So...I love my OB rotation! Everything about this is fun (clinic, critical care, surgery, *babies being born*). It's a lot of hours, but I'm having fun doing it, and look forward to going back again the next day.

But... I should know better. I would hate being sued all the time, getting up in the middle of the night (exciting now, probably not when I'm 45), and being away from my family SO much. Right now, I'm thinking neonatology-perinatology, peds anesthesia or general peds might be a good fit. FP + OB seems like it is becoming extinct, and I'm not as interested in the geriatrics end of FP .

Any sage advice, ladies? (If I did a subspecialty, it would be Maternal-Fetal Medicine.) How different is MFM from neonatology?

When you're holding the retractor during C-sections, after the baby is born, where do you want to be? Do you want to deliver the placenta, or do you want to resuscitate the baby?

I loved OB too, because I like women's health, I like the variety, and I love babies. But really, I love the babies (and all kids up to teenagers) way more.

FP + OB-definitely not extinct! You can have the best of both worlds, and the babies keep your practice from turning geriatric:)

Seriously though, if you really enjoy the surgeries, OB is a better fit. I hated the surgeries but loved deliveries, that's why i chose what I did.

I agree 100% with what the above said. I absolutely LOVED my OB/GYN rotation. I even considered it for a career (for a split second). But I really like babies and would much rather be resuscitating than stitching. Yes it is a lot of fun but the excitement of delivering wears off for a lot of people.

There's not only a trend of FPs going away from obstetrics but also OB/GYNs from going away from obstetrics too. The appeal wears off.

I think most of the geriatric patients go to internal medicine. One of the major advantages of Family Practice that I can see is that it caters to families, particularly young families. If you work in areas that are less populated, you can do OB and peds and medicine too.

I think I was told something similar to what BE said. I thought it was generally pretty predictive, too. I liked vaginal deliveries, enjoyed delivering babies and always preferred following baby to the warmer. Despite the fact that I loved surgery in general, I avoided c-sections like the plague. Eh, just not into that.

Of course, the first lap chole was cool. The second was ok. The third was starting to get boring and my attention wandered. And I realized that as much as I liked surgery, it was not meant for me to be a surgeon. I deliver a (live) baby or two every year and that's plenty. (I deliver far more miscarriages unfortunately, which are the complex and tragic opposite end of the spectrum)

As mentioned above, it is only the surgery or is it also procedures that you enjoy? I realized it was the latter for me, and ended up in a procedure-heavy specialty. (I rock-paper-scissored a partner last night for a tube.)

Good luck, and you still have some time.

Dude, if YOU want a life do NOT do ob/gyn period. It may be fun NOW while you are a medical student but think about the "whole picture" once you are older, will you want to go in at all odd hours of the night/weekends/holidays and deliver babies? sued because the "baby is not perfect", etc. I mean if there is NOTHING else you enjoy, knock yourself out you can always later just do GYN which many ob/gyns end up doing anyways.....

Popcorn - would you mind sharing your procedure-heavy specialty you chose instead?

+1 on the OP's post. I am rotating as a first-year in a community medicine class with an OB, and I absolutely love this early exposure, but it is really reinforcing OB again for me (what I originally thought I wanted prior to med school). I am loving the variety of office OB check-ups etc. + deliveries + C-section surgery + GYN + GYN surgery. It probably also is helping that the OB I am assigned to as a preceptor won awards for teaching when he was a resident, so he is pretty much the Yodah of teaching. It's an amazing experience. I didn't think I was going to like surgery - I LOVE IT. I didn't think I wanted to be procedure-heavy. I DO. Surprise! OB seems a good fit, but I wouldn't be on this board if I didn't want to be a mom too....

Southernmd - see if you can rotate with or observe an OB/GYN residency. I think it gives you a good idea of how the residency changes you. I have friends who went into OB/GYN. It changes people. I'm not sure if its the rigors or what but the women I know go into it normal, fun-loving, decent human beings and emerge as hardened, aggressive, and seemingly miserable.

That being said, you are early in medical school and have more than enough time to figure it out. The world DOES still need OB/GYNs.

I thought everybody knew what I do... I'm the jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none, the heart attack, gunshot, ear-infection-at-3-am-doc... Master of airway, resuscitation, and crashing, krumping badness. And a whole lot of boring not-critical stuff, too.

Why, Emergency Medicine!

It's not as procedure-heavy as some, but more than most.

(And Efex, I totally cracked up at your use of "Dude." I thought we were the only ones who used that in common conversation... although usually it's "Dude, what were you thinking?" "Dude, just how much coke did you do??" "Dude... you put What, Where???")

Oh, and asunshine, don't pick OBGYN.

Thank you.



And thank you, dude.