We did it! Or more specifically, he did it! Last weekend my husband graduated from medical school in Des Moines, Iowa!

I basically sobbed the whole day because I was so proud of him. But honestly, I think I am allowed to be! The last four years have been hard, and we’ve had some crazy trials and adventures along the way. We’ve lived in two states and three different apartments, and we’ve had two kids the last four years. We also lost my father-in-law in my husband’s second year of school, and my husband was so strong and still finished school in four years as planned. I can’t believe it’s over and that he is starting his residency on July 1st! It’s crazy!

Anyway, the fourth year presented a lot of different challenges than the first three years. In some ways it’s the easiest year, and in some ways it’s the hardest. Here are some tips on how to survive your husband’s fourth year of medical school:

1. Be involved with his residency decision. This is the biggest tip I have. The most important thing that happens in the fourth year of medical school is The Match. The simplest way I can explain it is that The Match is when every student ranks their top choices for residency, and then every residency program ranks their top choices of students they want, and then a computer matches them together. You have to come up with a big long list of the places that you would be okay with moving, because while as much as you hope you’ll get your first choice, you might not. We always knew where our top choices were, but we wanted a good backup list just in case. We spent a lot of time talking about what areas of the country we wanted to live in and how good the programs were in the specialty he chose. It’s hard narrowing it down, but if you are involved and work together, you’ll figure it out.

2. If he goes on audition rotations, either go with him or visit family while he is gone. My husband did three months of away rotations. One month in Texas where we only saw him for two days, one month in Boise which was only four hours away so we visited a few times, and one month in Minnesota where we went with him. When he was in Texas the kids and I drove down and visited my sister and my parents, which was nice because I was able to break up the time he was gone and get a little mini break. It was fun getting to go with him to Minnesota for a month because we just rented a little house and we were able to see if that was really somewhere we wanted to live. Turns out it wasn’t, so I’m glad we all went, but it was fun to be able to go with him on a little mini-move. If you try and stick it out all by yourself the whole time he’s gone, you’re going to have a hard time.

3. Reach out to other wives whose husbands are currently in residency. I talked to a few wives in the programs we wanted to go to about what their husbands’ schedules were like and how they liked living there with kids. It helped a lot and helped me to see if I could imagine us there. Plus, some of the girls I talked to are now my friends here in Texas!

4. Go with him on any interviews if you can. I was only able to go with him on two interviews down to Utah (my family watched the kids), but it was good for me to see what they were like and to get to talk to some of the residents. Sometimes wives will get invited to the dinners the night before the interviews, and sometimes (like in family med residencies) you might get invited to the whole interview day. It was interesting for me to see what the process was like and it helped me feel more at peace with ranking one of the programs where we did. Plus it was a fun little break from the kids.

5. Decide if you want to buy or rent for residency. We did the math and for us, it just made more financial sense to buy. But as soon as Match Day comes, you’re going to want to pounce on houses because they go fast when all the fourth years know where they are going. It might be different for your situation, but most of the residents I know have bought. But if you’re doing a shorter residency (like family med), it might make more sense to rent. It just depends!

6. Talk about each interview when he gets home. When it’s fresh in his mind, make little notes and discuss what he liked and disliked about each program. It will help a lot when it comes time to make your Match list. Some of the interviews are great because your husband might hate the program and decide he definitely doesn’t want to go there, and some of them he will love and you’ll realize you’d be happy going there. Hopefully there are more positive interviews than negative ones, but make sure you talk about them and get all the information about them after each interview.

So I know that’s not very many tips, but I wanted this post to be as specific to fourth year as possible. And if you want more general tips, you can check out how to survive your husband’s first year, second year, and third year of medical school.

And congratulations to Dr. Johnson on graduating from medical school!

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In just four short months, I will be married to a doctor.

What?! It seriously blows my mind. Medical school has been a long journey, and the last four years have been a challenge. There are a lot of things I had no idea about before my husband was accepted to medical school, and it would’ve been helpful as a med school wife to have known these things. Not only that, but I think it would be helpful for everyone to know a few thing about medical school. Because there are a lot of things you might not know.

