Cough (dry)- Harriet
Teething- Harriet
Fever – Harriet
Sinus trouble & cold- Harriet & me
Sickness bug- Harriet & me,
Cough (phlegmy)- Harriet
Teething- Harriet,
Cough (dry)- Harriet
That’s pretty much the last four weeks.
Apart from the first few weeks after having Harriet- a rabbit in the headlights, sleep deprived and hormonal, this past month has been the most stressful.
I’d heard that when children start nursery they pick up stuff but nothing prepared me for the onslaught of snotty noses, sick covered bed sheets and Calpol doses (I wish I had shares!). If it was Harriet alone I could probably cope but when we’re tag teaming illness, disturbed sleep AND I’m back at work, with the head mess that brings, it’s proving challenging to say the least.
For a year we’ve been in a little quarantine-like bubble, away from the coughs and splutters of office workers en masse with Harriet not quite old enough nor mobile enough to be diving fully into the germy world of soft play full of excited kids with grabby, grubby hands.
The germ circulating air con system at work knows it has found a new victim and I stare at my computer screen through hazy eyes, my sinuses aching.
The bright nursery walls distract from it being the perfect place for poor, unsuspecting Harriet to be dive bombed by all manner of nasties.
Trying to get my head around the job again while not being anywhere near top form and looking like I’ve been punched in the face after multiple night time get ups is difficult. Very difficult.
It’s overwhelming for Harriet too. Not only has her routine gone out the window but she’s having to deal with the strange, uncomfortable sensations of feeling poorly and not yet able to really communicate what’s wrong.
Harriet’s sickness bug floored me. I got through a night of multiple bed changes having to improvise on cot blankets after she got through them all- even the emergency ones, only to get it myself a couple of days later. Determined not to appear a flake by calling in sick when I was only in three days a week on my phased return, I worked from home firing off emails and writing copy wrapped in two dressing gowns and having to have a snooze next to the radiator every half hour and making frequent toilet trips to be sick.
What this phase has given me though is a new level of respect for mums who aren’t only juggling one child’s sickness, their illness and work, but have to battle through all that with another child in tow- stoic to the end and even with a smile on their face. Superwomen indeed.
Mummy Musings 