When you get sick, it’s not like back in your childless days when you could spend as long as you needed lying in bed, watching reality TV marathons, only propping your head up now and again to safely spoon-feed yourself chicken soup so you wouldn’t dribble it on your duvet.
Nope, now that you’ve got kids to take care of, there will be no sick days for you. You’ve got to get up, make them breakfast, play with them, carpool, just like a regular day.
It’s in these moments that DayQuil and NyQuil come in really handy, which is why I partnered with them on their #NoSickDays campaign to create 24 hours in the life of a sick parent. A few weeks back, I asked my readers on the Mommy Shorts Facebook page to submit pictures of the things they still had to do while they were under the weather. Which is, of course, basically, EVERYTHING.
Each one of the 24 chosen photos below gets a $50 Amex gift card and I’m giving away an even bigger prize ($500!!!) for commenting under this post. But before we get to the giveaway…
Here are 24 Hours in the Life of a Sick Parent that were featured yesterday on the @NyQuilDayQuil twitter account:
DayQuil/NyQuil Severe relieves your worst cold & flu symptoms so moms and dads can go back to doing the things we love (and the things we don’t) for our families. Dayquil Severe fights symptoms to help you stay alert and on your feet during the day while Nyquil helps you sleep and recharge for the next day. Because, NEWS FLASH, you can’t take tomorrow off either!
GIVEAWAY: $500 AMEX GIFT CARD
1) To enter, you must be a Mommy Shorts subscriber. If you are not already a subscriber, you can become one here.
2) Then leave a comment under this post talking about a personal #NoSickDays experience when you had to power through in the name of your kids. Fun times!
You can read the full rules here.
Winner will be selected randomly and announced on March 3rd.
Good luck!
Winner Update:
Congrats to $500 Amex Gift Card winner Robin! Please contact pam@mommyshorts.com to claim your prize.
———————————–
If you were one of the 24 photos featured in this blog post, please contact pam@mommyshorts.com to claim your $50 prize! Please put the time stamp of your photo in the subject so we know which one is yours.
This post was sponsored by NyQuil/DayQuil but all thoughts and opinions are my own.
I had a stomach flu but no one else was sick. The show must go on! My three year old told me “that’s disgusting”. Thanks kiddo!
Stomach bug… me and my two boys (2 & 5). It was basically just a couple of days of alternating between light food, vomit clean up, hydrating, and crying. This didn’t happen in any particular order, and I can’t garantee that I did not participate in the crying portion. #nosickdays #canwestillreadabedtimestory #whoneedssleepanyway
A few years ago my 4yr old son came down with a stomach bug that moved through the family. My 2 yr old son threw up in the middle of a friend’s play room during a play date at her home. Took them home and I came down with it during the night. Both ends. I was in the middle of nursing my 3 month old during one episode. Well we all get up the next day and my husband happily gets ready for work and as he’s walking out the door, smiles and says “Not sure what the big deal is, you just threw up a few times last night.” I take my 4 yr old to preschool, carry on normal things while still running to the bathroom and taking care of a 2 yr old who still isn’t feeling good, a now healthy 4 yr old who is ready to play, and a 3 month old baby. I felt like garbage. Husband even worked late that night so I put everyone to sleep.
Needless to say, my husband came down with it a few days later. He threw up a few times and in the morning, called me on the phone from upstairs to ask me to bring him his computer and something to drink. He felt like he was dying. Really honey? Really? Poor guy hasn’t heard the end of it. He now just stays home when I’m sick. No discussion.
I believe that is one of the such a lot important information for me.
And i am glad reading your article. But wanna observation on few general things, The web site style is perfect, the articles is really great : D.
Excellent task, cheers
About two months after my third baby was placed with us I had to have a major surgery that would leave me unable to lift anything over 5 pounds for several weeks. Unfortunately, my husband got deployed to a disaster zone at the same time so I had three kids under three (one a newborn) and no family locally that could help. I was lucky in that because I was a foster parent I had several foster family friends I could call on for help, but man… recovering from that surgery with three littles in tow was likely one of the roughest things I’ve ever done. It made me really appreciate the struggle single parents go through!!
The time we welcomed a newborn home while my toddler brought home a bad cold and pinkeye at school, spiking a fever overnight. My husband and I were already struggling with little sleep, now add a cold for each of us, and trying to juggle both of their needs!
After vomiting all night, I was sick on my day off with my 20 month old. Luckily she was somewhat cooperative and played by herself while I sat on the couch and felt horrible. Weak, nauseated, and still in pajamas but still a mom!
