I need a wet nurse

I remember secretly liking when I got sick when I was younger. It meant a day on the couch watching TV with my mom taking care of me. I had no worries and plenty of time to rest and recover. It got a bit less enjoyable when I hit high school and college and sickness meant missed class and more work. Then when I was a single, working woman sick days were kind of enjoyable again. I was back on the couch, no one to take care of me, but plenty of daytime TV and laziness.

All that is out the window as a working mom. Last week I got horribly sick with some sort of respiratory thing. By a bad twist of fate, it was also the day we were socked with a huge blizzard. I croaked my way through a step aerobics class and went to work Monday with a raspy voice. I opted to skip class that night, but worried about what I would miss.

The next day, it hurt to move and my fever climbed to 103.3! I was alternately sweaty and then freezing. I was coughing and my head hurt. I felt dizzy if I even sat up in bed. Thankfully T took the kids to the nanny. What do stay-at-home moms do? I can't imagine. I did need to still pump milk though. You just can't go the whole day without doing it. Not only would that be monstrously painful, Lena wouldn't have any food for the next day. It took monumental effort to get all the pieces of my pump and prop myself up against pillows for 15 minutes several times that day. But I did it.

When the kids returned home Tuesday night, T fed them dinner, and I nursed Lena and she lay next to me on the bed. How was I possibly going to avoid her getting sick? (She did end up getting sick the next week, but thankfully it passed quickly.) I thought about going to the doctor, but by this time offices were closed due to the blizzard.

The next day, I stayed home again and managed to take a shower. After lunch, my fever had broken, and I felt like a new woman. The list of work tasks I had awaiting me were weighing heavily on my mind, so I plugged in my computer and worked a half day from home. By Thursday, I was back at work and back in class trying to stifle my coughs.

Life doesn't slow down when you are sick unfortunately. It just becomes more complicated. I am glad I have a husband and childcare, so at least I can check out for a bit. Now T is sick as the germs make the way through our house. I can't wait until this sick season is over, the ibuprofen is put back on the shelf, and the sounds of coughing fade.

--MM