Moms make the worst patients: What I learned by taking a sick day

t's been said that "doctors make the worst patients." While that may be true, I would posit that it's moms who don't know how to take a sick day.

Among my mom friends, we've often laughed about how there is no such thing as a "sick day" for us. Even when the whole house has whatever illness is going around, it's mom or dad who still gives cuddles, checks symptoms, makes soup and keeps everyone going.

But what happens when mom is so sick she can't get out of bed?

Had this question been asked of me a few weeks ago, I would have boasted about my great immune system and good luck. Honestly, I can't remember a time when I've been so sick that I couldn't take care of our kids or go about the regular to-do list that keeps the household going. Before the pandemic, I was even one of those people who would take enough cold medicine that I could still put in a full day of work, believing some myth that if I didn't show up at work or at home, the world as we know it might just end.

But then I got COVID-19. I'm grateful I was vaccinated because I feel confident that, as rotten as I felt, had my symptoms been any more aggressive, I could have been in some trouble. I was as sick as I have ever felt, and the symptoms kept coming for days on end. And I was a terrible patient.

My husband and our kids tested positive as well, but thankfully had few symptoms. The result, however, was a long, laborious quarantine where I was completely useless at helping keep the kids occupied, doing laundry or keeping meals at the ready. After about 24 hours of fever, chills and debilitating aches, I was also plagued with the guilt that they were all watching too much TV and eating too much pasta. In addition to feeling miserable, I also got bossy, crabby and ridiculous. I didn't know how to take a sick day.

I have a wonderful partner in my husband, Eric. He kept everything going and tried time and time again to convince me I should just stay in bed. He graciously put up with my attempts to continue to break up squabbles from across the house by hollering from bed, and my obnoxious and sarcastic comments that "spaghetti is not a food group." I could use how I was feeling as an excuse, but the reality is that I was dramatic and, quite frankly, did it all wrong.

Hindsight is a funny thing, and now that our quarantine has come to an end and my symptoms have subsided, I look back on the last two weeks as a comedy of errors — a mom who doesn't know how to ask or receive help, and even at her worst can't give herself or her beloved husband a break. This experience has taught me some important lessons, as most parenting does.

Taking a sick day is something that everyone needs to do from time to time in order to recuperate and get better. I would never expect my husband or kids to power through, so I shouldn't hold my immune system to a different standard. I'm reminded (yet again) that my husband is a wonderful, understanding partner, and that I got really lucky when I married him. I also learned that the kids are perfectly capable of staying alive and thriving without me in the mix — even if they did eat mac and cheese for several meals and watch too much TV.

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