DR . WHO
UofL and for two years , she was waitlisted . She tried one final time , telling herself that if she didn ’ t get in , she ’ d stay in education . Well , third time ’ s the charm . In 1998 , she embarked on what would be four very intense , trying years . After all , the couple , still trying to start a family , was now down to one income .
“ I remember many nights of spaghetti dinners , conversations with my husband about ‘ How can we cut cable while still maintaining access to ESPN ?’ and only paying for the Sunday paper for the coupons ,” she said . “ That ’ s when we realized we could make those sacrifices and changes and realize it wasn ’ t a hardship , it was just something we knew we needed to do .”
Through her first two years at medical school , she thought she ’ d specialize in primary care , after seeing Dr . Wheeler make the job look “ just so awesome .” During her first rotation in third year , she got a taste of OB-GYN . The very first night , she was on call and one of the primaries asked if she wanted to do a delivery and she excitedly , but nervously , said yes .
“ They called me to tell me they were ready , and it was this grand multip patient with an epidural . The music was on , the lights were low , it was such a calm environment . My hands were shaking , I was trying to get the gloves on with the sterile technique they showed us . Then she essentially sneezed out a kid . It was so awesome , and it made such an impression on me that first night and I was like ‘ This is so cool .’”
In that same rotation , she got to go into the operating room , and realized she liked to operate and solve problems quickly , making people better . The camaraderie and reliance on each other in the OR were traits she valued . While she fought it for a while , OB-GYN kept checking all the boxes . By the beginning of the fourth year , she was decided .
That year , she ended up shadowing a new doctor in the same high-risk office she had visited as a patient so many times before and she shared her story . The physician suggested IgG gamma globulin therapy , a treatment that is still experimental and not widely used . At the time , it was $ 5,000 per month , to be taken every month of pregnancy , including the month before getting pregnant . While it was a great idea , it wasn ’ t financially feasible for them . Time passed and Dr . Barnsfather graduated medical school and matched at Indiana University in Indianapolis .
“ When you enter residency , you can have two different mindsets . You can either go into residency saying that you want to get out of it as easily as possible and pick easy electives and choose small programs where you know they ’ re not that busy . Or you can go into it saying that you know you ’ re only going to get four years of guided training , and then you ’ re on your own . You want to see what you ’ re not going to see much . You want to be challenged to learn as much as you possibly can .”
One day , Dr . Barnsfather got a call from the physician she ’ d shadowed in medical school – he ’ d gotten the treatment donated . They immediately got pregnant and on their 12th pregnancy , went to 32 weeks . Their son Logan was born and after spending a month in the NICU , the family of three went home happy and healthy . She is proud to say that Logan is now thriving at the University of Kentucky in his sophomore year studying computer engineering .
After finishing residency in 2006 , they knew they ’ d need help from family to raise Logan , but their old home of Louisville wasn ’ t hiring at the time . Dr . Barnsfather ’ s family was in Texas , so they headed south to Kingwood , just northeast of Houston .
She joined a small private practice for three years before deciding ( continued on page 32 )
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