So many stories for no sick days! I’m fighting off a fever right now and still having to fight with my 2.5 year old to use her big girl potty. Or what about the time I was pregnant with my third child and i got the flu! That was something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy! Sometimes we just need a pause button for these crazy kids!
I have been home for over a week with a sick 28 year old (husband), sick 2 year old, and a sick 4 month old. I have to care for all of them while they get better. The whole time sick myself. I finally tool myself to the doctors to find out I have a sinus infection and ear infection. My husband who is feeling better still thinks the magical fairies in the house cook, clean, and do everything else. Since we don’t have magical fairies that means me lol. Being a mom means no sick days fo me. Thank goodness the kids are all feeling better!
I came down with the flu and my daughter caught it too. I spent my days making sure her fever was down, that she had food to keep her nourished, and that she rested enough. Needless to say it took me longer to recuperate than her.
When I had the stomach flu my husband taught our toddler how to work the water dispenser on our fridge to bring me water. I couldn’t get off the couch and still had to take care of her all day while he was at work.
A few years ago, my husband brought the flu home from a business trip and gave it to me… right before Christmas. We had a baby and 2 year old. I had to drag myself out of bed on Christmas morning to join everyone even though I thought I would die. We were careful though and at least the kids did not get it.
I have four kids. They are now teenagers, but when they were little, I got pneumonia! Yes. Pneumonia. Who catches pneumonia?! This mom.
I wasn’t feeling well, but had to take care of the kids because Daddy was at work (of course). At the time I didn’t know I had pneumonia. Just felt icky. By the time Daddy came home from work, I was laying on the couch covered in a blanket. He noticed I was flush and felt my forehead. He said I was burning up. I had no idea. Who has time for that? So we took my temp and it was pretty high- 103. It was in the evening, so he took me to the ER (back then they didn’t have so many urgent care places around). THAT’S when I found out it was pneumonia. Supermom!
I had strep throat that came with night sweats, throwing up and the shakes before Christmas. At that time I was still exclusively breastfeeding my infant daughter. It was not fun to sit and feed her while I felt so bad. I’m glad she never got sick though!
The day I came home from the hospital with my daughter I got out of the car only to realize I couldn’t walk straight. It felt like I was being pulled hard to one side. Everything was spinning. I got sick. So I went back to the hospital and they said I had vertigo, fluid on my inner ear. It was terrible. I couldn’t walk straight for days and I needed to care for my new baby. I have never felt so sick. It was like being on a ride at the fair and they won’t let you off. But I had to push through. Because things had to get done. Laundry, dinners and taking care of baby. Thank goodness babies sleep alot at first. That was rough.
Due to allergies and ages, every time an illness hits our house, it’s off to the store for 3 kinds of meds. His, mine, the toddler’s.
Then I have to get gloves so I can rub vapo-rub on them!
Of course, hubby sleeps the whole time so I have to be the one to chase the kid, who turns into a lunatic when he’s sick.
Being sick with toddlers is the worst! Recently, I used an entire box of tissues before 10am, and had to switch to toilet paper. I also had a stomach flu and spent a long time on the bathroom floor while my kids said, “Mamma, flush potty? Mamma, take bubble bath? Mamma, brush teeth?” All cute things to say, but not when I just wanted to lay on the floor alone!
Right after I take time off work to stay home with my sick son, I will get sick. Feeling too guilty to take more time off work, I inevitably end up dragging myself to work while feeling terrible. Life must go on!
With a 2 year old and a 7 month old I feel like we are all always sick. Last week after my kids were done being sick, I of course got sick. I still had to play blocks with the 7 month old, fix breakfast lunch & dinner, help my 2 year old take care of her “baby” doll, all while breastfeeding. So exhausting. Then my husband gets home & asks what I did all day. Really? Bahahahaha #NoSickDays
It’s hard not to laugh looking back on having the stomach bug and throwing up, my three year old running to the bathroom concerned, but still asking me to finish putting on a play for her.
this past december, we (my 5 year old, 4 year old, 3 year old, and 8 week old) decided to tag along with my husband on his business trip to hawaii. he would be working for the first three days of our trip, and then the next five days were going to be for family vacationing.
right when the plane landed in oahu, my son vomited all over himself, the seat, and my nursing cover. we were hoping it was just motion sickness from the plane. it wasn’t. he was full-on, stomach-bug sick. vomit central. for two whole days. while my husband was at work.
in addition to all the vomit, my 8-week old had run a fever from her vaccinations she had gotten the day before we flew out to hawaii. talk about perfect timing. she was fussy, feverish, and needed to be held all day.
then add my migraine and i could barely function. unfortunately, my husband had to leave for work everyday. and while staying in a hotel in hawaii seems glamorous, it certainly isn’t when you have a vomiting kid, a feverish baby who needs to be worn or held, a mama with a migraine, and two other littles who are voicing that they are bored.
but. we made the most of it and when my husband got back to the hotel, i took the two non-sick kids, we played at waikiki building sand castles, running through waves, and soaking in the hawaiian sun while my husband held baby and monitored our vomiting son.
