42,880 --> 00:28:46,680
Speaker 1: Simple pleasure of those phone screen protectors. Protectors, you know,

580
00:28:46,760 --> 00:28:49,160
Speaker 1: just those little five dollars ones that you get on

581
00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:51,440
Speaker 1: one or whatever and you stick it to your phone

582
00:28:51,760 --> 00:28:53,800
Speaker 1: and miraculously you can drop your phone fifty times and

583
00:28:53,880 --> 00:28:56,720
Speaker 1: it doesn't break. I mean, let's just like a moment

584
00:28:56,760 --> 00:28:59,000
Speaker 1: of silence for how much better that makes our lives

585
00:28:59,080 --> 00:29:01,120
Speaker 1: not having to replace a broken glass screen because I

586
00:29:01,120 --> 00:29:04,760
Speaker 1: personally drop mine like daily. Yeah, that's my love of week. Well,

587
00:29:04,800 --> 00:29:07,360
Speaker 1: as we have like teens and pre teens with their phones,

588
00:29:07,440 --> 00:29:11,920
Speaker 1: this is you know, important, this is a critical thing.

589
00:29:11,920 --> 00:29:14,680
Speaker 1: We'd have a lot of broken phones one way or

590
00:29:14,720 --> 00:29:16,640
Speaker 1: the other. Although I have broken mind too, so I

591
00:29:16,760 --> 00:29:19,520
Speaker 1: will not cast stones on that. I was gonna say,

592
00:29:19,560 --> 00:29:23,040
Speaker 1: I love a pandemic development here, which is that nobody

593
00:29:23,080 --> 00:29:25,400
Speaker 1: is sitting in waiting rooms anymore. Like we've been sort

594
00:29:25,400 --> 00:29:27,920
Speaker 1: of curing back up with dentist and doctor appointments and

595
00:29:27,960 --> 00:29:30,120
Speaker 1: things like that, and now we're always just like texting

596
00:29:30,160 --> 00:29:32,160
Speaker 1: from our car, calling and then they say, Okay, the

597
00:29:32,200 --> 00:29:34,800
Speaker 1: waiting room's ready, now come in, which is great. You know,

598
00:29:34,920 --> 00:29:38,600
Speaker 1: I don't like kids licking toys and dirty waiting rooms.

599
00:29:38,960 --> 00:29:41,160
Speaker 1: And so now we don't have to anymore sit and

600
00:29:41,160 --> 00:29:43,680
Speaker 1: watch a movie in the car until it's time. So

601
00:29:44,240 --> 00:29:47,600
Speaker 1: big thumbs up for that development. Hopefully we continue with that,

602
00:29:47,920 --> 00:29:50,440
Speaker 1: because it's you know, unclear why anyone needs to sit

603
00:29:50,440 --> 00:29:54,479
Speaker 1: in a waiting room anymore. Colleen, how about you, I

604
00:29:54,480 --> 00:29:58,200
Speaker 1: would say, hand me down clothes. So we just switched

605
00:29:58,240 --> 00:30:00,560
Speaker 1: over in New York. It's you know, turning now, and

606
00:30:00,600 --> 00:30:02,760
Speaker 1: we just switched out all of our kids clothes. And

607
00:30:03,040 --> 00:30:05,200
Speaker 1: I got a ton of clothes from friends and family

608
00:30:05,200 --> 00:30:07,520
Speaker 1: for my daughter, and so she basically has a brand

609
00:30:07,520 --> 00:30:10,960
Speaker 1: new wardrobe for you know, for nothing, and some people

610
00:30:10,960 --> 00:30:12,600
Speaker 1: bought nicer stuff than I would ever buy for her.

