Perfektly Mary

The kids have been sick for two weeks now. The combination of fussy kids exploding with snot and a mommy sans coffee for 3 days has left me house bound. Well, I did manage to get a fantastic sunburn yesterday doing yard work, but other than that I’ve been home a lot.

What’s the biggest change I’ve noticed with having kids this close together? I’ve chilled out. Even though I’m a nurse, with Madeline I would freak out over the slightest ailments. Granted she was in NICU for two weeks, and she did have croup two times her first winter, but if I’m being honest I treated all of her runny noses and fevers in the same panicked fashion.

Over the past two weeks both kids have had temps over 100, nasty coughs, wheezing in their upper lobes and faces full of snot. What did I do? I prayed for them, lathered on Vicks, turned on the humidifier and gave them children’s Tylenol Plus (I love that stuff. It covers everything. If you can’t figure out if it’s teething, chest, sinus, etc…this stuff’s got you covered!). I vowed that if they didn’t improve in three days we’d go to the doctor. Made sense to me. Why pay the co-pay for both kids and come home with the inevitable antibiotic when they’re probably on their way to getting better anyways?

The only glitch is the questioning and judgment from other people. Without fail when I just can’t live without coffee anymore and am forced to go to the grocery store, one of the kids will let out a chest rattling cough. Once they have everyone’s attention they will smear the snot pouring from their nose across their face and into their already puffy eyes.

Albertson’s Stranger:”Oh the poor dears. (turning to the kids) Your mommy should get you back to bed soon. (Back to me) What did the doctor say?”
Me: Stinky vaginal discharge is perfectly normal during pregnancy. Oooohhhh, you meant about the kids. My mistake, I thought since we’re so close you wouldn’t feel uncomfortable with such information.

I wish.

Instead I just say “It’s an upper respiratory thing and they’re on their way to getting better”. Ok. so the doctor never had the chance to say that. But that has been my best guess and from the looks of how they are laughing, playing and snot free today, I’d say that this mommy nurse was right!

Image courtesy of The Poop