I remember this vividly – My son projectile vomited 1 day. all day from noon on. then through the night. then he was happy as a clam the next AM. then…at noon it was my turn. barfing and feeding and doing all his barf laundry. It was pure survival mode!
LAST WEEK. WE HAD A SUPER, AWFUL, NO GOOD, VERY SICK, WEEK….
A husband who works nights. A threenager who is on afternoon nap-strike. And, a mom who was hit with the flu of the century… all the symptoms… all at once… no mercy for mom.
So, how does one survive this? Well, it takes some creativity, that’s for sure. But, if we can can survive the toddler years, potty training, bottle weaning, and heck, childbirth!… then we can survive darn near anything.
I’m proud to say that during my days of flu-mageddon, my child actually learned quite a bit… For instance, he learned to “fetch” (and loved it!).. How? Well, this consisted of Mom laying (curled up in the fetal position, rather) on the couch tossing different objects down the hallway and timing how fast my little minion could retrieve them… that’s scored me about 2 hours on the couch AND it wore him out enough that he then was then perfectly content binge watching Curious George for about 2 more hours (no shame there. mom’s gotta do what mom’s gotta do!)… And, Voila! Just repeat this again after lunch and you’ll have yourself a happy kiddo and a semi-rested / “on your way to being functional again” momma.
I feel lucky that usually when I am sick, my husband insists I take it easy and rest. Unfortunately, last time I was sick, he was traveling for work, so there was no taking it easy at all. I knew I needed to get some sleep, which is never easy with a nasty cold. Bring on the NyQuil gel caps! One does the trick for me, allowing me to get sleep but not be groggy in the morning. Since I also work full-time, I need to be alert during the day. DayQuil helps me function in the morning to get the kids off to school and function through the work day.
I’m going through it now with my son who is 1. I don’t have a cold but I have a herniated disc and I can’t pick him up and that is killing me more than the pain which is just beyond awful. I’ve used Nyquil sometimes to fall asleep due to the pain. 🙁
This week, while staying home from work because I was sick, I still had to walk to my son’s school to pick him up when he started running a fever. Then I had to walk him to the doctor’s office, and then walk him back home.
#weneedasecondcar #nosickdaysformom
A couple weeks ago I had a migraine on top of strep. I only had to watch my 2.5 year old daughter for 3 hours before my husband got home from work. Totally doable… I’ve given birth. She was being such a good girl reading and playing by herself because she knew mommy didn’t feel well. I was laying on the couch, eyes closed, listening my daughter sweetly talking to her baby when I smelled the distinct smell of nail polish. She came running around to the front of the couch beaming having just given her babya Mani/pedi. Toes, fingers, legs arms and eyes were all a beautiful shade of bubblegum pink..and so was the couch and carpet.
I had major abdominal surgery when my youngest was 1. I breastfeed her so while I was recovering (with a gross drain and everything), I was still getting up multiple times a night to nurse her. Since I wasn’t able to lift anything, my husband had to wake up each time to, in order to get her from her crib and bring her to me. Fun times.
My biggest #nosickday was when my son, myself and our nanny had the flu. The nanny called in sick, and I stayed home with my son. We spent the majority of the day playing on the ipad in my room. Maybe a parenting fail, but at least I didn’t have to get out of bed for much other than to get us water and crackers.
I have two kids, who like all kids refuse to give me a second alone even when I have to pee. Back in November a terrible stomach bug hit me and left me running for the bathroom every 5-10 minutes. As if this isn’t bad enough I had to do it in front of a full audience EVERY DAMN TIME! As if the audience wasn’t bad enough they were full of questions about the whole situation. Ugh it was a terrible day, but as a moms we don’t get a choice we have to power through.
I live in Brooklyn, and I got a horrible stomach bug at work. I left early from work, but I had to pick my kid up and take him home while I was still uptown. I got to his daycare and was holding in vomit as I lugged him my last ounce of strength to catch a car. We took an uber home and as my kid is sitting next to me, I threw up in his diaper bag. I start singing songs to keep the baby happy and unconcerned. I am certain the uber driver thought I was hungover or crazy.
