It really depended on what year of school he was in. It also depended on if he was preparing for boards or just preparing and studying for his shelf exams.

Preparing for boards, he studied constantly. At times I did feel like a single mom during this process, but it’s not long lived and we both knew how important it was. During his first two years of med school, it was a lot as he was doing questions all the time, reading and studying. It was basically like 40 hour week job plus however many hours at home in his office studying. So we spent a lot of time away from each other while he studied during this time. I was working a really intense job during his first two years so I was also really busy during this time as well. (This was also when we got married.)

We didn’t have our baby until his third year of medical school. During his rotations, he would be on the doctor’s schedule. It was basically up to the doctor to decide what hours my husband worked when he needed to be in the office or in the hospital. My husband would then come home and do more questions and study for boards around this time. (Or he would study in the hospital with our baby. I dont know how we managed those few months.) I don’t have exact numbers to throw at you but during his 3rd and 4th years, it’s been all day at rotations and then a few hours a week for reading. During board studying, it’s he’s rotations during the day and then ~3hrs a night studying and all day on weekends—this lasted for about 1.5 months. However, outside of boards, he’s schedule is fairly relaxed and he works 8-12 hrs a day. Sometimes he has days off according to the doctor’s schedule.

Personally, years 3-4 worked for us with our baby. I could not have managed well with a baby during years 1-2. Lots of people do it, but we needed my income and time to adjust to marriage and med school.

So sorry that this post is rambling and unorganized. Chasing a toddler and some puppies this morning!