Believe me if I could have, I would have. I have had a gazillion colds since my little man was born. I've had the stomach flu two times too many, intestinal issues, pink eye, bruises, contusions, skinned knees and an ear infection. (My first ever, which probably wasn't his fault, but since I'd never had one before he came along, I find the correlation more than a little suspicious).
I've had allergies my whole life and I can usually do a cold standing on my head, but every once in while I get socked with one that kicks my ass. You know the kind, you can usually remember them; My last one was in August of 2006. I was moving and had a six month old and it was hotter than the surface of the sun. I sat in a restaurant that day after working myself ragged and cried. I felt bad. Really bad.
I did that same thing Tuesday morning. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and cried. I felt sorry for myself that I was waking up again, after falling asleep hoping big hopes that I would wake up feeling just a little bit better than I did when I dosed off (propped up on a stack of pillows to curb the incessant coughing), feeling like complete shit. The husband had a big meeting and had to leave earlier than he could drop the little one off at school. I had stuff that was due and people who needed answers from me at work. Lunches had to be made, toddlers needed to be wrestled with, diapers needed changing, cars needed to be crashed into each other, cereal with milk needed dishing out and I could barely imagine the long walk to the shower with a head that felt like I had steel wool for brains.
I took antihistamines, decongestants, ibuprofen, expectorants, cough suppressants, elderberry, zinc and some cough syrup that had codeine in it that expired six months ago. (It sill worked.) I sucked it up, carried a box of tissues around with me all day, gagged on cough drops and drank hot water with lemon. When it got too hard to read books without coughing, I whispered. I took hot baths after my boy went to sleep in steamy bathrooms. I slept with a vaporizer.
I survived under conditions that five years ago would have had me under the covers for two days. Today I feel fine. A bit of a residual cough remains along with some day glo colored snot but from onset to conclusion I kicked this cold in 4 days instead of letting it kick me.
Real moms don't have time to be sick.
Your turn. (Here's how it works: Put up a post "Real Moms [insert what you do here]", followed by an explanation, a picture, and a "Real Moms...". Go to Real Mom Truths for more details. This is contest (a good one) AND it's fun. The winner will receive this amazing 4G iPod Nano and Chocolate gift set, plus a link to their post on True Mom Confessions on Mother's Day.
