Welcome to the Becoming Both Podcast: where we talk about the stories behind parenthood, medicine, everything in between. I’m your host, Amanda Quijano, and I am SO excited to finally be launching this first season of stories. 

I am a pediatric emergency medicine doctor and a mother to four young children - all of whom I had during different stages of my medical training. 

This first season features stories from physician parents and their first-hand experiences with what it really takes to build a family while also building a career in medicine. Through these conversations I really want to give a voice to the often unseen - and untold - realities of how the journey of medical training collides with the time in life when many - if not most - people would consider starting a family. 

My amazing guests touch on the entanglement of their journeys to becoming physicians and to becoming parents along with their struggles and challenges with family planning, pregnancies, infertility, breastfeeding, finances, leave, childcare and so much more. Their stories are honest, and reflective, and deeply human and I think really shed light on so many of the very real issues surrounding the duality of simultaneously being a physician in training and a new or hopeful parent. 

My hope is that Becoming Both will serve as an outlet and a community for those who are trying - or wanting - to do both, but also as an honest window into an often filtered reality for those who wonder if it’s possible to start a family in medical training. I also hope that these stories are helpful and potentially eye-opening for those among us such as partners, friends, parents, colleagues and even educators and administrators who want - or really need - to understand what it truly takes to become both a physician and a parent.