611
00:30:12,800 --> 00:30:15,400
Speaker 1: So she's she looks great. And so yeah, I think

612
00:30:15,440 --> 00:30:18,320
Speaker 1: hand me downs is they're great. There's no reason to

613
00:30:19,360 --> 00:30:21,120
Speaker 1: get rid of a lot of those, A lot of

614
00:30:21,120 --> 00:30:23,000
Speaker 1: those clothes when kids wear them for such a short

615
00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:25,880
Speaker 1: time at this age. Yeah, totally. We have a huge

616
00:30:25,880 --> 00:30:28,080
Speaker 1: hand me down closet, although it needs to be organized

617
00:30:28,120 --> 00:30:30,960
Speaker 1: because I feel like there are twelve to eighteen month

618
00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:33,440
Speaker 1: clothes that I'm just not finding, Like where did they

619
00:30:33,440 --> 00:30:36,880
Speaker 1: all go? I don't know, I need them now. Managing

620
00:30:36,960 --> 00:30:39,280
Speaker 1: all of that is very difficult. I agree. I'm always like,

621
00:30:39,280 --> 00:30:42,240
Speaker 1: where's my son wore four tea for a year at

622
00:30:42,320 --> 00:30:45,520
Speaker 1: least and I can't find them for the life of me. Somewhere. Yeah,

623
00:30:45,560 --> 00:30:50,000
Speaker 1: she suved in a drawer up in a closet shelf somewhere. Awesome. Well, Colleen,

624
00:30:50,040 --> 00:30:51,800
Speaker 1: thank you so much for joining us. So this is

625
00:30:51,920 --> 00:30:54,520
Speaker 1: this has been wonderful. We really appreciate it. Thank you.

626
00:30:55,760 --> 00:30:58,520
Speaker 1: All right, Well, what better way to end that wonderful

627
00:30:58,560 --> 00:31:02,160
Speaker 1: interview than with a question about the other side of

628
00:31:02,520 --> 00:31:09,280
Speaker 1: delivering babies, A question from an obgyn. So I thought

629
00:31:09,280 --> 00:31:12,720
Speaker 1: this was a really interesting, well personally interesting question because

630
00:31:12,720 --> 00:31:15,720
Speaker 1: I could sort of like, I get what she's you get,

631
00:31:16,160 --> 00:31:17,880
Speaker 1: So why don't I read it? Because I think Sarah

632
00:31:17,920 --> 00:31:19,800
Speaker 1: has much you know, as the expert on this, so

633
00:31:19,880 --> 00:31:22,120
Speaker 1: I will. I will read it to it. So this

634
00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:25,040
Speaker 1: obgyn sees about twenty to thirty patients a day, and

635
00:31:25,080 --> 00:31:27,120
Speaker 1: her notes need to be locked in the system. I

636
00:31:27,120 --> 00:31:28,960
Speaker 1: assume that she needs to complete them in forty eight

637
00:31:29,000 --> 00:31:33,800
Speaker 1: hours for her particular you know, provider services goals or whatever.

638
00:31:34,600 --> 00:31:37,360
Speaker 1: She says, she has schedules patients from eight thirty to four,

639
00:31:37,400 --> 00:31:39,920
Speaker 1: with a lunch break. Throughout the day. She might have

640
00:31:39,960 --> 00:31:41,560
Speaker 1: five to ten minutes where she could go in and

641
00:31:41,600 --> 00:31:43,720
Speaker 1: finish notes or call patients. But if she feels like

642
00:31:43,760 --> 00:31:45,520
Speaker 1: this leaves her more frazzled when she's trying to do

643
00:31:45,600 --> 00:31:48,480
Speaker 1: multiple things at a time. Unfortunately, if I leave it

644
00:31:48,520 --> 00:31:50,680
Speaker 1: to do in batches, it means time away from family

645
00:31:50,720 --> 00:31:52,760
Speaker 1: by staying later at the office, or time from my

646
00:31:52,840 --> 00:31:55,320
Speaker 1: husband by working on it after the kids are in bed.