1. There are two types of medical degrees–a D.O. and an M.D. Both are doctors, and honestly it doesn’t matter if you’re seeing a D.O. or an M.D. The only difference is that D.O.s learn O.M.M., which is an additional way to treat. But they don’t HAVE to use it in their practice and some choose not to (or it’s not really relevant to what they are doing). I’m guessing you probably had no idea about this one. And don’t worry. Neither degree is better than the other. They are both smart and good doctors.

2. Medical school is four years long. And it’s a lot of work. And after those four years of school, guess what? Doctors get to do a residency that can be between 3-5 additional years of training. And then they might choose to do a fellowship, which is another extra year of training. It’s exhausting. My husband won’t be done (if he chooses not to do a fellowship) until he is 31. And a lot of doctors are older than that when they’re completely finished with their training.

3. Rotations are different than residency. You may have heard the terms “rotations” and “residency” before and wondered what the difference is. Rotations are usually month-long and they are done in all different kinds of specialties. They are done in the third and fourth year of medical school, and sometimes they can be done out of town from where you went to school. For example, my husband has done three out-of-town rotations (aka, three months away from home) in his fourth year. Residency is the training after graduation where you are officially a doctor, but you are learning more about your specialty. So if a student decides to specialize in surgery, after he graduates, he does his residency in surgery and learns all he can about surgery and different procedures and operations. Unlike rotations, residency is a paid job.

4. Medical school is not “college.” Recently someone asked my husband how “college” was going. It wasn’t meant to be insulting, but my husband did not appreciate it. In order to get into medical school, you first have to have an undergraduate degree. So four years of school, then take the MCAT, then apply to medical school, then interview for medical school, then get in and choose where you are going. It’s more complicated than college, way harder, and way more expensive.

5. Medical students can’t have part-time jobs while they are going to school. During college it’s perfectly normal for a student to have a job outside of school to make money to pay for school. That is not the case during medical school. The first two years medical students go to class all day Monday-Friday, then come home and have to study several hours before going to bed. Then during the second two years when students have rotations, they are on the doctor’s schedule that is teaching them. Sometimes this can be 8-5, and sometimes it can be nights or even some of both. Plus you have to study. My husband told me that he has worked probably 70-80 hours a week for the last four years. Of course some weeks will be less and some more, but there’s no way that a medical student can have a job outside of school. Don’t assume they’re being lazy because they don’t have a job, because I promise you that’s not why.

6. Medical students get the same amount of loan money whether they are single or have a wife and two kids. This sucks. And it also means that medical students who have families are kind of poor. There are programs that can help, but definitely don’t think that medical students (or even residents for that matter) are rich. We aren’t. Luckily I’m able to make some money with my blog, and I know a lot of other med school wives who have little side jobs or Etsy shops, because every year of medical school gets more expensive and sometimes you get super close to running out of loan money before the next reimbursement comes in. There are definitely pluses to having a wife in school (she does your laundry and cooks for you), but it also means the money has to stretch a little farther.

7. Don’t ask a med student what specialty they are going to do in their first or second year of school. As soon as people find out that my husband is in medical school, they always ask the same question. “What does he want to specialize in?” This is fine now that we are in the last few months of medical school, but at the beginning (or even up until last year) I never really knew how to answer. And the answer has changed several times, too. So even though I finally know what my husband is going to specialize in, I don’t think that should be anyone’s first question when they ask about medical school.

8. Medical students don’t completely pick where they are going for residency. Unlike applying for medical school where you can get accepted multiple places and decide where you want to go (or any other job, for that matter), residency is a lot more complicated. Meet The Match. The Match is where a computer generated algorithm places candidates and programs together for residency. Basically, you have to interview at a ton of different programs and then rank your top choices, hoping that they liked you and will rank you high, too. Then on Match Day, the results are released and you find out where you have been hired for the next 3-5 years. It’s definitely stressful not knowing where you have to move until two months before graduation, but there’s not really anything you can do about it. So just relax and have faith that you’ll end up where you’re supposed to (that’s my plan, at least!).

