Sure you have a sick kid. Must be nice. I used to say with an eye roll. I am eating crow for every meal today.
"Sure you have a sick kid. Must be nice." I used to say with an eye roll. I am eating crow for every meal today.
I was wrong. Really wrong. I was naive. Really naive. Or better said, I was simply a selfish single person in a way only a selfish single person can be. (Not judging, I used to be there too, and it had a wonderful side to it.)
I don't want to be one of those moms who is like, wow you just don't get it, life is totally different when you have kids. But it's true, life is totally different. I have not spent a single night away from my child since he was born. He's 10.5 months old. I have either pumped milk or breastfed him every single one of those days. Most days I've done both. I'm not a martyr. I chose this life. I loooove this life. But I also have a parasite of sorts. He lives off me. In order to keep him alive, I have to be somewhat less selfish than I was. These are facts.
Also a fact - I can be judgey. Not proud of it, just honest about it. I can't tell you how many times I used to sit at work and roll my eyes when we'd get a "sick kid" phone call or an email that so-and-so wouldn't be coming in because of a sick kid. Heck, I remember when a few of us joked about adopting and sharing a child just so we could get the sick-kid privileges.
This morning every single one of those eye rolls came fluttering back in my mind.
Typically I get our son dressed in the morning but my husband did on this Sunday. We were at the mall when I noticed a couple dots on the baby's neck. I said, what's that!? My husband: oh yeah, I noticed he had some of that on his body. Not sure what it is. Me: And you didn't think you should mention it? #men
We got home, and when I changed his diaper I noticed more polka dots. He seemed fine otherwise so we decided to wait until Monday and reassess.
I got up with him early and fed him and noticed they were covering a larger area. I called the doctor's office, and they said to bring him in.
Mind you, my husband recently started a new job and has been going to the office most mornings. Today he had an afternoon meeting scheduled, and I had an early start to work planned. So we were going to try a new daycare provider today. But the baby had spots.
I let work know that I wouldn't be able to come into my early meeting and arranged a backup plan for that. I had my son ready to go to the doctor. Oh no. My husband has the car seat. Called husband. Got car seat. Called doctor about being late. Went to appointment.
Doc took a look and said he's all good, just to keep an eye on x,y,z. He likely just has something viral, but it's nothing serious. He can even go to daycare.
At this point, it's easier not to re-rearrange daycare so I'll stay here a little longer, husband will come home from his meeting, then I'll go into work a little late because I had a potentially sick kid who apparently is just an oddly colored kid not sick.
I just wrote out the minutia of my morning, but I forgot something. My fears. My heart. I'm in tears writing this because yes there was a period of time this morning when I was convinced my child had measles and would need to be quarantined for a month. There was a period of time when I read about Roseola and determined I must have missed his fever a couple days ago, and if I missed it, does that make me the worst mom ever? And I spent a good six minutes staring at him hoping he could telepathically tell me everything he was feeling since he can't yet speak. Being a mom makes you feel helpless and yet you've never wanted to help more.
I feel like I've had a week in this day, and I haven't even been to work yet.
I expect there might be an eye roll from my childless co-workers today, and that's okay. It's good to enjoy any stage of life you're in. And if they want to think life is so much easier when you have kids because you get to take a sick day in their honor, well, we'll just let them think that. And then one day, maybe we can all have a crow buffet together.
I was wrong. Really wrong. I was naive. Really naive. Or better said, I was simply a selfish single person in a way only a selfish single person can be. (Not judging, I used to be there too, and it had a wonderful side to it.)
I don't want to be one of those moms who is like, wow you just don't get it, life is totally different when you have kids. But it's true, life is totally different. I have not spent a single night away from my child since he was born. He's 10.5 months old. I have either pumped milk or breastfed him every single one of those days. Most days I've done both. I'm not a martyr. I chose this life. I loooove this life. But I also have a parasite of sorts. He lives off me. In order to keep him alive, I have to be somewhat less selfish than I was. These are facts.
Also a fact - I can be judgey. Not proud of it, just honest about it. I can't tell you how many times I used to sit at work and roll my eyes when we'd get a "sick kid" phone call or an email that so-and-so wouldn't be coming in because of a sick kid. Heck, I remember when a few of us joked about adopting and sharing a child just so we could get the sick-kid privileges.
This morning every single one of those eye rolls came fluttering back in my mind.
Typically I get our son dressed in the morning but my husband did on this Sunday. We were at the mall when I noticed a couple dots on the baby's neck. I said, what's that!? My husband: oh yeah, I noticed he had some of that on his body. Not sure what it is. Me: And you didn't think you should mention it? #men
We got home, and when I changed his diaper I noticed more polka dots. He seemed fine otherwise so we decided to wait until Monday and reassess.
I got up with him early and fed him and noticed they were covering a larger area. I called the doctor's office, and they said to bring him in.
Mind you, my husband recently started a new job and has been going to the office most mornings. Today he had an afternoon meeting scheduled, and I had an early start to work planned. So we were going to try a new daycare provider today. But the baby had spots.
I let work know that I wouldn't be able to come into my early meeting and arranged a backup plan for that. I had my son ready to go to the doctor. Oh no. My husband has the car seat. Called husband. Got car seat. Called doctor about being late. Went to appointment.
Doc took a look and said he's all good, just to keep an eye on x,y,z. He likely just has something viral, but it's nothing serious. He can even go to daycare.
At this point, it's easier not to re-rearrange daycare so I'll stay here a little longer, husband will come home from his meeting, then I'll go into work a little late because I had a potentially sick kid who apparently is just an oddly colored kid not sick.
I just wrote out the minutia of my morning, but I forgot something. My fears. My heart. I'm in tears writing this because yes there was a period of time this morning when I was convinced my child had measles and would need to be quarantined for a month. There was a period of time when I read about Roseola and determined I must have missed his fever a couple days ago, and if I missed it, does that make me the worst mom ever? And I spent a good six minutes staring at him hoping he could telepathically tell me everything he was feeling since he can't yet speak. Being a mom makes you feel helpless and yet you've never wanted to help more.
I feel like I've had a week in this day, and I haven't even been to work yet.
I expect there might be an eye roll from my childless co-workers today, and that's okay. It's good to enjoy any stage of life you're in. And if they want to think life is so much easier when you have kids because you get to take a sick day in their honor, well, we'll just let them think that. And then one day, maybe we can all have a crow buffet together.
