I know I've been MIA this week. I have been reminiscing a lot about my single days. No, not the images of being young and carefree but rather the memories of when I was able to call in to work, take the day off and then curl up in my blankets and go back to bed if I were sick. It was even better when I got my first cat because she snuggled up next to me. Ahh, those were the days: feverish, throwing up, dirty tissues covering the bed, but most importantly peace and quiet. I really and truly had those days off.
A couple of Fridays ago, I woke up at 1 am and threw up. I felt nauseated for a couple hours and then fell back asleep. I canceled everything for the day figuring I had the stomach flu. Nothing else happened though. My stomach felt delicate for a few days, but other than that I felt fine. I figured it was stress because we've had a lot going on and any time I've thrown up, whether from morning sickness or an amusement park ride, it's taken me a few days to be able to eat normally again. A couple of days later, I developed a sore throat for a couple of days, followed by a cold for a couple of days, followed by losing my voice followed by a trip to the doctor followed by spending the rest of the day in bed. Had I been back in my single days, I would have called in sick and curled up with my cat. I probably would have even had food delivered. However, I didn't feel feverish, and to "call in sick" would involve my husband calling in sick to work and I can pretty much guarantee there wouldn't have been peace and quiet. Plus the cat still hasn't gotten over the fact that I had kids and tends to make herself scarce during the day. More than likely had I tried to snuggle with her she would have peed on my bed. I would complain to the management, but that would just be writing a letter to myself. I just tried to cut back on everything and to try not to be around too many people lest I expose them.
Apparently there is a virus going around that starts with GI issues and then morphs into a cold. Of course, anything could have brought me to the royal throne, so I may or may not have had this virus. However, it had gone on long enough to not feel right and more importantly for that sore throat to prevent me from doing my two most favorite things: eating and talking. For the record, my kids loved it because I also couldn't yell at them and they couldn't really hear anything I told them to do. My doctor prescribed antibiotics because she was concerned that I was developing a sinus infection. As I described it, "This is the crappiest I have felt in years." Whether the virus ran its course, I had been suffering from allergies that developed into something more, or the problem really was bacterial, the antibiotics seemed to do the trick. Hopefully in the next day or so my voice will fully return. In the meantime, I highly recommend the Spooky Friend-Z from Friendly's. Yes, it is everything that you should not feed your kids: sugar and artificially colored orange. I enjoyed it immensely. Of course I also couldn't really taste anything either!
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: It is easier to get ill with kids. It is easier to be ill without kids.
My friend, who's one of those parents who only fed her children organically grown things that she grew herself, handmade baby food, no television, only reading, etc., etc. listened to me whine about being sick when C was about the age of YS.
This is what she said,"Buy tons of junk food, put together a pile of his fave videos, and you get comfy on the couch and just let him sugar and stupor his way through your illness. He'll get back to normal when you do."
My jaw dropped and I was shocked, but it actually worked. I got the rest I needed, got back on my feet more quickly, and C was (really) no worse for the wear.
Is there some monkey virus going around? I swear everyone I talk to is getting sick and for a long time, including me. Starting at labor day weekend, I walked around with a cold for a month. And probably b/c I couldn't just curl up in bed with my cat, too. B/c those were the days, I have a cat also and did the same thing, pre-kids days.
Professional Mom of two cats, a dog, an ant farm, and oh yeah...two boys: a 5 year old and a 2 year old. Also found in my house is my husband who is known on this blog as The Big Giraffe.
For those of us who didn't get an instruction manual with our babies and for whom parenting hasn't always gone as planned. On a more serious note this blog is about supporting a woman's ability to make her own choices about parenting including the choice, for whatever reason, to bottle feed her babies formula.
:( Hope you're feeling better by now. I HATE flu germs. A cold I can handle, but puking and nausea freaks me out...