My poor little bubba and I are sick right now with a viral infection. It all started after going to a Mommy and Me class at the library last Tuesday, where there were a million babies running around putting things in their mouth, my own included. It took a day to manifest itself, and the following night he had a low temperature, was vomiting, and started shivering. He hasn’t really eaten any solids consistently since then, so thankfully he is still nursing well. It was the first time he has ever really gotten sick and it scared the living daylight out of me. It made me realize that, as a new parent, I’ve constantly tried to control, control, control everything – the way he sleeps at night and naps during the day, the food he eats, the diapers he wears, the playdates he takes. Then suddenly something completely out of my control happened and I didn’t know what to do. The situation further slipped from my control when I caught the bug from him and became very, very ill on Friday, only to then pass it on to my husband and then my brother who came to help me. I’ve been feeling kind of so so since then, not fully recovered yet.
This whole experience made me realize that I am not invincible. I could begrudge the parent who brought their sick kid to Mommy & Me, or get mad at myself for notΒ wiping downΒ Oliver’s hands after touching everything, or regretΒ that I invited my poor brother over to help me, or lament the fact that I got practicallyΒ nothing productive done over the weekend, but none of those things are going to change anything orΒ make any of us healthier. This is all part of parenthood, right? This is just the first of MANYΒ difficultΒ situationsΒ that I will have to go through as a mom. So we are off to the pediatrician now for our first acute visit to see if there is anything that can give my little guy some relief, and hopefully my own bug passes soon as well.