647
00:31:55,760 --> 00:31:57,600
Speaker 1: I'm tired anyway, or you know, the kids are up

648
00:31:57,600 --> 00:31:58,960
Speaker 1: at six or seven, So it's hard to do in

649
00:31:58,960 --> 00:32:01,360
Speaker 1: the morning unless I get up four am. She says,

650
00:32:01,400 --> 00:32:03,360
Speaker 1: I work through lunch most days, which helps, but I

651
00:32:03,360 --> 00:32:06,760
Speaker 1: struggle with finishing afternoon notes and doing everything else. My

652
00:32:06,840 --> 00:32:09,239
Speaker 1: preference is to batch tasks, but I can't find a

653
00:32:09,240 --> 00:32:12,240
Speaker 1: good time to get it done. Any tips for being

654
00:32:12,400 --> 00:32:16,720
Speaker 1: efficient with notes, okay? Sarah well, and she specifically is

655
00:32:16,720 --> 00:32:19,760
Speaker 1: asking also about batching versus doing them in small bits.

656
00:32:19,960 --> 00:32:22,040
Speaker 1: She gave me some more details. She added that she's

657
00:32:22,080 --> 00:32:25,360
Speaker 1: on call one in ten and she's off every Monday,

658
00:32:25,360 --> 00:32:27,720
Speaker 1: and she notes that this is a scaled back schedule

659
00:32:27,720 --> 00:32:29,640
Speaker 1: for an OBI, and it does sound like a decent schedule.

660
00:32:29,640 --> 00:32:31,880
Speaker 1: She's working a four day week. She's on call one

661
00:32:31,880 --> 00:32:34,600
Speaker 1: out of ten days. Like, I get that, that's pretty decent.

662
00:32:35,320 --> 00:32:37,360
Speaker 1: But she's really struggling with these notes. And the reason

663
00:32:37,400 --> 00:32:40,920
Speaker 1: that I can relate isn't necessarily so personally because I'm lucky.

664
00:32:41,000 --> 00:32:43,800
Speaker 1: I'm in a field that is just it's not super

665
00:32:43,800 --> 00:32:47,560
Speaker 1: super high volume, and so I can usually get done

666
00:32:47,600 --> 00:32:49,920
Speaker 1: and not leave super late and finish my notes and

667
00:32:50,080 --> 00:32:51,440
Speaker 1: or do a lot of the notes in my room.

668
00:32:51,440 --> 00:32:54,400
Speaker 1: But I'm guessing that she sees, Yeah, she sees probably

669
00:32:54,480 --> 00:32:56,480
Speaker 1: about double the number of patients that I see for

670
00:32:56,520 --> 00:32:59,160
Speaker 1: each day. So that's going to increase the challenges there.

671
00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:03,160
Speaker 1: So the reason just so I know, because I want

672
00:33:03,160 --> 00:33:05,040
Speaker 1: to ask this for the what what are the notes

673
00:33:05,080 --> 00:33:07,160
Speaker 1: you're doing? Like I don't, I don't even understand what

674
00:33:07,200 --> 00:33:08,920
Speaker 1: this means. Is like you have to write up a

675
00:33:09,120 --> 00:33:11,720
Speaker 1: paragraph about everybody or like you just fill out certain

676
00:33:11,920 --> 00:33:13,640
Speaker 1: boxes of what you did. I mean, what is the

677
00:33:13,720 --> 00:33:17,640
Speaker 1: note like sitting here, Like doesn't everyone know? Oh that's

678
00:33:17,640 --> 00:33:21,800
Speaker 1: so interesting. Okay, So it's not like we sent our notes, right,

679
00:33:21,840 --> 00:33:24,840
Speaker 1: I mean, there is a move for you to start

680
00:33:24,880 --> 00:33:27,640
Speaker 1: getting Like for my patients, there is a button that

681
00:33:27,640 --> 00:33:29,560
Speaker 1: we can press where they do automatically get a copy

682
00:33:29,600 --> 00:33:32,920
Speaker 1: of notes. Okay. So, in order to facilitate medical records

683
00:33:32,960 --> 00:33:36,200
Speaker 1: and building billing, almost every physic, not every physician, but

684
00:33:36,320 --> 00:33:38,320
Speaker 1: like nine percent of physicians in the United States now

685
00:33:38,360 --> 00:33:41,840
Speaker 1: use electronical medical records. I've mentioned ours is called EPIC.

