There is a really sweet children’s book titled A Sick Day for Amos McGee. Amos McGee is a zookeeper. One day, Amos is sick and can’t make it to work, so the zoo animals come to his house and care for him. They play games in bed with him, let him nap, and even keep his feet warm. It’s all very precious.
Last week, I really wanted to be Amos McGee instead of Mommy. I woke up early in the morning and I could just feel it: My throat felt scratchy, my whole body ached, and I couldn’t breathe out of my nose. NOOOO! It was my first sick day as a stay-at-home mom with no time off, and, to make matters worse, a traveling husband. Rats! It’s like the illness knew it was the worst possible time to attack, so it did. It was a pretty rough time in the Chesworth house, but we made it through. Here are a few things I learned after surviving my first sick day as a full-time mom:
- Keep the medicine cabinet stocked. Luckily, we live in the age of Amazon Prime Now and Target Pick Up, but it’s still nice to have some basic medicine on hand for when illness strikes unexpectedly!
- Pick a room, any room. Our guest bedroom also doubles as a playroom. I set up camp in the guest bed, closed the door, and held my eleven-month-old hostage inside. Not really, but it was the only way to contain her in a spot where I could also lay down and watch her. I already knew that the space was baby proof and it had plenty of toys to entertain her while I “rested.” If your kids are at the age where they will watch TV, choose a room with a TV, or you may have the luxury of not having to stay in a space altogether all day.
- Accept help in any and all forms. I usually have a really hard time accepting help from anyone that offers, but in a pathetic and sickly state, I’ll take any bone you throw my way. A sweet friend asked if she could bring us Chick-Fil-A for lunch and I said, “My pleasure.” It was my only source of nourishment that day.
- Try not to spread germs, but don’t take it too far. We have a box of disposable gloves that I wear for doing gross things in the kitchen, like touching raw meat. Ew! I decided to wear a pari that day so as not to spread germs to my baby. HA! This is laughable now. I quickly learned that it’s just not feasible to take off (and then put back on) plastic gloves every time I needed to blow my nose or sneeze or text. It also only piqued my child’s curiosity and made her want to play with my germ-y hands even more. So I just sanitized what I could, washed my hands as much as possible, and toned down my normal kissing game. That’s really the best you can do with a little one who still fully relies on you.
- Bump up bedtime if you can. Enough said.
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