And just like that, it’s already July. I knew this year would move along more quickly, but 2024 has really zipped by. I can’t believe, at the beginning of the year I was pregnant, and now I am already almost 4 months postpartum with a beautiful little girl. 

There has been a lot going on and this post helps establish what I’ve been thinking about lately.

Being a working mom 

I seated 7 crowns on a patient last week and had to run to my car immediately after to charge my portable pumps in the car. I had planned to pump milk while seating her crowns but my pumps lost battery mid procedure. Calculating when to pump milk has been an interesting form of mathematics to run in your brain all day. If it were a more traditional job at a single location with access to a lactation room, it may not have been this challenging. However, there are women who have it even harder. When I hear of dental students, residents and women in the army doing this, it gives me a whole lot of perspective. It also makes me feel proud of being a woman. The sacrifice and motivation it takes to continue breastfeeding while going to work is incredible. 

Value for time 

Time has become a precious commodity. Even more precious than before. B and I have to carefully plan out our workouts during the week so we can ensure we both get at least 3 workouts in, while having one of us at home with the baby all the time. With much enthusiasm I had joined a hard Barre class in a neighboring city. Now that I’ve been going for a month and a half and have started work, I have found how inconvenient it is to get to. I canceled my membership last week and decided to just focus on yoga 3x a week at our local studio which is a 6 min drive from home. 

Sleep Training 

There are many studies on how lack of quality sleep over time, especially for parents, can impact cognitive abilities and increase prevalence of early onset dementia. It also makes us less capable of managing stress, and impacts our problem solving abilities. This is one of the reasons we are getting serious about sleep training the baby currently. There are many forms of sleep training out there, and we have chosen one that appears to be more gentle. We will be trying the method out for a month before we find another. 

There was a day during which I got 4 hours of fragmented sleep in the night, followed by a long day of work. At around 6 in the evening, I started experiencing blurry vision, a headache that wouldn’t quit, and extreme fatigue. It was scary because my BP had increased quite drastically. After eating and resting, I felt much better. After that nightmarish conclusion, we determined sleep training is a must. 

Diet 

Now that I am no longer in the 3 months postpartum phase, I am starting to consider my dietary choices more. Having always had an excellent metabolism, I was used to eating a few sweets during the day, and not letting it affect my body. I no longer have the excuse of pregnancy or improving my milk supply, which has stabilized at an appropriate level.  

This is hard because as I am still breastfeeding, I am constantly hungry. After every feed, or pumping session, we experience an immediate dip in calories and the brain signals to us that it is time to eat. However, we can choose to eat healthy food! It does not always have to be a banana or peanut butter sandwich. It could be two eggs without yolk. It could also be a bowl of fresh fruit with nuts. And yes It could be a whole avocado!

Lectures, meetings and conferences 

I am so used to traveling when I want, attending more than a hundred hours of continuing education a year and scheduling meetings on any evening of the week, that the sudden need to pre plan everything was a little irritating at first. B and I now have a shared google calendar where we put important events on so we can have coverage at home while the other is away. It also makes me a little guilty because I do have more events on it than B does. Luckily, my husband is a gem and understands the rigors of dentistry very well now!

Things I am looking forward to:

Lecturing

I am excited about lecturing for the Academy of General Dentistry, Enable Dental and at Washington Academy of General Dentistry very soon. Sharing my passion for treating people with multiple medical complexities and special health care needs with other general dentists, is a dream come true. This area of expertise is also in high demand because ever since I decided to lecture and began sending speaker packets out, we have received an overwhelming flood of requests to attend meetings. It is a very exciting time for dentistry!

Adding more clinical days to my schedule 

I am looking forward to working 3 days a week starting in August so as to accommodate more patients and provide greater access to care. Feeds with the baby when I come back home from work are even more precious now! I do not think I will be working more days beyond 3 as I still need time for administrative work and lecture preparation. And of course, we all need a day to unwind, do errands and get some rest! Luckily, dentistry offers us that enviable work-life balance. Choosing this profession makes me grateful every day!

Traveling 

Now that the baby is nearly 4 months old, we will start to schedule travel plans soon. I can’t wait to explore the world with our curious little one! We hope to make her an adventurer just like us!

Have you done your mid-year reset yet? Comment below to share!