Once both kids and I had a terrible stomach virus and there was some serious chain reaction vomiting going on. I had everyone corralled in the bathroom with one occupying the toilet, one with a trashcan, and me policing the area. One threw up causing me to gag into the sink which caused my big one to gag into the shower instead of her “sick bag”. Needles to say I had to bleach the entire bathroom about five times after that; it was like that scene out of bridesmaids.
Nothing better than the flu taking over everyone in your house! We are ALL sick right now. Mommy, Daddy, Michael (tomorrow is his birthday 2/24) and Thomas (8 months). My poor guys are miserable and what a way to celebrate a 3rd birthday! Not only that, but when my husband is sick he automatically becomes an extra child to take care of, lol. So on top of taking care of myself, I have my “three” kids to keep happy. Definitely #NOSICKDAYS for Mommy here! Wahhhh!
A single mom so I do this a lot! Running to dance practices or boyscout meetings in between fever spikes or bathroom trips. But what I love more than anything is when your kids stop and realize how sick you are, force you to bed and want to take care of you. It’s so cute and absolutely the best!
The worst is when any sickness takes over your house- my husband and I were dealing with the flu taking turns throwing up in the bathroom and taking turns cleaning up the throw up of a 2 year old that was not going to make it to the bathroom ever and who had really bad aim and could not make it in the bucket (playing in the sand at the beach takes a turn when you remember what the bucket was last used for!). Most of the time I think he was throwing up in his sleep and only waking up since it got messy (poor thing). I think at some point we all just ended up sleeping on the floor with towels to save the carpet… ah memories! thank goodness that was just a one time ordeal and we have been able to stay away from any repeats.
My hysterectomy left me with an incision along my old C-section scar. And as it was with my c-section, there was no rest and lots of rule breaking. Picking kids up, doing all the chores, making all the meals. I hurt so bad but it all needed to be done.
I was 3 weeks post partum and had the flu and uti while trying to (learn how to) breast feed. Push fluids they said (for the uti) and I promptly threw up anything within 10 minutes so that didn’t work. I was an absolute mess and my baby didn’t take kindly being suddenly jerked off the breast each time I had to hurl. Which also wasn’t comfortable after just having had a baby. I don’t wish it on anyone. We powered through tho.
This one time I was sick with some weird stomach bug. I had a fever and was throwing up all day. Of course I stayed home from work but I still had to take care of my 8 month old. Trust me it was a horrible day. The worst part of all is that when my hubby is sick and has to stay home from work with our daughter, all he does is go over to his mom’s place and she watches our daughter while he rests and gets a nice homemade lunch from her.????
No sick days for parents, ain’t that the truth? How about when you are sick at the same time as your baby, and your husband is working night shift for 3 nights? Momma can’t breathe? Suck it up and take your meds. Momma’s stomache is upset? Suck it up buttercup. My baby was sick, couldn’t breathe if he wasn’t laying upright. Know what that means? This momma slept sitting up all night long until my son felt better. If I didn’t, he would choke. Elevating his bed didn’t help. So even though I was sick, I didn’t get to curl up in the fetal position in a dark quiet room I like wanted to. No sick days for parents!
The first year we hosted Christmas at our house, I was so sick! A kid had coughed in. My face the week before, and I had a miserable cough and cold, and I still had to cook Christmas dinner, mostly by myself. I wanted to sneeze on everything and make everyone feel as miserable as I did.
#NoSickDays I got a 24 hour, severe, stomach bug 12 hours before we got on an international flight. Between changing baby diapers….and almost needing my own (gross! sorry!), I spent more time in an airplane bathroom than anyone deserves. hahaha its all good now though!
Christmas 2015…. The flu hit me during Christmas Eve service. To escape I nominated myself to walk the church halls with our toddler… Who pooped in route. So I had to take her to the public bathroom change her diaper while I was sweating and dry heaving over the toilet. Once home I spent the entire holiday in my sister in laws basement throwing up missing out on everything. But don’t worry I mad a short appearance long enough to infect all 8 of my relatives.
Last Christmas every single person got sick in our house starting on deceive bee 23rd and posting Christmas until December 27th, the day before our trip back home. By that day everyone was feeling better except for me. I finally caught the nasty bug everyone had gotten so we ended up canceling our flights and rebooking for an additional 1k more and all during this time I had to show my two year old the museum just to get her out of the house and into somewhere warm and not germy. My dizziness was in full gear that day but luckily we all made it back home safe after 8 days of being sick in a different state. EACH MAN FOR THEMSELVES I GUESS! Lol
A couple years ago, my 7 month old had swine flu and pneumonia. As if that wasn’t bad enough, three days in, I got a nasty sinus infection. My husband was working a double followed by two more 12 hour shifts and I was parenting from the floor battling a high fever. I was doing my best to keep the baby happy but It was MISERABLE! He needed breathing treatments every 4 hours and kicked and screamed the entire time. I was nursing so all I could take was tylenol and the antibiotics did not kick in very fast. We both finally started to feel better about 4 days later. I missed living near my mom so much during that week!