686
00:33:41,880 --> 00:33:45,240
Speaker 1: There's con certner. I don't know which one this person uses.

687
00:33:45,760 --> 00:33:48,120
Speaker 1: Every single patient encounter you have, even if the encounter

688
00:33:48,200 --> 00:33:50,480
Speaker 1: is like three minutes, you have to complete this whole

689
00:33:50,640 --> 00:33:53,360
Speaker 1: online form that are not well designed in many cases.

690
00:33:53,400 --> 00:33:55,400
Speaker 1: I mean, I've, like joke many times, learned that everyone

691
00:33:55,400 --> 00:33:58,520
Speaker 1: hates EPIC. By the way, I hate EPIC. There are

692
00:33:58,560 --> 00:34:01,520
Speaker 1: great things about EPIC, but it's clear that the people

693
00:34:01,520 --> 00:34:03,280
Speaker 1: who designed it are not the people who are living

694
00:34:03,320 --> 00:34:06,240
Speaker 1: their lives click click click, click, click click. And I

695
00:34:06,280 --> 00:34:09,400
Speaker 1: have also found myself as a very fast computer worker

696
00:34:09,480 --> 00:34:11,600
Speaker 1: that like they're not quite as responsive as that I

697
00:34:11,640 --> 00:34:13,640
Speaker 1: would expect them to be in the year twenty twenty.

698
00:34:13,680 --> 00:34:15,360
Speaker 1: Like I don't want to wait two seconds for a

699
00:34:15,400 --> 00:34:17,800
Speaker 1: page to load. I want it to be instant anyway,

700
00:34:17,920 --> 00:34:20,320
Speaker 1: So add up all those seconds, and every time you

701
00:34:20,400 --> 00:34:22,920
Speaker 1: see a patient this person notes that she spends I

702
00:34:22,920 --> 00:34:24,960
Speaker 1: think she said like six minutes to close each chart.

703
00:34:25,000 --> 00:34:27,719
Speaker 1: Well six minutes times thirty patients is one hundred and

704
00:34:27,800 --> 00:34:32,279
Speaker 1: eighty minutes, so that's three hours writing notes. So you

705
00:34:32,320 --> 00:34:34,120
Speaker 1: can see where this gets you if she gets behind.

706
00:34:34,160 --> 00:34:36,880
Speaker 1: She mentioned she can sometimes like do her morning notes

707
00:34:36,920 --> 00:34:38,439
Speaker 1: like partly in the room and then partly at lunch,

708
00:34:38,440 --> 00:34:40,480
Speaker 1: but then she's left with like these fifteen other notes

709
00:34:40,480 --> 00:34:42,400
Speaker 1: that she has to close, and like when does she

710
00:34:42,440 --> 00:34:43,759
Speaker 1: do that? And the reason I can say I can

711
00:34:43,760 --> 00:34:45,480
Speaker 1: relate even though I don't personally have to deal with

712
00:34:45,520 --> 00:34:49,480
Speaker 1: this as much, is because of Josh, so I cannot.

713
00:34:49,560 --> 00:34:52,120
Speaker 1: I don't want to, you know, talk too much. But

714
00:34:52,160 --> 00:34:55,200
Speaker 1: he does struggle with completing his notes, and he sees

715
00:34:55,200 --> 00:34:57,400
Speaker 1: a much higher volume than I do in his clinics,

716
00:34:57,400 --> 00:35:00,560
Speaker 1: which I'm sure are extremely busy. I don't think he

717
00:35:00,600 --> 00:35:03,560
Speaker 1: has a lot of downtime to finish them during the clinic,

718
00:35:03,600 --> 00:35:05,279
Speaker 1: and I'm not sure he likes to work in dribs

