NORMALCY

It has been a crazy couple of weeks for me. This past Monday through Thursday were my comprehensive exams. They were hard. Monday was the four hour closed book section of the test. Tuesday was the four hour open notes section (which was WAY harder than I expected). And Wednesday and Thursday was the data analysis portion. We got our data set on Wednesday morning at 9am. I worked at school until around 5pm. I then drove home and proceeded to work through the entire night on my project. My final analysis was more than 15 pages long and contained seven tables and two charts. I turned my analysis in an hour and a half before it was due by email and then drove back to Baltimore to turn in a hard copy. On my drive back home, all my adrenaline wore off and I started to crash. Three days of intense thinking, little sleep, and some separation anxiety from my little one finally caught up with me. As I was driving down New Hampshire Ave., I prayed that I would make it home safely. And I did, by the grace of God. At home, I took the baby downstairs and played with her for about 15 minutes on the floor before passing out. My mom covered me with a blanket and took the baby upstairs. I took a two hour nap and felt much better. After a good night of sleep on Thursday and another nap on Friday morning, I started to feel normal again. This morning, after saying good-bye to my mom who was here for more than a week, I went out for a run and stopped by the library to pick up some fun reading.

I am finally getting back to normal.

I have this coming week off from school and will be using my time to get myself and the house organized. I am also going to spend some time with the baby and her nanny to help both of them with the transition. I'm also going to go get a massage, which was a birthday gift from my wonderful husband. Then it is back to school the week of the 26th.

This semester I am taking classes in longitudinal analysis, statistics for molecular biology, vaccinology, and an independent study focusing on the use of geographic information systems (GIS) in public health. I'm also TAing an observational epidemiology class. It looks to be a busy semester. Fortunately, I only have to be on campus three days a week. The other two days I'll be home with my baby. I think it is good balance.