Things I Can't Say

Tips and Tales from an Introverted Mom

The Mom Cold

You’ve probably heard of and had to deal with the man cold. Men turn into such babies when they are sick. They act like they’re dying and use being sick as an excuse to do absolutely nothing.

But the mom cold?

When do moms actually get to do nothing but rest? We tend to have to keep doing the parenting thing even if we are sick.

But I think we need to take some tips from the man cold and actually get some rest.

To help with this, here are some mom cold essentials:

1. Earplugs. You need your rest and earplugs will help block out the demands of “Mo-om! I’m hungry/thirsty/bored/fighting with my brother/etc.” If you can’t hear them, you won’t feel bad about ignoring them. You shouldn’t feel bad anyway: you’re sick. Time for the hubster to step up and toss some frozen waffles into the toaster.

2. Nyquil or whatever knock-you-out meds happen to float your boat. Forced rest for the mom who thinks she should still be doing everything.

3. Strong lock for the bedroom door. All the better to not be bothered.

4. Cough drops. Even if you don’t have a sore throat to start with, you’ll probably get one from yelling out reminders to leave mama alone, she’s sick.

5. Take-out numbers on speed dial. No cooking for you, sick mama. But you still need to eat.

6. A housekeeper: so when mom is finally feeling better, she doesn’t leave her bedroom sanctuary to find that the house is in total shambles and wear herself out again trying to catch up from the 5 days of destruction her family managed in the one day she took for to get herself better. Btw, if you figure out how to get this kind of help, other than capturing a cleaning fairy, let me know.

 

Comments

  1. Except then there really wouldn’t be anyone watching the kids while I was sick! Sort of fortunately, I got my mom cold over the holidays while the kids were with their dad and I had my mom to take care of me and make me chicken soup!

  2. I am blessed in that my kids are much older and can for the most part fend for themselves. Such is the joys of having a foreman grill which is the only way to make warmed sandwiches and chips. Gene is really good about jumping in and doing stuff like dishes, shoot he even let me FILM hm doing them for my Palmolive review.. I know right..

  3. Well…As a newly single mom, I have one word….Grandma!  (Of course, when she is sick too…then you are really on your own… :-).  ). Just before the holidays, I had to call her at 6am on a school morning because I was throwing up… Ug! I was laying in bed trying to figure out what the heck I was going to do…

    i am so lucky she lives nearby and is healthy.

  4. I am fortunate that I don’t get sick very often. (Of course now that I have just said that, I am sure to get sick tomorrow! 🙂 ) When I do get sick, I haven’t figured out #6 on your list, for sure. There is always a pile of stuff waiting for me when I am feeling better.

  6. I had the mom flu a couple of weeks ago. My daughter had the flu, too. So we helped take care of each other. Sometimes I got up to fetch things, and sometimes she did. It was not too bad of an arrangement (minus the being sick part, of course, that part sucked). 

  7. Great tips – too bad I can’t take any drugs because of breastfeeding. 
    I have been powering through every single illness since pregnancy #2. 🙂

  9. If you can’t stand ear plugs like me, I have found the golf channel to be helpful in resting. Turn it on for white noise, but it just to boring to actually watch so sleep away. I have only been able to take advantage of it twice, but it worked great. Mostly, if I’m actually make it to bed and not taking care of everything, I worry about what it will all be like when I get better.

  13. I was sick over the weekend and thankfully on Saturday, my husband was here and he really stepped up to help out with the kids. Sadly, he had to leave early yesterday morning for a week away at reserves, so I was on my own and it really stinks to be sick and have to deal with the kids all day like that. Thank god for pizza delivery and on-demand.

    • So hard when Hubs is out of town. I swear it used to be like some sort of cosmic joke. Everyone would be fine and then he’d go out of town and we’d all get sick. 

  14. I love the last one the BEST!!! I can say that Husband steps up when he needs to and everything keeps running like clockwork, but there are little things that a housekeeper would do that Husband doesn’t…like wipe the countertops, flush the toilet, and put laundry away. I hate coming back to gross counters, pee everywhere, and baskets filled with terribly folded laundry! First world problems!!

  17. Ahhh if only that were reality instead of pushing yourself to the brink of death trying to go everything still. Sigh

  20. I don’t understand it. When Daddy is sick and I tell the children to leave him alone they don’t even go near the bedroom – not even upstairs. The minute I go upstairs to rest I have someone pitter pattering into the room every 5 minutes to ask me something!

    I hope you are feeling better!

    • Oh I know- it’s the same here. With sickness or even with sleep. If Hubs takes a nap for whatever reason, the boys will not bother him. But it’s like they don’t realize that I am capable of sleeping. 

  21. I was sick over MLK weekend and that turned out to be the optimal time for me to check out. I completely lost my voice and absolutely could not talk to the kids. It was bliss. I stayed in bed for three days and watched TV shows. You just need to pick a three-day weekend. That’s the ticket.

  22. wait – we’re allowed to get colds????  kidding,  I wish I had read this last month when I had the flu – and was still trying to muscle through parenting.  housekeepers and take out?  yes please! 

  24. Oh, I’m just getting over a terrible cold right now! Since my son started preschool a few months ago, I’ve had about a series of endless colds and sinus infections. My husband has had precisely one cold. Guess which one of us went to bed at 7 p.m. for a few nights in a row and stayed in bed for an entire weekend? My only savior? My mother in law! She seems to be the only one who understands the misery of colds and sinus infection when taking care of a toddler who is bouncing off the walls!

  26. I could have written this. I have been feeling crappy and now Gia is sick. I could use all of the above but instead, I will get hubby going on a business trip tomorrow. Of course, right? Hope you are feeling better by now since a sick baby made me late in commenting. 🙂

    • Of course on the timing. Used to be that every single time Hubs went out of town, at least one of us at home would get sick. It was like a terrible joke. 

  29. Oh that sounds so wonderful!  If that could all be true and work it almost makes me want to be sick 😉

    Sigh- life of a mom. 

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