9.  What are board exams? Oh the boards. There are three steps to the board exams, and the first two are taken during medical school. They require an insane amount of studying, and they are the most important thing for determining where you can go for residency. There are a lot of amazing residency programs, but if you want to get interviews at the most competitive and best ones, you have to get high board scores.

10. One huge misconception people make about medical school is that you must be doing it for the money. Like I said, medical students are not rich, and residents aren’t rich either. Once you do start getting paid, it’s significantly less than what doctors out of residency get paid, and you have to start paying back your loans (which, by the end of school, will total close to ___. Obviously you can’t pay that all back at once, and there are different ways to do it, but you should not go to medical school for the money. It takes a long time to finally be out of debt (we know several doctors who have been out of residency for over 15 years who still aren’t out of debt), and it’s a long journey even after you’re done with residency. So no, my husband is not going to be a doctor for the money.

Medical school is not like Scrubs or Grey’s Anatomy. Most cases are not unique or interesting, and the majority of people have diabetes, hypertension, or back pain. It’s a long journey, it’s hard work, and if you do choose to go to medical school, you’re going to be exposed to a lot of different specialties, and some of them, you will absolutely hate. So if you want to help people and make a difference, medical school might be for you. But it takes two years of in-class work, two years of rotations, and 3-5 years of residency until you’ll finally be on your own and able to open your own practice.

But good luck!

The post What Everyone Should Know About Medical School appeared first on Life With My Littles.

Wow, I cannot believe that I am actually writing this post! The Mister has taken his Step Two boards, and has finished his third year rotations. The fact that I can write this post means that we now only have one year left of medical school! Insane! In 10 short months, I will officially be calling the Mister “Dr. Johnson.” Because you can bet that I will for sure be calling him that all the time, no matter how much he protests!

If you haven’t already seen my first two posts in this (very spaced-out) series, you can read about how to survive being a med school wife during first year and second year. And now that we are done with the third year, I am back to share some tips on how to survive your husband’s third year of medical school!

First, I want to tell you two things about why the third year of medical school is different and very important.

Third year is a lot different than the first two years of medical school. Instead of going to labs and lectures every day, medical students start their rotations, where they are in clinics and hospitals learning from doctors in different specialties (this is different than residency, because they are not getting paid and they try a lot of different things). For example, they rotate in OB/GYN, Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Surgery, and Pediatrics. Along with other specialties too, depending on what the medical student wants to do after graduation.

Third year is also the year you need to figure out what specialty you want to do. This is important because it will determine what residencies you will apply to and interview for in your fourth year. So get ready, because it’s an exciting year!

Now, here are some tips to help you survive your husband’s third year of medical school.

1. Know what rotation he’s on. Every rotation is going to have a different schedule, and every rotation is going to have it’s pros and cons. For example, the Mister’s surgery rotation he was on call a lot, and for his emergency medicine rotation, he would work five days on, two days off. Knowing what rotation your husband is on and what the schedule is going to be like will be helpful for you. Some days will be super long and some days will be easy. So know what to expect. It will help a lot.

2. Let him talk about the things he sees every day. Some days are going to be super interesting, and some days are going to be boring. Let him tell you about them, even if you don’t understand half the words he is saying. One thing I have learned about being the wife of a medical student is that they need support. So let him talk to you about medical things because he might just need to tell someone how crappy or how awesome his day was. Even if you don’t understand the complicated procedure he is trying to describe.

3. Get involved in helping him choose what residencies to apply for. This seems obvious to me because duh, you will be living where you go for residency, too! No, you don’t get to have the final say in where you go because of the wonderful Match, and no, you shouldn’t pick his specialty for him, but if there is a residency for that specialty somewhere you absolutely do not want to live, let him know! It’s important to know which residencies are four years versus ones that are three years, or which ones have better programs and more fellowships if that is something your husband might be interested in. There are a lot of factors that go into choosing what residencies to apply for, so keep an open mind but also tell him how you feel, too. If you don’t want to live in a particular place, tell him. There are probably a lot of other residency locations you can look into.