719
00:35:05,280 --> 00:35:07,440
Speaker 1: and drabs either, so he tends to do them like

720
00:35:07,520 --> 00:35:10,000
Speaker 1: at night or early in the morning or both really

721
00:35:10,080 --> 00:35:15,120
Speaker 1: really rough. However, I will also note that he feels fine,

722
00:35:15,320 --> 00:35:17,880
Speaker 1: and I feel fine actually with him coming home later

723
00:35:17,960 --> 00:35:21,319
Speaker 1: a few times a week, and I think you need

724
00:35:21,360 --> 00:35:25,080
Speaker 1: to maybe give yourself that permission to have a little

725
00:35:25,080 --> 00:35:28,319
Speaker 1: bit longer workday to Like when I was doing all

726
00:35:28,320 --> 00:35:30,120
Speaker 1: the calculus of this, I'm like, you know what, come

727
00:35:30,120 --> 00:35:32,560
Speaker 1: home at seven or eight, two or three days a week,

728
00:35:33,160 --> 00:35:35,840
Speaker 1: and probably that will enable you to keep your mornings,

729
00:35:35,920 --> 00:35:39,040
Speaker 1: keep your evenings, kind of keep the rest under control.

730
00:35:39,840 --> 00:35:41,440
Speaker 1: And you have to remember that if there's seven days

731
00:35:41,480 --> 00:35:42,920
Speaker 1: in the week and you're coming home late three days

732
00:35:42,960 --> 00:35:45,080
Speaker 1: in the week, that's four evenings that you're still getting

733
00:35:45,080 --> 00:35:46,719
Speaker 1: to spend with family as well as most of the

734
00:35:46,719 --> 00:35:50,359
Speaker 1: weekend because you're only in call one and ten. So

735
00:35:51,840 --> 00:35:53,799
Speaker 1: that's my thought. I agree with you that it can

736
00:35:53,840 --> 00:35:56,080
Speaker 1: be very hard to get notes done in dribs and drabs,

737
00:35:56,360 --> 00:35:58,160
Speaker 1: but you might want to think about doing the results

738
00:35:58,200 --> 00:36:00,000
Speaker 1: calls in dribs and drabs, because nobody wants to sit

739
00:36:00,200 --> 00:36:02,040
Speaker 1: late at night calling patients at least I don't that's

740
00:36:02,040 --> 00:36:04,640
Speaker 1: a different energy than doing the notes. So as much

741
00:36:04,680 --> 00:36:07,000
Speaker 1: as you can sneak those in between the patients, I

742
00:36:07,040 --> 00:36:09,400
Speaker 1: think that the calls and the lab results, and I

743
00:36:09,480 --> 00:36:12,200
Speaker 1: also this may not be an option, but if you

744
00:36:12,280 --> 00:36:14,680
Speaker 1: can outsource some of that to a medical assistant or

745
00:36:14,920 --> 00:36:18,560
Speaker 1: force your patients to use electronic messaging, that is what

746
00:36:18,600 --> 00:36:20,279
Speaker 1: I do. Now. When I hand them the labs, they

747
00:36:20,280 --> 00:36:22,200
Speaker 1: get a piece of paper that's like, your results will

748
00:36:22,239 --> 00:36:24,719
Speaker 1: be on my chart. I will be responding to you

749
00:36:24,960 --> 00:36:27,000
Speaker 1: about your lab results on my chart. Now, if there's

750
00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:28,919
Speaker 1: some terrible result and they need to talk to someone,

751
00:36:28,920 --> 00:36:31,040
Speaker 1: of course I'm going to call them. But for routine

752
00:36:31,080 --> 00:36:33,520
Speaker 1: follow ups, it's so much faster for me to write

753
00:36:33,520 --> 00:36:36,319
Speaker 1: one line of thyroid labs look fine, continue current dose,

754
00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:38,839
Speaker 1: and actually it's a little bit more clear than leaving

755
00:36:38,840 --> 00:36:42,040
Speaker 1: of a phone message that they may misinterpret or something.

