Greetings from February means 2 things almost every year – snow/ice takeover and germ takeover. They both remind me why the time from now until April is just plain hard.
Since this morning we had the best running weather that there will be all week (so, so relative) I decided to get out for 6 miles and figured I could use the time to think. I do some of my best objective thinking while running outdoors and this morning was no exception. Unfortunately, as soon as I returned home to a feverish child I forgot all those great thoughts, so, today for Thinking Out Loud, you’ll get what came after. Thanks for hosting the link-up, Amanda!
I always feel like the worst mom ever when I get annoyed at one of my kids for not eating what I served them, and, it turns out he/she is sick.
This is why every time it happens, I vow to never express dismay over an unfinished/uneaten meal. I then forget that vow, irritation and anxiety prevails and I do it again.
The truth is, I’m neurotic about illness and my irritation over my kids not eating is actually disguised worry that they really are sick. Maybe you guys remember my post about my own denial of being sick. I’m sort of that way with my kids too. It’s that darn desire to be in control and that fear of something going really wrong. Several experiences of a single virus taking weeks to fully clear our house only makes this anxiety worse.
What else makes me anxious – especially with the very young ones – is that they often have a really hard time communicating what’s wrong. Or maybe I just have a really hard time hearing it.
After I asked my son why he didn’t want breakfast, he pointed to his mouth and told me “it hurts.” Since I’m super paranoid about stomach bugs I immediately thought he meant he was nauseous and started panicking. Of course, if I had remained calm I would have realized he meant his throat, because, duh, it’s just behind his mouth and that would make sense. Also, both my girls used to say “mouth” when they meant “throat.”
In my anxious-mom panic I asked him, like, 50 questions in 30 seconds about how he’s feeling (are you hot? cold? tummy hurt? tired? head hurt?) to which he responded by first staring at me blankly and then repeating “I said! My MOUTH hurts!!!”
Later he told me it hurts behind his chin and his neck, so, bingo, we had a winner. A sore throat and low grade temp meant no school, a doctors visit, and lots of couch time for us. It will also mean I most likely won’t be sleeping for a few nights to come (sick child = non-sleeping child) so the couch-rest is not a bad thing at all. I swear I could have 10 kids and these bugs would continue to blindside me every time.
What else is on my mind?
Honestly, it’s so “been there said that” but I’m still thinking about snow and crazy cold temps. I wish I wasn’t still thinking about this because it’s a boring and annoying subject, but when I look at my weather app and see snowflakes and 3 degrees in there it just feels hard to ignore how unpleasant it is to go about normal activities outdoors.
To be fair to the winter, I also feel this way about heatwaves in the summer. Basically under 20F and over 90F are hard for me to look past. And yes, I know I’m the first person to feel this way ever in the history of the world.
To end on a positive note?
I really enjoyed running this morning. Two days off that were spent almost fully indoors had me happy to take on the hills out in cold air. While I’m still feeling very much the same as I expressed in my post on Monday, without pressure to train on a specific schedule, running outdoors does feel good physically and helps clear out my thoughts. It also helps that nothing is physically hurting me. That is something I definitely do not take for granted anymore!
Have you been sick much this winter?
For those of you with kids – are you calm when they get sick or temporarily have a lunatic moment when you see it coming on?
Anyone have tips for staying calm/positive when it seems like it’s one bug after another?
Ugh I hope he feels better and that no one catches it! When my son was preschool age, I feel like it was one bug after another. And no sleep for a good week when he was up with the fever and uncomfortable. These days the illnesses are few and far between (knock on wood!) but he does have a small cold this week. But now at least he can blow his nose rather than it all backing up or me having to try to blow it for him which we know doesn’t work! I may try to run outside today since it sounds like the flurries they speak about are more north than here but who knows.
I can’t even keep track but I think he caught it from my daughter, yet originally I thought she caught the thing he had last week! Very confusing. I started getting a sore throat last night but so far I feel otherwise normal.
My mum is a nurse and when we were young we got no sympathy at all! Just ‘you’ll be fine’. If my mum ever gives you sympathy when you are sick you know you must be really really bad! Haha!
Hope all the bugs clear soon and everyone gets back to full health 🙂
Oh no, I can’t even imagine what nurses must experience on a daily basis! So much better to be chill about these things though, maybe one day I’ll learn 🙂
Yeah for no injuries and nothing hurting! Hope your son feels better soon!
Thanks! It’s already looking like just a bad cold, nothing more 🙂
I usually get sick pretty often from working in a school, but this year I’ve only been sick once- but it was really bad, like the worst in my adult life. I’ve also been really appreciating my runs outside, especially when its 30 degrees!
I hope your son feels better soon!
It was 30 degrees this morning and I had a great run, which makes me think the weather lately is really impacting how I’m feeling about running. I haven’t been sick in so long but I’m starting to feel the sore throat creep up. Knocking on wood, but it seems like no biggie at least right now! It does seem like it’s either a bunch of little things or one really big thing.