There’s nothing worse than feeling like death and having to take care of a tiny human. Add growing a human (pregnancy) on top of being sick and caring for a sick toddler, life can be a moment to moment marathon of mind over matter. I was completely sapped of all energy (being six months pregnant) and was lying on the floor but still managed to somehow feed my daughter and keep her (somewhat) entertained until daddy came home to take over.
#NoSickDays both kids in daycare and every single day of January and February we have all been sick, MINUS daddy who is a super human (teacher who is immune to almost everything) I cant miss any days of work and with fever and body aches went into work every single day, the look of pity and some of disgust from coworkers were priceless, as a pumping mom, I couldn’t take a lot of medicine to help ease the multiple strains of flus I had! baby boy had to go to the pediatric urgent care and a few regular pediatrician visits, poor thing is hit the hardest!
It is hard enough being sick let alone needing to sleep and being woken up at all odd times by your three kids!! 🙁
#NOSICKDAYS for me was at a peak when my newborn twins along with their 15 month old sister needed me constantly. I remember being new to the whole stay at home mom gig and getting sick with an awful sinus infection. It was all I could do to keep all three diapered and fed all day until my husband made it home from work. I look back now on how much easier life has gotten since they are 8 and 9 now and able to get their own food from the pantry and even crack a can of chicken noodle for me if needed!
Two days before Christmas through the 3rd week of January our whole family was sick with what started as pink eye (yuck!), turned into strep throat, colds, ear and sinus infections, back into pink eye, etc… It was a long month!!
Right now I am totally on a #nosickday as I am pregnant with my second and having morning sickness. It’s never ending and so it my child’s energy.
I’m actually sick right now, which is not great since I have a 6 week old baby! He’s also very colicky. Yesterday I powered through and sang and danced to Bruno Mars to try and get him to smile!
I teach PreK/K and my whole school year is a #NoSickDays moment. I feel just awful calling in sick most days and so instead I take some medicine and power through the day, because whats worse than letting a bunch of 5 years olds down?
No human kids here, but one super spoiled and demanding frenchie. He doesn’t care if we are sick he still wants to go on a walks and play, and he only needs fresh water in his bowl the very second I fall asleep. He snores louder than usual when I have a head cold, and is completely appalled by nose blowing and sneezes. #NoSickDays
We recently had 3 out 5 in the ouse sick with a stomach bug. Yuck! Mom and dad got it literally at the same time. The only way to make it through was to lock the door, tell the kids not to eat too many snacks and let them play the wii so that when the infant napped I napped…for the full 55 minutes he was down! Ugh. The older ones thought they died and went to heaven…I thought I was dieing. We survived somehow.
Yesterday, I was pretty sick and had to drag my three kids with me to visit the urgent care center. Doing that really made me miss my childless days when I could just lay on the couch and watch Netflix, but, alas, there was no break. Like you, my children still needed me and beckoned me with their cries over every little thing. However, I am lucky because my eldest is seven and I can have him watch over the younger ones in the living room while I am taking a quick nap. How do you do it with so little sleep?
I’ve basically spent the last 6 months in snippet respiratory haze combined with sinus issues and low energy. I still had to wake up at 3am, and power through with an 18 month old who was getting 8 new teeth at once, comfort him, stop him and his older brother from wrestling each other every 2 minutes,feed both, make lunches, drop older one to school, off to work for the next 8 hours, back home to “mama, I want” “mama I need” “mama he touched me” “mama he took my car”. They have 2 of the same car. But both want THAT ONE. But the one thing I wouldn’t give up no matter how sick I was are the snuggles & cuddles. Those are the best.
Fake doctor was my fave! When the kids get sick they get to go to the doc right away. Sick mom, however, not so fast!
Ugh! This mama knows this too well. I have been battling stomach issues for 2 years. Waking up and having to parent with 2 toddlers while not being able to leave the bathroom isn’t fun. Thankfully a wonderful doctor has me on some new meds and we have been able to get out a little ????
Pray you and your spouse’s illness does not align. We both got the stomach bug but luckily were sick 8 hours apart so someone could entertain and care for the one year old…
Wake up at 2am because you’re going to vomit, vomiting commences and just as you’re wiping the remains from your face…it’s like the kid knew. He needed to breastfeed RIGHT THEN. Stomach turning, wreaking of vomit, you drag yourself out of the bathroom to the glider. Wake up your soundly sleeping husband to hand you the baby. Nurse baby for what seems like the rest of your life and fAll asleep in glider because well, #NoSickDays
My two boys and I were all sick at the same time. So hard to care for them while I felt crummy!