4. Give him time to study. Yes, he is finished with Step One! But oh no, Step Two is coming up and guess what, not only is there a written part, but there is a physical examination where he is graded on how he interacts, treats, and diagnoses ten fake patients in a row. The good news is that there is a little less pressure on the written part and that the physical examination is pass/fail, but you still need to give him time to study. Third year is not one giant party every night he’s home. Because oh yeah, he also will have tests at the end of most of his rotations. So let him study!

5. Be a fake patient. Speaking of that physical examination, your husband is going to need to practice on someone so he can know what questions to ask and how to do his physical exams and how much time it takes him to write his SOAP note after he leaves the room. So be a fake patient for him! The Mister had a great book that had a bunch of fake patients and their answers to questions and all of their fake vitals and everything. All I had to do was pretend to be someone and read the answers to their questions while the Mister asked me questions and did a physical exam. It really helped him get the practice he needed, and I actually sort of enjoyed being the fake patient!

6. Help him figure out what rotations he is going to set up next year. In a medical student’s fourth year, not only do they do audition rotations with different residency programs, but they also still have to have a few specific rotations. And since doing audition rotations in the beginning of the school year is the best time, it can be complicated trying to make sure you get all your rotations you need to. It can also be hard because some of those audition rotations are a month long and if you are like us, you don’t want to schedule two month-long audition rotations in a row. Because it is not fun to be away from your husband for that long.

I hope those things are helpful! And you can apply several of the things off the lists from the first year and second year to surviving your husband’s third year of medical school, too. I’m not including them because I am assuming that you are a pro at surviving having a husband in medical school now.

Now, congratulations on getting through the first half of medical school as a med school wife, and good luck with the next two years! You’ve got this!

The post How to Survive Your Husband’s Third Year of Medical School appeared first on Life With My Littles.

When the Mister finished his first year of medical school, I felt like I had learned a lot. I thought it had been kind of rough on both of us but I learned a lot about how to get through it. Then second year started. Now that it is over, I have put together a list of how to survive your husband’s second year of medical school! Yay!

1. Listen to him. Yes, it can be hard to listen to your husband tell you what he learned at school that day. Mostly always it goes right over my head. But if your husband is anything like the Mister, he studies by himself almost all day every day, so when he gets home and wants to talk, you need to listen. And I don’t mean half-listening while you are playing a game or thinking of other things. You need to really listen to him and give good feedback. Because not only is that just part of being a good wife, it is also just a good thing to do in any relationship. And sometimes husbands just need to vent about how hard a test was or how they don’t understand something. And if you really listen to him, that will count and help him feel better.

2. Have a regular date night. And it doesn’t always have to be just the two of you, either. Six nights a week I make dinner at home, and then usually on Fridays, we go out to dinner. We bring Little J with us, but it is really nice to be able to get out of the house and go do something special. I think for the Mister, it is sometimes something he looks forward to the whole week (especially if we are going to one of our favorite restaurants). And when you can, leave the kids at home and take time for just the two of you. We haven’t done that very often but when we do, it is so worth it and makes a big difference.

3. Visit him at school. When your husband is a second year, he is busy. That sometimes means that he leaves for school at 7 in the morning and doesn’t get home until 6 at night for dinner. Basically, you don’t get to see him very much during the week. So take time to visit him at school. You can go have lunch with him, surprise him with a special treat, or even just stop by and say hi for a few minutes. I promise that even a few minutes will mean a lot. I wouldn’t recommend doing that every day because it can be hard for husbands to study when they are interrupted by you actually being there, but once a week is a good routine to get into for visiting your husband at school.

