Moms Don’t Do Sick Days, #NoSickDays

Waking up with sore throat pain, cough, nasal and chest congestion, aches and pains or a fever? I don’t have time for that. Back in the B.C. days (a.k.a. Before Children) it wasn’t that big of a deal if a cold or the flu laid me low for a day or two. I’d call in sick, sleep a bunch, read a book, and order some take in. But now? No way. Life doesn’t stop just because I’m feeling out of sorts. Moms don’t get sick days.

Mom is always on duty. Always. It’s one of those things you don’t realize the true enormity of until you’re a parent. I mean you know that being Mom is a 24/7 gig, but you don’t truly understand what that means until you are living it.

Back in my B.C. days if I started to come down sick I wouldn’t take cold medication. I had this (incorrect) theory that it made the symptoms last longer. I was stubborn and determined that I’d tough it out. (And, hey, maybe I secretly didn’t mind using up a sick day or two). With sick days no longer an option, I am much more fond of my cold meds. Now, as soon as my body gives me any indication that we’re heading into cold or flu territory, I head for the closest dose of DayQuil COMPLETE.

Moms don’t do sick days. We do day shift, and night shift, and really late in the middle of the night shift, but we don’t do sick days. We don’t have time for sick days. Remember that always on duty part? Yep. No time for sick days.

We do sticky fingers and snotty noses. We offer comfort and hugs even when we know our kids are nasty little ticking germ bombs. We still help blow noses and wash dried boogies off of little faces even when we know it increases our own chances of coming down sick.

I have trouble with this one, with offering my lap and a snuggle to an obviously ill child. My six year old wants to sit with me when she is sick. The more rotten she feels the more she wants to crawl into my arms, and the more I want to run and hide in another room. I can’t afford to be ill. I have no down time. Moms don’t do sick days.

We help find missing mittens. We do up little zippers and wipe faces covered in milk mustaches. We make sure the lunches that we “helped” pack make it into backpacks. We do laundry. We do breakfast, lunch and dinner, but we don’t do sick days.

We run to the school in the middle of the day because that lunch pail didn’t actually end up in that backpack, or our kid fell into a puddle and needs a change of clothes. We make after school snacks, for the wild, loud, hungry, little tyrants that come back home to us at the end of the day. We sign tests and agendas and book orders and permission slips. We help with math, and English journal, and speech work, and French reading. We help with the weird last minute projects that come home and are due the very next day.

Mom can’t be off sick. I can’t say, “Sorry guys I’m not feeling good. Tonight I’m not signing any of your school work, I’m not helping with anything, and I’m definitely not cooking dinner.” That would so not fly. Moms don’t get sick days.

We help with baths. We shampoo little heads and wrap little bodies in warm dry bathrobes. We unstick the stuck zipper on the favourite pair of PJs. We read that chapter of Harry Potter. We give tucks and hugs and good night kisses. We turn off lights, and turn on lights, and adjust night lights, and promise to never ever turn off the hallway light.

We pause our favourite TV show to go tuck a little someone back into bed. We stay up late to do that last load of laundry because our kid absolutely needs to wear a certain special shirt to school the next day. We get up when our kids wake up in the middle of the night. We chase off bad dreams and rub away leg cramps.

Mom can’t be sick. I can’t get away with, “Sorry you woke up, but it’s 2am, and I don’t feel good, so… um… take care of yourself, kay?” Nope. Not acceptable. Always on duty, remember?

Given that sick days are not an option, how do you survive some nasty flu or cold? The secret weapon I have that keeps me going when I’m sick is a magical combination of DayQuil COMPLETE to relieve my daytime symptoms to keep me moving through my day, and NyQuil COMPLETE to relieve my symptoms so I can get the rest I need at night (barring interruptions from 3am refresher hugs and monster patrols, of course).

DayQuil COMPLETE offers non-drowsy relief that helps to temporarily alleviate cold and flu symptoms including:

Nasal congestion and pain
Sinus congestion and pain
Cough due to cold or phlegm
Chest congestion
Headache & fever
Sore throat pain
Minor aches & pains

NyQuil COMPLETE is, of course, the “nighttime sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, fever medicine that helps you sleep even with a cold”. It helps you get a good night’s rest by temporarily relieving cold and flu symptoms including:

Sinus congestion and pressure
Nasal congestion and pain
Runny nose and sneezing
Cough due to a cold
Headache & fever
Minor aches & pains
Sore throat pain

I prefer the tablet version, while hubby swears by the DayQuil COMPLETE/NyQuil COMPLETE in liquid form, so we keep both on hand and in the house at all times (Seriously, I am not exaggerating here. Nothing sucks worse than waking up at 3am to help settle a kid who’s having a rough night, only to discover that you are feeling sniffly and ill yourself, and there’s nothing in the house to take. Now that’s the stuff of nightmares.)

So what about you folks? How do you cope when a cold or flu tries to knock you down? Have you rigged up some arrangement whereby you still get sick days as a mom? (Please tell me I’m not the only one that finds diving back into bed and not resurfacing for two days to be completely impractical, if not impossible, now that kids are on the scene.)

For further info about Vicks DayQuil and NyQuil COMPLETE products:

Visit the Vicks Canada website.
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Disclosure: The post was sponsored by Vicks. As you folks should know by now, I only work with brands that I genuinely love and use, and, as always, my words and opinions are my own.