For those with no partners who feel they can't even take care of themselves... Well, partners don't just take work, they also help lighten your load
That is, if you have a good partner.
Communication is definitely key. My husband has been supporting me since my second year of college and is just great in almost every way
(almost, since he's more of a slob than I am
). He is supportive of every decision I've made, even those about which I have been less than certain. He knows that his schedule is much less hectic than mine, and acts accordingly. For example, he does all the grocery shopping and laundry. On a really rough week that's all you really *have* to do, if you think about it (at least if you don't have kids).
We both work/go to school in a different state from where we live, so to maximize our us time, we try to commute together as much as possible. Driving home together gives us time to talk about our day. This is important, because when we get home our daughter becomes the center of attention. I have to admit that having him drive me to school- assuming I am rotating at a hospital near him- also gives me a chance to get an extra 1/2 hour or so of sleep in the car
I'm pregnant, and during my 1st trimester when I couldn't eat most things, he would bring me edible food on my call days to make sure I didn't live off of crackers and preggy pop drops
He recognizes that I don't have the time or means to support him in the same way he supports me. That is something any spouse of a resident/MS is going to have to recognize, even if you're not as high maintenance as I am
(degree varies according to just how high maintenance you are!). At the same time, he recognizes that he doesn't have to deal with simultaneously gestating and smelling necrotic bowel at 2 am
And since having kids is just as much his idea as mine- if not more!- he feels he should do whatever he can to take on his share of that burden