4. Be involved with helping him choose his top rotation spots. This is a big deal because it determines where you will go live for the next two years. At the Mister’s school, you rank your top 6 spots, and only 2 of the spots meant we would stay where we are for sure. So that meant we had to seriously consider where we would actually be okay with moving, and what the pros and cons of each rotation spot were. Seriously, this is a big deal so make it a priority when you are trying to figure out where you want to go (or stay). Look at location, the hospital/clinics he would be rotating at, how many spots are there, and how many residents are there. All of these things played a big part in how we chose the spots we wanted and what we ranked them as. It can be a stressful thing, so it’s nice for you to help him out (and that way you won’t be surprised if you end up having to move).

5. Help him study. This pretty much means be his patient and quiz him if he asks. I rarely (if ever) quizzed the Mister because I would always pronounce things wrong or ask bad questions. But when they are practicing for tests where they have to go and diagnose a pretend patient, it really helps for them to go through the motions with a person so they know how long things take and so they can get a feel for doing each test required. Every time my husband had one of these tests we would study together multiple times until he took the test. And it really did help him prepare because he was familiar with the procedures and format and everything. So try and help him study in any way that you can (and that he will let you). It can really pay off and it will give you more time with him when he has an upcoming test!

6. Know his test schedule. This is important for a variety of reasons. The Mister gets stressed and has to study more before his tests, so knowing when he had upcoming tests not only helped me know when he would be studying more, it also helped me know that if he got grumpy, it was because of a test and not something I did. You can also help him by making his favorite meals the night before his tests or packing him an extra good lunch that day. Even slipping little notes into his backpack or notebook can really help boost their confidence when they need it before those big tests. There were two separate months where the Mister had a ton of tests within the space of two weeks, and it really helped me to know when those tests were because I was able to give him extra support and help him stay positive when he was having a hard time. Knowing when your husband takes tests will help him and it will help you!

7. Let him study. What do I mean by this? When he is at school, do not constantly text him. When he is at home, do not constantly interrupt him by going in and out of the room. Sometimes this is hard when Little J keeps going back to the Mister’s door and knocking on it crying for “dada” but we get through it. It is hard for husbands (at least mine) to study effectively if they keep getting interrupted. The Mister gets into a studying “zone” and it’s better for him to just be left in it so he can get his work done faster and better. So when he is studying, let him study. It’s okay to send an occasional text, but don’t send one every hour. That is not going to help anyone.

8. Do things with your friends. Second year is definitely a busier year than first, especially as your husband starts preparing to take boards along with his regular classwork. So the amount of time you see him may decrease. The best way to handle this is to do things with your friends! I have two friends who moved out here at the same time and we were all pregnant at the same time and we go on walks, have craft days, and let our boys have playdates. It helps because it gives us something to do and it keeps us busy too, which is something that you also need to do while your husband is in school. Sitting at home all day every day is not healthy and it will probably bring you down a lot. And if you aren’t a super social person, don’t stress. I didn’t used to hang out with friends very often in college but making a few good friends out here has really saved me. So be bold and find at least one other medical school wife to team up with. It really makes a difference, especially when your husbands all have a big test coming up and you need a break!

9. Make friends with the first years’ wives. Remember how scary and unknown everything was when your husband first started medical school? You probably moved to a new place, didn’t know anyone or where anything was, and had no idea what to do for fun there? Well there are all these new first years who have moved to your town with wives who are feeling exactly the same way you did at first! So make friends with them! Give them tips you’ve learned from your husband’s first year and hang out with them and show them where all the delicious restaurants are. There weren’t really any wives of second years around us when we moved in, but it would have been helpful to have someone to help me get adjusted. So be that person for all the first years’ wives and it will be good for you and for them.

