It has been a week of sickness in this house. Last weekend Evan was just not himself. He was super clingy, wouldn’t sleep in his crib, wouldn’t nap, and didn’t want to be put down. This made life quite difficult – especially bedtime. I had a very tired little boy. And because he didn’t want to sleep in his crib at all and was waking up all night with a fever, I didn’t sleep much either.
What? Me? Cause problems? Never!
By Monday night he seemed to be back to normal, minus a severely runny noise. I got him to go down pretty easily and he was fine at my sister’s on Tuesday. Then he started coughing – one of those wet, congested coughs. And he coughed all night long – little coughs that wracked his tiny little body. So I stayed home with him today, took him to the doctor, and am trying to nurse him back to health by giving him lots of steam baths.
The doctor checked him out and ruled out an ear infection (the fever + him pulling on his ears made me think maybe an ear infection or teething – neither it seems). She gave him some meds to put in a nebulizer if he starts coughing at my sister’s house (however, he’s not going back there until Monday…hopefully he’s better by then).
What are you talking about? I’m the cutest thing around town!
Sick babies cause lots of stress. And not just stress because it’s horrible to have a sick baby, but the stress of trying to balance work and family.
Yes, the dreaded work-life balance. A stressful balance here in the United States of America.
I work for a great organization that recognizes that family is very important. That’s definitely made my life so much easier. I can work from home a couple days a week, I can adjust my schedule as needed, I can take Evan on my work trips (although someone always comes with me to watch him). However, it is still hard. All night long Evan was coughing and coughing and coughing and I kept thinking: do I work or do I stay home? Do I stay home and take Evan to the doctor? Do I go to work and hope he’s ok? Is he well enough to go to daycare? Can I take him to the doctor on Friday (when I work from home)? I already had Monday off and I worked from home on Wednesday – if I don’t go to work today then I will have only gone one day this week. What’s the right choice in this situation?
It’s always better to stay home and play with me!
Yes – all this was running through my head at 2am. I don’t want to be a slacker at work and I don’t want to be a mom that works when she should stay home with her sick baby. That balance is SO HARD. And honestly, I never really imagined these types of things when I was growing up. I guess in my head I thought maybe I’d stay home with my kids, like my mom did. Then I wouldn’t have had to make choices like this on a daily basis. But I went to college and grad school and Peace Corps and I love my job and I love working. And there is NO WAY we can afford for me to stay home and take care of the little one.
But on days like these – I kind of wish I could. When there is no relief from the guilt – guilt for not going to work or guilt for sending my baby to daycare when he’s sick. Either way, there is guilt.
Look at me – I can move around now! I make life more challenging!
I guess I’ll just have to get used to that guilt because I have a feeling I’ll be struggling with these issues of work vs. family for a long time. Unless I win the lottery. Which means I should probably buy a ticket because although the lottery is pretty impossible to win – it’s even more impossible to win if you don’t have a ticket.
And another thought – why is it so much easier for me to take off work than for my husband??? It is so much harder for him to ask for off, so I usually end up taking the day off unless I’ve taken a bunch of time off already.
Such is life. And no matter what – this little angel always comes first!
I’m a little angel and I like to smother you with kisses and hugs!
Aww! He is such a sweetheart! I hope Evan is feeling better. And I think it's awesome that you work for a company that is so supportive. Mike and I are lucky in that regard too, as I am a teacher (summers off are going to be huge, I feel) and he owns his own business so he can dictate his own schedule. But I know that not everyone is in the same boat, and I wish things were different for working mamas!
ReplyDeleteSummers off will be the BEST! Along with breaks in winter and spring! That is the ideal schedule, especially once he/she starts school (I know - a long way off). And it'll be nice that your husband can stay home if the baby's sick or something during the school year. Do you get a decent amount of maternity leave?
DeleteOh the things mom's have to deal with that dad's don't - #1 on the list: guilt. It's always there. Working mom's will always be superheroes to me - I will never know how you do it all, balance it all, and still have sanity.... or sleep. As a stay at home mom, I still have plenty of guilt - spending 24/7 with a teeny little one can make you go a little crazy and time to yourself, whatever your outlet is, will always make you feel guilty.
ReplyDeleteYou are an amazing woman, mom, wife, who has her priorities right. You make great decisions and I support them! Trust your instincts and pray - you'll know when he just has a cold and you can go to work, and you'll know when the doc may say he doesn't have an ear infection, but your baby needs you to stay home and rock him all day. <3
Haha - I think working moms just don't do things as thoroughly all the time. My house is clean, but not as clean as it could be. Dinner is made, but it's not as spectacular as it could be. And sleep is over-rated!
DeleteThanks for your support though - I do try to just pray and listen to my instincts. And Evan was super happy I stayed home yesterday and took care of him - he showered me with tons of kisses and hugs!
I hope this little guy feels super better really soon. It's hard when an illness drags on, but I guess it often takes us a week or more to really feel back to normal. And it doesn't matter if you are home all day with your children, or off to work each day, deciding whether or not they are sick enough for a doctor's visit is always hard. We either seem to take them and they are already better while we're still in the waiting room, or they're so sick the doctor looks at you like you're crazy for having waited so long. I think the delay in taking them is because we never really want to admit our child is ill, like its something we did wrong, which it isn't. And we want them to just get better on their own. You're doing great at this mommy thing-just look at that amazing smile on his face!
ReplyDelete