It seems as though every time I get sick the rest of the family follows suit or my husband is pulling overtime at the fire station…no rest for the weary.
I’ve been home for 3 days from work sick with some nasty virus, while still taking care of my 7 month old who is sick with his first ear infection. This is baby number 3 so there have been plenty of other days like this! Thank goodness for medication!!
Great job with this!! I love the one that says “I still have to figure out what to do with them all day”. Such a struggle when you’re sick!
I am powering through a sick day today. To make things even more amazing, my toddler, who hasn’t really been napping lately, used today to act like a complete maniac. I tried a nap, she fought it, and then she fell asleep at 4:00pm. Which means she woke up at 6:00pm. Which means she is still now awake (9:00pm), didn’t eat her dinner and spilled apple juice all over the couch, so I had to quickly take all the cushions off. My head feels like it’s going to fall off and I have work tomorrow and oh did I mention I’m also in school?! So I have homework to do. And I just want to sleep and melt into my bed. Alas – that is a world away and I’m a mom 🙂
I was diagnosed with breast cancer while I was pregnant. So I had chemo from 15 weeks until baby arrived at 35 weeks. And then I had more chemo and radiation AND had to take care of a newborn. I was pretty tired. 😉
I am currently 39.5 weeks pregnant with my 2nd child. A few weeks back, my 14 month old got some type of demon virus that involved fevers and puking. Because Barney teaches us that sharing is caring, she passed the bug on to me. You can’t take anything while pregnant thats worthwhile so me and my mini me commiserated on the couch for two days over Snuggles, Pedialyte, Endless Breastfeeding sessions, Tylenol and sooo much Daniel Tiger. I blame her father. I can’t prove he gave us the virus but he seems a likely candidate.
I’m sick now, my husband just got over the flu and a ear/eye/respiratory infection! I still have to take the kids to all their activities abs nurse our 7 month old around the clock. It’s exhausting even when I’m not sick!
I had to power through a stomach bug the days before and DURING my daughters 2nd birthday party at our house…. singing ‘happy birthday’ just praying I would get through…ran to the bathroom and disappearee for a good 10 minutes ????
This past November I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl and then three weeks after having given birth I contracted strep throat! I still had to do all of my house chores, breast feed and take care of a 1 month old child! It was overwhelming to say the least!
I’m not sure which was worse, September of last year when I was 8-1/2 months pregnant and my toddler and I both had pneumonia or this past Christmas when she and I (we apparently like getting sick together) both had respiratory infections and had to bail on family Christmases. Both were terrible, but mamas have to power on!
Hi! I have a few sick stories, but I’ll just tell one. I get really bad migraines and before I became a mommy I could just lay in the dark for an entire day and over dose on caffeine until it went away. Well now with a two year old I can’t exactly get away with that anymore. The last time I got a really bad one I let her binge watch Mickey Mouse Club house and taught her how to put a new one on ???? I made her tell me each time a new one came on and I set an alarm for when she needed to eat or be changed. I also made up a fun way to get her to be in darkness all day. All in all it worked!
The worst is when all you want to do is sleep and all baby wants to do is play! Then you have to just power through it. We had the stomach flu when our son was about 14 months. He had it, too. That was awful!
Parenting through a illness is the worst part of being a stay at home mother to three kids. I had a nasty case of strep throat that I ignored for three days cause who had time to stop and go to the doctor. I dropped 2 kids off at school, finally dragged myself to the doctor. Nursed the baby and was back in time for preschool pickup. Nursing a baby will suck totally sucks. They literally suck the little bit of energy you have to keep the house running. After 24 hrs on antibiotics I was back to full duties which included hosting a play date. #NoSickDays No one else in my house (or the kids from the play date) got sick!!! #thankyoujesus
I remember catching the flu and feeling like I was dying. In my feverish haze, I saw my 4 year old son with a shiny thing in his hands. “I’m gonna clip your nails now!” He waved fingernail clippers in his hand. I never sat up as fast as I did in that moment!
My son loves to be entertained every second of every day and only by me. He can feel me getting sick and turns into a parasite to grow the sickness. There must be no rest, no stoping and if things slow down there will be noisy consequences..
Illness always makes it’s way from one to the next in our family. One kid was throwing up today so I’m sure one of the others will be tomorrow. And then I will be on the third day. And my husband always misses it. Every. Single. Time.