10. Make him take breaks. Sometimes the Mister has a hard time stepping away from studying and taking a break. So sometimes I have to make him take a break from studying and go to dinner or do something else fun. Especially because they can get so stressed and overwhelmed that they feel like they just constantly need to study, but you know that isn’t going to be helpful when they can’t focus or their confidence is draining. Taking a break from studying can help them clear their mind and get their focus back. I had to do this a few times with the Mister and it always paid off and helped him study harder and more effectively when he went back to studying. And I know I said let him study in tip seven, but you also need to make him take breaks when he needs it. Because sometimes having an outside perspective helps you see that they really do need to take a break or they won’t get anything done. So just let him know that he needs to take a break (or tell him you need him to take a break if he won’t listen!) and go do something fun to help him relax and clear his head.

11. Celebrate when he finishes boards. The summer after second year is when your husband will take his first round of board exams (step one). If your husband is anything like the Mister, he will be studying like crazy the weeks (and months) leading up to his test. So make it a big deal when he finishes! The board exams are harder and more important than any other test he has ever taken because the score he gets will determine what specialty he will be able to go into. It takes a lot of work and they get stressed and worry a lot, so make sure you celebrate when he is done. Do something you don’t normally do, go to a more expensive restaurant, make it a good, happy time so he will be able to relax and enjoy being done with studying for that big giant test (until step two comes at least). Also, don’t overschedule yourselves for the time he has off between finishing boards and starting rotations. You will want to just relax a bit and I promise you that trying to fit everything into your schedule is not going to be fun.

So those are my eleven tips on how to survive your husband’s second year of medical school. Second year is harder than the first, but once it is over then it is over and you can be happy because your husband doesn’t have to go to class anymore! We are looking forward to third and fourth year rotations and in a year I will make sure I come back with more tips!! Good luck ladies!

The post How to Survive Your Husband’s Second Year of Medical School appeared first on Life With My Littles.

I wanted to share some tips for new medical school (or dental, or law, or whatever) student wives (or girlfriends) because honestly, it can be scary and sort of lonely when you move to a new place and don’t know where anything is or anyone there. But you can really make the best of it and turn it into an amazing experience!

1. Get involved. I don’t care if you aren’t social or if you are slightly awkward in social situations or if you aren’t good at making small talk. Just get involved. For me, I met several girls at church who were in exactly the same situation as us (one was even due two weeks before me!), and we got to be really good friends. The Mister’s school has a significant other support group, and I would assume lots of other medical schools have them, too. Facebook is also a good way to connect with people. I just discovered a group for wives of the Mister’s school and another in the area and I’ve already made friends through that (so if you do it during first year, you are bound to make more friends than I have). It’s really helpful to find friends who are also wives of med students because you are all going through exactly the same thing. It is really helpful when you can talk together about how much your husbands have been studying for that crazy big test coming up or about ideas you have to help them feel better when they don’t get a good grade on their first test. This is the most important advice I can give you, so even if you’re like me and you are fine sitting on the couch by yourself, just go make friends. It’s worth it and you never know who you will meet!

2. Have fun taking care of the house.If taking care of a house is not your thing, make it your thing! Before we moved here I was not good at cleaning or cooking or making lunches. But I learned, and I learned how to enjoy it! When things get hard or I feel overwhelmed by the amount of ironing I have to do (that is my least favorite chore), I just remember how much it is helping the Mister. I think of all the other students who don’t have wives and have to do their own laundry and cooking and cleaning and bed making. You are really giving your husbands such a big help and a leg up on the rest of the students because they a)have more time to spend studying and b)have more time to spend with you. Taking care of the house really can be fun! But also, don’t feel like you have to do everything. The boys really can make the bed or do the dishes or take out the trash every once in a while. It’s not all on you!

3. Have a hobby or a job. If you don’t already have a hobby, find one. You can get a library card and read all those books you have wanted to but couldn’t while you were in school yourself, you can take up sewing and start making fun things for you and your home, you can start baking and make treats to take to all your neighbors (who will love you). There are so many talents you can develop, and it really does make you feel good to have something that is yours that you are good at and that you can lose yourself doing. It’s fantastic. And if you have time that you can have a job, that is a great way to stay busy, too. Obviously if you have a baby or a few kids having a job probably isn’t an option, but you can still find a hobby to give yourself something that’s fun for you to do.

