Not a neo, but work with a bunch. While you can't over value your own experience as a resident, it can be helpful to hear from others
Going from easiest to hardest to answer:
3)From purely a dollars and cents perspective, available research says neonatology is worth it in terms of coming out ahead financially. But you'd need to go back and look at the study and the parameters in place to see if the math still makes sense depending on your particular set of circumstances as there were assumptions made about total debt, loan repayment strategies and the like. This would also have to assume that you actually liked the fields absolutely equally. You might be willing to accept less money for fewer headaches (whatever those might be for you).
2) Highly variable, particularly has there is a greater proportion of private practice NICU providers than any other pediatric subspecialty (the rest of which are heavily concentrated in academia). Some places do 24 hours in house (with or without resident/fellow coverage in academic centers), others do night float systems, others still take home call on rotating daily basis, while some places the home call is for a week straight. On the flip side, it's not like there is just one model of general pediatrics either, and presence of nurse lines, whether or not you round in the newborn nursery or have a big or small practice can have a big difference in call schedules and burdens on work/life balance.
The other component in this is what is your spouse like and what do they do? Personally, when my wife quit working to stay home, my perception of my work/life balance changed. We're able to do a lot of fun family things (my child is still a toddler), on weekdays and leave the weekends to just be at home, avoiding the crowds. I don't feel near as guilty as I did with working weekends because it ends up being close to a routine day for my child instead of having them in daycare and missing 1/2 of the days they were actually home. Work also became a higher priority because now I'm the sole provider. What I'm getting at is that work/life balance is not just one thing even for the same person depending on circumstances.
1) Every one has their personal story for choosing the NICU but usually is some combination of liking the patient population, the physiology, the staff, the acuity, and avoiding clinic (though the true clinic bashers usually end up in the PICU).