I am a wreck when the kids get sick. I feel SO horrible for them and just want to make it all better. We all had the flu earlier this winter and that was a bummer. Thankfully, it hit me FIRST and I was well enough to take care of everyone by the time they got it. It was no fun though. My 6 year old has been complaining about her arm hurting the past two days, so I’m making her a dr appointment today..I’m paranoid of a fracture or something crazy and feel like we just need to know one way or the other.
I can completely relate to just wanting to make it better and not being able to. Terrible feeling! Sometimes you just have to get things checked out for peace of mind that you’re not missing anything. Hope she’s fine!
I think that every mom feels anxious (or should) when they find out that their kiddo is sick! Both for the kid’s sake as well as their own–it throws a monkey wrench into everything. I’m glad that you enjoyed your runner outside, I know you have been feeling a bit disconnected from running of late. I am just really tired of trying to figure out my training schedule with the weather. It is just annoying me.
I hear you on that, the annoyance of the schedule is really just plain annoying! I would think most moms go through something similar, that feeling of just wanting to make it better is tough to deal with.
I don’t have kids so I can’t speak to it personally, but knowing me, I’d probably get pretty anxious if they were sick and I didn’t know exactly what was wrong. Heck, I even get that way if -I- start feeling under the weather, which is why I’m glad that I haven’t been sick for a good handful of years.
Sounds like you are on a role! I haven’t been majorly sick in so long so that is also a fear of mine, but less so than when the kids were babies. I think it’s typical to feel anxious about these things, just one very unpleasant part of life.
Girl, I’m a nurse and I still have sheer moments of panic when I think a stomach bug is coming on. Then, I try to really think about it and realize there is absolutely NOTHING I can do about it and we just need to take it as it comes. It’s hard to do, but essential for sanity..accepting things we cannot change.
That is actually very comforting to hear coming from a nurse! After panicking I also try to embrace that mindset that there’s nothing I can do. And you’re right, it’s so hard! Hopefully I will get better at this, especially when the teenage years come on.
I think just trying to stay calm and go with the flow. It feels like when you get sick once it can be a bit of a trend and it’s a fight to stay well. I am not a mom yet, but I can only imagine how stress it can be!
Once I’m done panicking I usually try to put it in perspective for myself but it’s hard for me!
One of the many reasons I don’t want kids is because….I don’t want sick kids! Hahaha! I would not be able to handle it!
You would, but it’s tough! I can’t believe some of the things I’ve been through with my pregnancies and the kids.
Despite a kid with Influenza A, a husband who has had the crud TWICE, and another kid who has been coughing for weeks, my daughter and I have remained healthy (crossing everything and knocking on everything so that I am not jinxing myself). I think part of the panic when you have multiple kids is you KNOW that once it does start, it will cycle through the house. They never get it all at once. My SIL (single mom with one child) said last winter, “Your kids are always sick.” I really took offense. Truth is, my kids are super-healthy, rarely get sick. But by the time one virus cycles through our household of five people, it can take 2+ months! Ridiculous.
I totally hear you on all of this. We have less this year than we’ve had other years but then again it might just be delayed. A couple of years ago I swore my whole family was sick all the time, but, it really was more like 2 bugs that just took forever.
HUGS! Sick kids are the worst. I don’t have my stepdaughter when she is sick all that often, but when it happens I go into ultra panic mode for sure!! 🙁
I don’t think I’ll make outdoors even once this week so I’m jealous of you! 🙂
I’m glad I took advantage since it’s dipping down a lot tonight! Thanks 🙂 he’s doing a lot better today but that initial feeling is the worst.
I haven’t been sick (full blown anyway) this winter, but my poor girl was sick for pretty much the entire month of January with one thing or another. I can totally relate to that worst parent feeling about the not eating because I was just there myself!! I felt awful! And then she was trying to explain her throat hurting to me in the same way when she had strep. It’s so hard to understand little ones sometimes because the communication skills just aren’t all there yet. It is not just you not hearing it…it’s a real challenge!
I think by the end of the month I was calmer, but for the first illness that came on, I definitely got a little maniacal. Sick kiddos are the worst. 🙁 I hope everyone stays well!
Glad I’m not the only one who’s done this with the eating! Sorry you guys have had a tough winter, it’s SO hard to see our kids sick, I hope at some point I can roll with it better but I might just continue to deal the same way. Hope you guys stay well too, at least from here on out 🙂
Hey! I have six kids (4 out of my body, 2 step-kids, but all live under the same roof) and getting viruses become a pretty normal part of life. I used to have a HUGE phobia of throwing up which I quickly got over by flooding: literally being exposed to kids being sick and me throwing up. It gets uneventful pretty damn fast, and honestly, the stomach flu is over so fast. I’d rather deal with that then a cough that lasts for weeks. My 12 year-old son has a blood disorder, so we’re in hospital all the time. The baby was in the ER on Christmas Day with bronchiolitis. He was on oxygen and ventolin. If I took a kid to the doctor every time one of us had a sore throat and a low grade fever? I wouldn’t leave the waiting room. Ha ha! It’s still sad to see the kids sick, though. But it’s one way for me to sneak in extra snuggles. :0)
Seriously you are a super-mom! I think it’s great that you’ve found a way to chill out with these things, and it’s true that the more we’re exposed the easier it seems to get, except then the next year I go back to square one!