4. Have a weekly date night. Don’t let medical school take over your lives. You are still married and you should still act like it. It’s really nice to have a date night once a week where you can forget about all the stress of the week and you can just talk about you two. Be romantic. You don’t always have to go out to dinner or a movie, either. Be creative! Two weeks ago the Mister and I rented Space Jam and watched it in a blanket fort. Honestly, it was one of the best dates of the summer. Just make sure you are spending time together that is quality time. After all, when things get busy you need to make the most of the time you get together.

5. Find things to love about your new city. Every city has something that makes it special and unique. In Iowa, there are a few restaurants that we love that we don’t have where we went to college, and there are of course all the fairs and festivals in the summer. We love having cornfields across from our apartment complex, and we love all the trails that surround our area. Ask your friends and people who live around you (or people who are a year ahead in school) what they love about the city. It will make living somewhere new a lot more fun, and it will give you places to show off to your families when they come visit. The Mister and I love where we live, and a big part of it is because of the special places here and unique things to do.

6. Take him lunch at school. Sack lunches can get boring. I mean you can only eat peanut butter and jelly with chips, an apple, and a granola bar so many times a week before you want to throw up (speaking from the Mister’s experience, don’t worry, I’ve gotten better!). So once a week, take him something delicious that he can’t get on or around campus. And even if your budget doesn’t allow for bringing lunches very often, you can bring a sack lunch and eat it with him! It’s nice for him to see your face in the middle of the day, and it’s nice for you, too. It makes you feel more like you are both still in undergrad rather than he is in big fancy grown-up school and you aren’t.

7. Keep updated on his schedule. Whether this is through one big calendar on your wall, or if you sync his calendar to your phone, find a way that you can know when his tests are, when he has stressful weeks, and when he starts new classes. It helps so you know when he needs some extra support and prayers, and you can know when he is actually stressed about school and not really mad that you forgot to pack a lunch. It also helps to know when he is not responding to your text because he has a three-hour lecture and not because he is ignoring you (or is that just me…). Plus it makes you feel good when that week or test is over and you have some time to relax.

8. Take advantage of video chatting. FaceTime and Skype are especially helpful when you live far away from your family. We moved several states away from both of our families, so having video chats with them has been a great way to stay in touch. Especially since Little J has been born, it gives our parents and siblings a way to see him grow up. And while talking on the phone and texting is still nice, it’s even better to get to see each other through video chats. And your families will appreciate it, too!

9. Pray for him. Even if you aren’t religious, praying for your husband keeps you aware of things he need. I have found that when I pray for the Mister, not only can I see how Heavenly Father answers my prayers, but I also have seen ways that I have been able to bless my husband by being aware of his needs and finding ways to fill those needs. What should you pray for? Pray that he will be able to focus on his studies, pray that he can do well on his tests, pray that he will be able to handle the stress of school, really you can pray for so many things. And honestly, prayer works. So pray for him and find out yourself!

10. Stay positive. Medical school is hard. It can be hard for both of you to adjust. Just stay positive and remember that it’s not going to last forever and that it will get better. I talked to several girls who told me how important this was to them. One friend told me to stay positive and try to be encouraging and support your spouse, even when you feel like you want to pull your hair out. Another friend told me to remember that the whole reason you are there is for your husband to get an education so that he can provide for your family in a job that he will be happy doing. Another friend said to learn to laugh, especially at yourself, and to enjoy where you are. It can be easy to say “one day when,” but enjoy your life. Some day we will look back and remember “the good old days” when things were simpler. You can have fun during medical school, and you can make it through!

I hope these tips were helpful. I know it can be scary at first, but you will make it through. Love each other, enjoy your lives, and take care of each other. Make friends, learn new things, and have fun. I promise it will be worth it!!

For part two to this series, How to Survive Your Husband’s Second Year of Medical School, click here!

The post How to Survive Your Husband’s First Year of Medical School appeared first on Life With My Littles.