@Drop cap Minion:First came the scratchy throat, then the runny nose and cough. I tried to make it stop, but after an outside field trip in 37-degree weather, the very thing moms fear the most had overtaken me.
I was sick.
“You’re going to have to help me today,” I mumble to my husband.
But he has an early meeting and will be gone before I am out of bed.
Think quick.
Who do I call? What is the protocol when a stay-at-home mom is sick? I have no family that lives in town. I don’t dare burden a friend with extra kids. How can I call in sick?
I know the answer before I snuggle back down into the covers and await the arrival of my 3- and 5-year-old girls into the bedroom.
There will be no sick day today. Moms are not allowed.
After my 5-year-old goes to kindergarten, I drag my 3-year-old with me to the doctor. I figure if I can get an antibiotic now, the sickness won’t be so bad. The 3-year-old drops Cheerios onto the dirty floor and picks them up. Oops. A few went in her mouth. I barely have the energy to tell her to stop.
Doctor announces that what I have is viral and not much can be done. A bunch of over-the-counter drugs and plenty of rest and I should be better. Rest? Ha.
I tell the girls they have to watch a movie. It is required because Mommy needs to rest.
But young children don’t understand sick days.
My 5-year-old is requesting that I find a picture of me smiling at the camera so she can cut it out and glue it onto a piece of construction paper she made into a butterfly. She won’t leave me alone about this.
I trudge into my guest room and pull out a drawer of pictures. I offer several, but she tells me I am not smiling enough.
This is crazy.
Lisa Doyle, a stay-at-home-mom of two in Plano, Texas, said it’s just not possible for moms to be sick. Dads, yes. Moms, no.
She said she listened to her husband go on and on about his ear infection, but as soon as she got sick she had too much to do to complain.
“I was sitting there thinking, I do not have time to be sick. There’s no laying in bed,” she said.
What about those nanny services we hear about? Would they come to a mom’s rescue?
Nannie &Housekeepers USA in Las Vegas can be at your house in 45 minutes.
Owner Lexy Capp said the service does get a lot of calls from moms who are sick or moms who need a nanny to stay home with their sick kids. The service requires a four-hour minimum. Members of the company’s baby-sitting registry pay a booking fee plus $12 an hour for a nanny. Nonmembers would have to pay $45 an hour.
It’s good to know for next time.
My husband did bring me home some soup, so at least I didn’t have to cook. But there are no breaks from preparing meals for the kids, wiping bottoms, giving baths, taking kids to school and making sure they aren’t killing each other while playing.
A few days later, I am no better and I am sure I have taken enough Nyquil to be legally drunk all the time. I return to the doctor and say I have to be well, that it is not a possibility for me to be sick.
I get drugs, which I don’t think have much effect, and on my patient information sheet it tells me to get lots of rest and “supportive care.”
Is that a joke?
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