756
00:36:42,440 --> 00:36:46,400
Speaker 1: So that is my long and drawn out potential solution.

757
00:36:46,920 --> 00:36:48,839
Speaker 1: But I think if this were my scenario, I would

758
00:36:48,840 --> 00:36:51,040
Speaker 1: see if you could just come home late a cup

759
00:36:51,160 --> 00:36:53,440
Speaker 1: two to three times per week and just make that

760
00:36:53,520 --> 00:36:55,520
Speaker 1: like finishing time, so that you can have the rest

761
00:36:55,520 --> 00:36:59,640
Speaker 1: of your time be more unspoiled. Yeah, I mean I

762
00:36:59,680 --> 00:37:02,840
Speaker 1: heard this question, and obviously Sarah has more experiences with

763
00:37:03,160 --> 00:37:05,239
Speaker 1: than I do. I have no idea what a note

764
00:37:05,280 --> 00:37:08,880
Speaker 1: even was, So there you go. But to me, just

765
00:37:08,920 --> 00:37:11,799
Speaker 1: seeing her schedule, I mean, eight thirty to four is

766
00:37:11,920 --> 00:37:16,600
Speaker 1: not a particularly long schedule for you know, and I

767
00:37:16,880 --> 00:37:19,400
Speaker 1: since they're scheduled until four, so she may not be

768
00:37:19,560 --> 00:37:23,080
Speaker 1: finished with them the joy or something well, I don't know, Yeah,

769
00:37:23,120 --> 00:37:25,880
Speaker 1: I mean, but just if you know the last patient

770
00:37:25,960 --> 00:37:27,719
Speaker 1: is at four, I mean, yes, people will probably go over.

771
00:37:27,760 --> 00:37:29,879
Speaker 1: But even so, I mean, if it's like four forty five,

772
00:37:30,000 --> 00:37:32,680
Speaker 1: let's say that they're out of the room, you know,

773
00:37:32,800 --> 00:37:34,719
Speaker 1: just saying I'm gonna work till five thirty or six

774
00:37:34,800 --> 00:37:37,880
Speaker 1: as a regular matter, I mean, an eight thirty to

775
00:37:37,920 --> 00:37:41,399
Speaker 1: six day is not you know, a huge long day,

776
00:37:41,480 --> 00:37:43,480
Speaker 1: especially if she's only doing this four days a week.

777
00:37:43,520 --> 00:37:45,360
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, having four ten hour days is

778
00:37:45,400 --> 00:37:47,600
Speaker 1: actually a normal full time schedule. I mean, then she

779
00:37:47,600 --> 00:37:50,240
Speaker 1: obviously has her call, but that's part of being a physician,

780
00:37:50,280 --> 00:37:53,239
Speaker 1: so you know, working a forty hour week is just

781
00:37:53,239 --> 00:37:55,640
Speaker 1: doesn't strike me as like so over the top. And

782
00:37:55,680 --> 00:37:57,160
Speaker 1: so if she was doing that, you know, they're out

783
00:37:57,160 --> 00:37:59,200
Speaker 1: of the room by four forty five. She's got four

784
00:37:59,280 --> 00:38:01,880
Speaker 1: forty five to six six thirty to do her notes

785
00:38:01,960 --> 00:38:05,280
Speaker 1: every day, so she could probably get through the afternoon ones,

786
00:38:05,680 --> 00:38:08,080
Speaker 1: especially if she's mostly on top of the morning ones,

787
00:38:08,440 --> 00:38:10,400
Speaker 1: and just accept that that's her schedule. I mean, she

788
00:38:10,440 --> 00:38:12,920
Speaker 1: has Monday off so great. You know, she has a

789
00:38:12,960 --> 00:38:16,239
Speaker 1: forty hour work week in that cluster, and I who