I’m a first time mommy, and my son is 10 months old. I work in an early learning center, so…a lot of illnesses get passed around through the kids, and of course, the teachers. I also exclusively breastfeed. So far this schoil year, I’ve had about four different stomach bugs. There’s nothing like breastfeeding your son, putting him down so you can go to the bathroom to throw up, and then putting your son back on the boob! It’s truly exhausting being sick and taking care of your children, but you just keep trucking! Being a mommy is the equivalent of being super woman…I’m 100% convinced!
I am a mom of four ages 7, 4 & twin 1 year olds and this past New Years was a special kind of hell!
My wonderful husband went out of town for the Alabama Football game and I was left alone to tend to our four wild monkeys with a 103 fever and a migraine that lingered for days!!
I’m still breastfeeding the twins so I couldn’t do much more then take a few tylenols here & there. It was miserable but I am the mother so I powered through and took care of my crew!
I wish NyQuil & DayQuil were breastfeeding friendly.
Sooo, I quit my corporate advertising gig to go to nursing school. Got a nasty cold, and of course had class and had to still tend to my 7 month old who (of course, again!) caught my cold. His first cold!! It was worse than I’d ever imagined. I’m so lucky and thankful for my momma, though. She drove an hour to babysit my sick boy while I had night class. When I got home, she told me his little nose was so snotty and bad, she had to shower after rocking him to sleep! His nose ran that bad, all over her! #NoSickDays for moms and grandmoms!
Last summer we just moved into a new house when I got the worst body flu of my life. It was ridiculous trying to take care of myself and my twin two year olds! It was 100* temps outside, so there was no way I’d survive playing out in those conditions, and we didn’t have anything connected in our house yet… no TV or wifi… How did parents do it back before these things??? I remember feeling so sick and just laying on the ground wishing I could turn on an episode of Mickey Mouse. Instead I had my toddlers crawling and jumping all over me like I was the jungle jim. That was about as good as I could manage!
This season has been really tough with sicknesses around my house. Every other week my (3yr) daughter or my (9mo) son brings something home from daycare/preschool and the entire family is sick. My husband travels a lot for work, and I also work full time (which sometimes seems impossible to be Mommy and professional work lady).
One of the weeks my husband was out of town and I had both kids by myself…AND I was sick. Being in sales, if I’m not selling, I’m not making a commission, so taking a sick day doesn’t really work out too well for me…..plus i have both kids that need to go to and from their preschool/daycare. Feeling ill, and extremely exhausted, in the middle of nursing my son, i had to get up and run to the restroom to vomit. i just wanted to crawl up in a hole and sleep, but to avoid a major meltdown from my nursing son, i had to put him in a play saucer near the bathroom while i was getting sick. There is really nothing worse than being sick when your kids are so young and you have to take care of them before you can take care of yourself.
I’m a new mom, so I’ve only had to deal one nasty cold so far! I think my little guy (4 months at the time) got it from his cousin over Christmas. Of course a few days later Mommy caught it from him. It was definitly hard to take care of a little sick baby regardless how miserable I felt! I know this won’t be the last time, but I’m happy we survived our first bad cold together. And luckily for Daddy, he never even caught it. But he did have to put up with both of us coughing all night long for a week.
Last year I had the flu and my at the time 2 year old daughter did as well. I am a stay at home mom and my husband works full time. This in turn left me to care for my daughter and myself. With my weary little 2 year old crying with a fever and wanting to hang on to me, yet push me away at the same time, made for rough times as I was not myself either feeling the same systems. My poor girl was so uncomfortable yet wanted to constantly watch Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2. Endless morning, afternoon and evening screaming wake up calls left us with little sleep. Baby comes first and my duty was to help her get well as fast and comfortably that I could even though I wanted to bury myself in the sheets and not come out. Making meals for my little one (if she even ate anything) and for my hubby and I made for more running around. Not to mention our dog needed to be taken out several times a day in addition to trying to make my girl laugh. I feel I’m a pro at multitasking now that I’ve been through that challenge…well I say that now till the next storm hits… ????
as an elementary school teacher I am pretty immune to all the kiddy germs, wifey on the other hand is down and out as soon as the kiddos are sick. i end up with three sick kids two my blood and one i married 😉 i become superman and do it all, cook, clean, change diapers, bathe … wait I do that half the time when they arent all sick….. hrmmmmm
My husband just went through this while I was out of town. I don’t think him or the kids left the couch for three days. Now I’m home, sick myself and taking care of all of them!
