Doctor Tells Mom To Rest...

doctor tells mom to rest

I was out of commission towards the end of 2018. I got a sore throat the day after Christmas which I thought would go away if I rested a bit and gargled with warm salt water but by the middle of the day things quickly escalated to a flu-like illness. I had joint pain, a terrible headache and even lost my voice. I was down the whole afternoon and only woke up for dinner.

The following day, I went to the doctor and she told me I had a viral infection that would resolve itself within a week or so but I had to rest.

"Hahahaha! You do know I have twin toddlers and we don't have nannies, right?"

"Well, you really need to rest, drink plenty of fluids and eat healthy food if you want to get well."

"I can do the fluids and healthy food part.  Maybe 2 out of 3 will be enough?" (Of course I only said this in my head!)

Fellow mamas, have you ever been able to fully rest with your kids around? Impossible, right? How can you not feel guilty when you hear those sweet little voices say "Where's mommy?" or "Want mommy to read this." or "Let's play, mommy!"

But we had no choice so Joey went on single dad duty for several days. My mom also helped him out of course and I stayed inside the bedroom and just slept. By the end of the first week of January my sore throat and all the other pains were gone, and my voice came back.

It goes without saying that I'm so lucky to have Joey and my mom who made it possible for me to rest, sleep, and drink as much water as humanly possible just to get well. But I also have 2 takeaways from this whole ordeal:

1. It's impossible to parent with a sore throat and without your voice. You can't sing or read to your kids to entertain them. And if you have more than one child, you won't be able to referee those sibling fights!

2. Rest really is the best medicine so I just had to let go of the mom guilt for not being able to take care of the kids for several days. I just made up for lost time when I got better. 

Here's to sending and receiving more positive and healthy vibes for 2019!

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