It’s funny because around where I am it seems that people run to the doctor for every little thing, the schools also want to know if the kid has been tested for strep or whatever so they can have it on record. In the past I’ve waited too long though, so I’ve been trying to take them earlier especially if symptoms aren’t straightforward.
Ah yes, for sure. Strep is a pretty nasty infection and you’re right–waiting too long with that could get pretty serious really fast. We’re all supermoms in our own ways. You’re doing such a great job! Hope everyone feels better soon. Bring on Spring!
wow I don’t know how you run out there, those pictures make me feel frozen! lol. i guess if i was stuck indoors for a few days i would brave it – yes, i would.
i can’t imagine what i’d be like if dealing with sick kids… will i be like my mother? she had this way of making us feel bad about being sick, like it was annoying. i have this same tendency (which freaks me out!!!) and will get irritated when D shares with me an ailment. it’s not that i don’t care, and it’s not that my mom didn’t care, i just think she lacks sympathy, and now i’m sympathy challenged as well. go figure. i suppose i could link it to her childhood and of course that got passed to me. i seriously hope i can be a more sympathetic wife and mother – no offense to her, but my sympathy cards are few. i’m much better at caretaking when the living beings are asleep and not expecting it, or are not paying attention. i like being behind the scenes, like a fairy godmother of sorts. lol now who’s a weirdo??? yep me. 🙂
I wonder if the “annoyed” reaction is more of an annoyance of not being able to do anything about it? I know sometimes I can come across as harsh when I’m really just anxious and unable to do anything to fix the situation. Everyone has different reactions. Not sure what my kids will think when they look back in 25 years!
I can’t imagine how I’ll feel when my future babies get sick! I hope you have a healthy household soon. I’ve somehow avoided getting sick so far this winter. Knock on wood!
Everyone’s immune systems have calmed down a bit and we’re left with typical runny nose/cough stuff that is much more manageable! I have a bit of a sore throat but luckily nothing more. And yes, must knock on wood!
Being sick is the worst, I can’t imagine what it’s like to have sick kids!
Great job getting outside to and running. Its been so snowy here, it’s really tough to motivate.
So tough to motivate! I have plans tomorrow to run 12 with a friend and I know that running with her is the only thing getting me out!
This has seriously been a really bad winter at our hospital. We have had record breaking numbers of children we are seeing in the Emergency Department. Hope your kiddo feels better.
I can’t imagine doing your job! I suppose you get used to it to some degree, but seeing so many sad sick kids and anxious parents must be draining!
Oh no, I hope you son is feeling better now. Being sick stnks and I can attest to this. I woke this morning feeling a touch under the weather so I cancelled all plans and I’m taking it easy today in the hope of preventing it from turning to full blown sickness. At least there is couch time. 🙂
He’s so much better, the fever was a one day thing and it turned into a mild cold. Hope you’re doing better too!
I feel so guilty at times when my 3 kids get sick as I do sometimes come across as being a bit annoyed at them for catching a cold for example. I think it’s because I am constantly telling them to wear their jackets when it’s cold outside or wash their hands before their meals, but they often don’t do it! My middle child also has food allergies and won’t go near many healthy veggies like broccoli, salads etc so when he gets sick I often tell him that if he would eat more veggies, he might not catch so many colds! He has asthma too which flares up every time he gets a cough. This means he coughs all night, keeping himself and us awake! When they get tummy bugs, I seem to have much more sympathy for them for some reason. I think the coughing annoys me the most as it lasts for weeks in our house!! İ must sound like a terrible mum, but I do love my kids. I am just so tired and when they get sick it seems to put me into panic mode, which comes across as frustration and annoyance ?
Hey its been 2 years since nobody has commented on this post but i am so glad to read this that i am not the only mother who panics at kids sickness and goes crazy…. Being a working mother makes it all the more difficult…phew
Finding the article now as my whole family has been sick with the stomach bug all week. My kids are almost 1 and almost 3 and it’s been a rough few months of sickness. My anxiety goes through the roof when they’re sick to their stomach. It’s the absolute worst! Hoping things calm down from here
I hear that! I get super super anxious, especially with the dreaded stomach bug. I, like you, immediately start asking 100 questions. How do you feel now? Are you cold? Do you need to poop? Are you sure? Are you hungry? So you feel sick? Is your tummy better now? Are you okay? Are you sure?
I’m neurotic for sure!
I definitely relate to this article. I’m a Stay at home mom. This year was the first time my son started school.. And every virus or cold you could think about he came home with it 🙄 I get nervous and my husband is always the calm and collective one.