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Dr. Mom & Dad
And baby makes four
Drs. Paul and Angela Sanchez
Sophie, born October 2000
Isabella, born August 2006
Paul Sanchez, DMS '03, and Angela Sanchez, DMS '04, met as undergraduates at the University of New Mexico, were married, and moved to the Upper Valley when Paul was accepted to Dartmouth Medical School. Angela entered DMS the following year. Their older daughter, Sophie, was born when Angela was a secondyear student. At the time the interview below was conducted, they were expecting their second child, and Isabella was born in early August. Paul is now a fourth-year resident in ophthalmology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, while Angela is in her third year in Baylor's Family Medicine Residency in Garland, Tex.—and is serving as the program's chief resident this year. They plan to head home to New Mexico when they are finished with their training.
Why did you choose to have children while you
were still in medical school?
Paul: We always wanted to have kids and
were excited about being parents.
Angela: Sophie was not planned but not
prevented either. We came to the realization
that there is never a right time
to have kids. We figured we would just
see what happened.
How did you manage a new baby while you
were both students?
Angela: It definitely was hard. We had no
help. No family. No money. It was just
Paul and Sophie and me. Day care in
the Upper Valley was particularly difficult.
From the beginning, it was all
about balance.
Paul: It also was tough because with Sophie
we were doing it for the first time.
And while Angie was pregnant she was
taking embryology, so it was very scary
learning about all the things that can go
wrong with a baby. The little that we
did know was enough to make us very
scared. Also, we just didn't have any
backup. For family to come here, it was
a major expense and a full day of traveling.
It was those types of burdens—feeling
"People always talk about balance, but it's also a series of sacrifices. Sometimes Sophie is the one who sacrifices. Sometimes it's the house that suffers. Sometimes it's work."
like, "Game on, it's just you and me"— that were the hardest. Other medical students who had kids had had them for several years, and their kids were older. We didn't have anyone to relate to at that point. Even the twodoctor families we had as attendings hadn't had their kids while they were still in medical school.
So what were some of your Upper Valley
day-care misadventures?
Angela: Students didn't have access to
the Dartmouth or DHMC employee
day-care centers. So we found a babysitter
who went to our church. She was a
young mother who was starting a new
day-care business in her home. She was
very organized and had spreadsheets
about what time she would feed and
change the kids. We felt very comfortable
with her. But then one afternoon I
went to pick up Sophie, and another
baby Sophie's age was in a stroller sitting
in front of the house, which was on a
busy street in Lebanon. I said, "What is
going on?!" And she said, "Well, she fell
asleep and I didn't want to wake her
up." I said, "We're withdrawing today.
We'll just see you in church." We finally
found good day care when Sophie was
six or eight months old.
And you're pregnant again—how is it different
being pregnant as a resident compared to as a
medical student?
Angela: As a resident, people totally rely
on me. I just got appointed to a chief
resident position, with more duties on
top of what I already have. And it's sick
people relying on you, so you have to
sacrifice yourself.
Looking back on your experiences so far, what
has been the most significant or surprising
thing about parenthood?
Angela: People always talk about balance,
but it's more than that. It's also a series
of sacrifices. Sometimes Sophie is the
one who sacrifices. Sometimes it's her
time with one parent or another. Sometimes
it's the house that suffers. Sometimes
it's personal time. Sometimes it's
work. It's very, very difficult to do all
those things well, so you figure out what
you have to sacrifice that day.