790
00:38:16,280 --> 00:38:18,879
Speaker 1: knows why she thinks that she needs to be home

791
00:38:18,960 --> 00:38:21,080
Speaker 1: earlier than that, I don't know, but that strikes me

792
00:38:21,080 --> 00:38:25,480
Speaker 1: as the most obvious way to fit this in. Yeah,

793
00:38:25,640 --> 00:38:27,640
Speaker 1: I agree, and I think it's probably less painful to

794
00:38:27,640 --> 00:38:29,680
Speaker 1: just sit there and finish at work and then come home,

795
00:38:29,800 --> 00:38:31,680
Speaker 1: unless she's gonna miss the whole evening with her kids

796
00:38:31,760 --> 00:38:33,960
Speaker 1: multiple days a week, and then then she may want

797
00:38:33,960 --> 00:38:36,160
Speaker 1: to think about like doing it, you know, staying late

798
00:38:36,320 --> 00:38:38,480
Speaker 1: some days, doing early some days, if she doesn't want

799
00:38:38,520 --> 00:38:40,719
Speaker 1: to miss all four nights. Like I don't know if

800
00:38:40,760 --> 00:38:42,279
Speaker 1: she has young kids that go to bed at seven

801
00:38:42,320 --> 00:38:46,359
Speaker 1: thirty or something, but but yeah, I guess what you said,

802
00:38:46,400 --> 00:38:49,040
Speaker 1: like do two days to just blow through bedtime, like

803
00:38:49,080 --> 00:38:50,920
Speaker 1: stay at work till seven thirty eight, and then the

804
00:38:50,960 --> 00:38:52,799
Speaker 1: other days come home at four forty five. I mean

805
00:38:53,200 --> 00:38:54,880
Speaker 1: forty eight hours. It might be the best to do

806
00:38:54,960 --> 00:38:57,480
Speaker 1: like Wednesday and Friday be your late days, and that

807
00:38:57,520 --> 00:38:59,799
Speaker 1: way you can close any charts from Tuesday on your

808
00:38:59,840 --> 00:39:01,839
Speaker 1: lin on Wednesday, and then you can close any charts

809
00:39:01,840 --> 00:39:03,640
Speaker 1: from Thursday or late night on Friday and have like

810
00:39:03,680 --> 00:39:05,800
Speaker 1: a clean slate for the weekend. Yes, it can be

811
00:39:05,840 --> 00:39:07,880
Speaker 1: disappointing not to be done early on Friday, but my

812
00:39:08,000 --> 00:39:10,319
Speaker 1: husband is never done early on Friday, and I've just

813
00:39:10,400 --> 00:39:13,680
Speaker 1: accepted it. It's like whatever, we can start a little later,

814
00:39:13,680 --> 00:39:15,480
Speaker 1: but we still get to have a weekend, so it's okay,

815
00:39:16,080 --> 00:39:18,160
Speaker 1: there you go, there you go. All right. Well, this

816
00:39:18,200 --> 00:39:20,160
Speaker 1: has been best of both worlds. We've been talking with

817
00:39:20,200 --> 00:39:24,040
Speaker 1: Colleen Blanco on nick Us, stays and prematurity. We will

818
00:39:24,080 --> 00:39:25,920
Speaker 1: be back next week with more on making work and

819
00:39:25,960 --> 00:39:30,600
Speaker 1: life fit together. Thanks for listening. You can find me

820
00:39:30,840 --> 00:39:34,680
Speaker 1: Sarah at the shoebox dot com or at the Underscore

821
00:39:34,760 --> 00:39:38,719
Speaker 1: Shoebox on Instagram, and you can find me Laura at

822
00:39:38,760 --> 00:39:42,040
Speaker 1: Laura vandercam dot com. This has been the best of

823
00:39:42,080 --> 00:39:45,799
Speaker 1: both worlds podcasts. Please join us next time for more

824
00:39:45,840 --> 00:39:47,960
Speaker 1: on making work and life work together.