Diary of a new mum: we don't get sick days
Just recently my family has been feeling rather under the weather. It started a couple of weeks ago when I felt particularly sick for a few days, continued when Oscar started projectile vomiting after his feeds, got even worse when my own sickness increased and eventually worked its way through my husband, my mum, my dad and finally my sister. We have, like many people these past few weeks, been hit by a particularly nasty stomach bug.
In the midst of all this our boiler broke and we spent two days in an increasingly cold house while snow lay on the ground outside our window. This would have been inconvenient at any time, but when we were trying to recover from the sickness and my laundry basket got to overflowing with the amount of clothes Oscar seemed to soil during his own bout with the bug, it seemed the worst thing possible.
And it was while trying to look after my boy and keep the house clean and warm that I realised the days when being sick meant I could retreat to bed or lay on the sofa watching TV are long gone.
At five months old Oscar is particularly demanding of my time and attention. He is finally sleeping through the night (well, from midnight to anywhere between 6 and 9 in the morning, but this is a vast improvement on his sleeping patterns before). This does mean I am feeling slightly less exhausted. However, it also means that he is awake much more during the day.
He will happily play on the floor or in a bouncer for a fair amount of time, especially if the television is on and in his line of sight. But this only lasts for a while before he is loudly protesting and demanding some attention. He absolutely loves to sing, dance and just generally ‘chat’ to someone and while thinking this is adorable when I am well, it doesn’t half make life difficult when you just want some quiet time to recover.
And it’s not just the attention he needs that depletes my chances of quiet rest. We have just started trying to wean Oscar and so on top of the bottles that need washing and sterilising constantly, there are also bowls, spoons and bibs to sort out. And let’s not forget the added strain of washing towels and things more regularly than usual to try and avoid spreading the illness to further members of the family (yeah, we failed on that part!)
Most of the time I absolutely adore being home with Oscar and I am becoming far more domesticated than I ever thought possible. But the relentless pattern of washing, cleaning, sterilising, making feeds, amusing the baby, changing the baby, comforting the baby, and back to washing again totally got on top of me during my sick days.
I used to think it was exhausting getting through a day at work when ill with one thing or another, but that was nothing compared to the absolute wiped out feeing I had after a few days of looking after my baby while both of us were ill. Anything that was not absolutely essential was dropped and now I’m playing ‘catch up’ with all those chores and jobs that have been waiting for my attention these past couple of weeks.
Mummies don’t get 'sick days' and I am suddenly gaining a new respect for every single mother for all those times they have to drag themselves out of bed despite a multitude of symptoms that make staying in bed far more enticing than it usually is (and let’s be fair, it is usually pretty enticing even at the best of times). Here’s hoping that the Spring soon brings us milder weather and less nasties to knock us off our feet.
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