Why I chose my specialty is one of the most frequent questions that I get, so let me tell you. Ob-Gyn is just a great specialty. It is a primary care practice (despite what some managed care plans may say), and it is a surgical specialty as well. Preventive medicine is the most important aspect of primary care and it is a corner stone of Ob-Gyn. Pap smears have markedly increased the number of curable cervical cancers found. Self-breast exam is taught in my office. We Ob-Gyns also distribute information about exercise, proper diet, contraception and "safe sex". Vitamins, when prescribed before pregnancy, decrease birth defects; when medical problems are treated before conception, pregnancy outcomes are improved and the fifteen or sixteen visits during prenatal care are to detect obstetrical problems before they threaten the pregnancy.

Speaking of prenatal care, I get to deliver babies! Obstetricians get to take part in the most exciting and moving experience in most people's lives. I try not to be overly interactive with the mother and father; it's their special time. I just enjoy their joy and excitement. When caring for the second and third birth with the same couple, you feel like one of the family.

To add to all this, we get to perform surgery! Surgery is both a great challenge and a real fascination. Aside from the technical aspect, the idea that another human being comes to me and puts their life literally in my hands, is just a tremendous honor.

Aside from all that, and don't take this wrong; I just enjoy the company of women. In high school, some of my closest friends were female, not to date, but just to "hang out" with. In college, most of my pre-med study partners were the "opposite sex"; they were witty and sensitive in a way that didn't seem at all opposite to me. I have always been comfortable talking with women and they seem comfortable talking with me.

Ob-Gyn is not all roses though. There are losses, surgery doesn't always cure, and there are problems that I cannot treat. All this can weigh heavily on a person's heart. It has also taken an awfully long time to get here. I looked up and my twenties were all gone and I was in my thirties, but even with the future somewhat uncertain, I would still do it all over again. I like what I do.