I don’t mean to blow my own horn here… Last week I had flu which turned into a serious chest infection. I also had asthma which I haven’t had in years. I had to take a course of antibiotics and that made me feel sick in my stomach. I’m all better now from the infection, my stomach is not yet happy.
What does this have to do with superheroes? Well, while I was ill, I still had to take care of my 3 kids. My husband was away the whole week I was sick at a client and so no help from that side.
What really helped me was that the kids were in school most of the day and that I have a truly super nanny that stayed late most days until it was bedtime.
I dare not imagine what life would be like if I had no help. Whilst I don’t want to imagine, I can certainly appreciate the strength of women that go at it alone. I certainly don’t know if I could manage.
There are many families where the mother is a full time, stay at home Mom. In some instances, there is no other half. And these Moms still manage to get their kids ready for school in the morning, to do homework with them, to feed them, bathe them, etc., whether they are healthy or not.
I don’t know about you, but if my hubby is ill, he just gets himself into bed and stays there until he’s better. We, Moms, still have to wake up at 7am (or earlier) to get the kids ready. Flu or no flu.
It all became worse when at the same time as I was ill, my daughters also fell ill. Coughing, runny noses, fever, the works. I don’t quite know why kids only seem to cough at night. Needless to say I didn’t exactly have much sleep.
All the while I was thinking, it’s ok, at least Mr A is not ill. He, like Daddy, is the worst. He doesn’t like me saying that he is a baby (he is 4!) but when it comes to being ill, he certainly is the worst. And so, as Murphy’s law would have it, he got sick too.
The last few nights have been terrible. He has been coughing and has a temperature, but whilst Miss Z and Miss A still manage to get some hours of uninterrupted sleep, Mr A just cries all night long. Like a baby.
I go to his room, I ask what’s wrong, but he just cries. I tell him he’s not a baby and that he needs to tell Mommy what’s wrong. He cries some more.
Last night was the worst because his crying also woke up Miss A. So I was going from one bedroom to the other. They both calmed down at about 2am. I slept until 5, at which point Mr A woke up (with coughing) and got back to his crying routine.
This morning, I told him he was staying in bed because he was ill. But he insisted he was all fine. And so he got ready to go to school. The nanny told me later that halfway there he started whining again. I had sent a message to pre-warn the teacher. He lasted until 11am.
The nanny went to collect him and I talked to him on Skype. I told him he had to sleep in the afternoon so he could feel better. He promptly replied “I’m sick Mommy, not tired. Sleeping is for the night time”.
I don’t know what is waiting for me tonight. But what I do know is that sleep or no sleep, I will have to be up by 7am tomorrow morning. And that’s why all Moms are superheroes. Kudos!