A resident surgeon who works long hours at the hospital wants to spend his only day off with his infant daughter, but his wife wants to go out for dinner. He suggests they stay at home with their daughter but his wife is upset and he is worried about burnout.
Source: Reddit
I (27m) am doing my residency in a surgical specialty working 12-hour shifts regularly. More often than not, I work more than 80 hours a week.
A few days ago, I worked a 24-hour shift at the hospital and got Monday evening off. My wife (24f) wanted us to go out for dinner, but I told her that I’d prefer staying at home with our infant daughter. That way, I can spend time with both her and our daughter, who I don’t see nearly as much as I want to, and also get some rest.
I told her that I understand being cooped up all day at home can be very boring, so we could do something quick (<30 minutes) but that I want to spend most of our time at home.
She was pretty upset by this but I’m honestly past arguing at this point.
Don’t get me wrong, my wife is a wonderful mother and wife, and taking care of a newborn is certainly not easy. But she is also supported by my parents who live with us and is not doing anything anywhere near as physically or cognitively demanding as what I am doing. I’m dangerously close to crossing over into burnout territory with how much I am working and it would be hard to continue functioning at this pace without any rest.
Besides, I don’t want to compromise a single second with my baby for anything else unless I absolutely have to. I’m not spending nearly as much time with her as I should.
Am I Wrong ?
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