We were living overseas when my son was 2, so we did see my side of the family often. I had strep throat and my husband had gone to visit some of his family for the weekend. My brother and sister in law offered to take my son swimming. they made out to the floating dock and then my son lost it. He loves swimming but I guess when the excitement wore off and he realized I wasn’t there he just didn’t feel to comfortable. I had to swim out there fever and all to get him. Just to add we were living on tropical island at the time, so swimming on Long Island was not exactly something I wanted to do not sick either.
My husband is from everseas so we tend to take a lot of plane trips to visit family there. These flights were somewhat enjoyable pre-kids. We’d settle into our seats, have a buck-fizz (British for mimosa… But more fun to say) eat some junk food we normal didn’t allow ourselves and watch movies or (gasp!) take a nap. Fast forward 4 years and we have 2 small children and flying is akin to the 9th circle of hell. Now imagine all the chaos and stress that goes with flying and add one pregnant mama with all day nausea and a daddy with a sinus infection. We packed a million and one activities, snacks, iPads etc and got everyone settled… Now fast forward to take off. We had anticipated that the pressure change might affect our kids but didn’t account for how it would affect my poor husband. As we took off and my toddler is screaming that she wants to get out of her seat and every passenger is staring daggers at us and turning up the volume on their headsets I look over and my husband is writhing in his seat and wailing. He described it to me later as feeling as though someone shoved a hot poker up his nose and into his brain. No big deal right? My husband spend the rest of the 9 hour flight rotating bags of ice on his face while coloring and playing dolls with my toddler. I did my best not to puke on everyone whenever the food cart came by. We arrived at our destination looking like we had been through a war… But my toddler kept telling her cousins how fun planes are and she was so excited to go on one again when we went home…. Um yeah, us too… Can’t wait.
I have a perpetual “cold” because I haven’t slept since my daughter was born nearly 10 months ago. The sucker still wakes up every 2 hours to nurse, no pun intended.
Feeling suddenly ill while lunching with my 3 kids at Playland McDonalds, I quickly asked a couple stranger moms to keep an eye on the older kids and hauled my 18 month to the bathroom with me. 15 minutes later I’m in their trying to figure out next steps… Call my husband? 911? I had my head between my knees to keep from passing out. Thankfully things eventually improved enough to wash up my baby, who was crawling around the stall touching all sorts of germ-infested surfaces while I fought for some shred of dignity. I made my way back to the playland and gathered up the other kids… avoiding eye contact with the nice moms – who knows what they were thinking – I looked like hell. We made it home and I trudged the baby to bed (naptime, yesss!!) and sacked out on the couch and pretended to watch cartoons with the older kids until my husband came home.
Oh man. I’m in the middle of my second pregnancy, and I feel like every day is a #nosickdays kind of day. My two year old and I have been playing “Sleeping Beauty” on the couch a lot recently.
Most recently was right before Christmas when #2 daughter started with pukes and was up all night, followed the next evening by #1 daughter who had it 10x worse followed the next day by my hubby. I was a vomit cleaning/bed changing/laundry doing machine. It was awful
My favorite is when your primary care doctor gets up to leave the appointment and says “try to get some rest.” As he steps around the teepees of tongue depressors and paper exam table liner shredded all around.
My husband and I both got the stomach flu, at the same time, from our (then) 3 year old, who brought it home from daycare. We literally laid in bed, sick as dogs, all day. We fed him from the bed, coached him through peeing from the bed, and played with him from the bed. Worst day ever. We still feel awful 3 years later and pray it never happens again! #nosickdays #parentingfails #3yearsofguilt
We moved my mom in with us who is dying of cancer, so not only am I caring for a four month old but also a 70 year old while I’m sick. Hoping I can pull it off without crying!
My daughter will not sleep anywhere but in my arms when she’s sick. I spent her last sick day in the rocker in her room for 6+ hours while she slept. Every time I would try to put her in her bed, she would wake up screaming. My butt fell asleep numerous times and I was so hungry by the end of the day, I was ready to eat her blanket. It sucked.
Still have to go to work because you need to use your sick days when the kids are sick 🙁
I got the stomach flu the worst I’ve ever had it the week I was quitting my job to become a stay at home mom. I worked two days the last week of my career because I couldn’t get out of bed! My toddler was super sweet though. She wanted to snuggle and I wouldn’t let her near me because I didn’t want her to get sick and have to stay home from daycare.
As I was puking in a trash can next to my bed and my 8 month old was crying because she wanted to be nursed AND Daddy didn’t know what to do, in that moment I realized it was going to be a LONG day!!!
New Years Eve, I had sinusitis and a double ear infection with walking pneumonia. BUT… my 5yo had an ear infection, my 3yo had strep and my husband had a stomach bug. #NoSickDays for Mom when everyone is sick at the same time.