Sick Days and Rainy Days

Like every year when it gets cold, my husband came home sick. The difference this year was that we now have our 9 month-old baby Sadie, who also caught it and then gave it to me.

The tough thing about having a sick baby is you can’t really give them anything. Sadie mainly had a stuffy nose and cough. To help her breathe easier, I bought a Vicks vaporizer and would close the door to the bathroom when I took steamy, hot showers but that’s all I could do. Coughing fits at night would also wake her, and me, up; for the tough ones, I would stroke her back and tell her it was ok until it was over.

This was my first time being sick as a stay-at-home mom. The DayQuil commercials are true – moms DON’T take sick days. To keep my energy up, I would nap when Sadie napped and went to bed early most nights. I’d also start the morning with a cup of hot water, lemon, and honey while Sadie ate breakfast and then take a steamy hot shower (again, which helped us both breathe). Whenever I sneezed, coughed, or blew my nose, I would narrate what happened – eventually Sadie thought me blowing my nose was funny.

Not only was my household sick but it was also cold and rainy outside. To get Wally out and protect Sadie from the weather, I’d put her in warm rain gear and keep her covered. (Her UPPAbaby stroller has an awesome rain shield and we have a cozy bunting bag insert). Whenever we came in from the rain, I’d dry Wally off and would play with him a little more than usual since we were keeping our visits to the dog park relatively short.

In the end, we all got over our colds in about a week and the weather cleared up. Although it was tough, if you and your baby get sick you can get through it and you can feel good that your baby probably built up some antibodies to help them fight off any future viruses.