Friday, February 28, 2014

Super SICK mom!

The Headlines:


I wanted to be a super mom.

But something was getting in the way.

It was me.


Every year, sometime during the winter season one of us gets sick.  And then the rest of us brace ourselves.  Seriously, it's like a firing range and we're all sitting ducks just waiting to go down.  This started going on in my household in January.  We were all, fairly, good the first half of the school year.  Then 2014 happened.

So I break out the Vitamin C, the garlic, soups, yogurts, juices and slushies to combat the "disease" at hand.  We get over the cold and then, in this case, the very next week - it starts all over again.  Staying healthy can be hard.  What is a mom to do…  quarantine?  That's not realistic.  Wash your hands a lot, check.  Eat well, check.  Take vitamins everyday, check.  Get sick anyways… check.

So why is it that we get sick?  I, Dr. Nicole, as BP (my husband) likes to call me… believe kids get sick, inevitably and perhaps obviously because their immune system is developing.  Adults get sick, however, I believe, for one overwhelming reason.  Our bodies are telling us to slow down and take care of ourselves.  

When I was working full time in news, especially during my last few years, I was getting sick ALL OF THE TIME.  I started using all my sick days every year and I very clearly remember that panicked feeling when I was coming down with something.  I was supposed to call in as early as possible so they could get someone to replace me.  Remember, I went to work at Oh-dark-thirty for the morning show.  In other words, like 2am!  SO I had to decide if I was sick sometime during the 6pm newscast… that's a hard thing to do especially since you usually WAKE UP either healthy or sicker!  But it was during that time I started to realize my health, overall, was in a downward spiral.  This is a long story which I will get into another time but I believe my health (or there lack of) was the reason I was A) getting sick all the time and B) not getting pregnant.

Once I figured this out I decided to change it.  I started taking naps, eating better (eating more), going to acupuncture, I generally took care of myself for the first time in a long time.  Before this change I literally remember thinking my life was awesome since I only slept about 5 hours a night - I got 19 hours of productivity out of me everyday.  I was a super working mom!  Now… 5 hours of sleep, I realize is normal for some very highly intelligent, genius type people, of which, I am not one of… so 5 hours of sleep ultimately was not for me.  Not to mention, I was no longer in my early 20's when, if I got sick, I just went to work anyways.  I was older and needed to take care of myself.  This realization started me back on my road to health.

Long story short, eventually, after about 10 months of serious self pampering, I got healthier.  I felt different.  Oh, I also got pregnant.  I was still sleepy but I was better, I was happier and I was a super mom.  One who was a lot less cranky.

Fast forward through the pregnancy, which was awesome and super healing.  I had 3 months off of work to care for my newborn.  It was exhausting, like it always is when you have a new baby.  The time had come to go back to work.  But something had happened during my time off.  I was a new type of super mom.  No longer super SICK mom,  I was still so tired but it was different.  I couldn't do it anymore.  Not only could I physically, not leave my baby because he was, literally, so attached to me… but I knew the health of myself and my family mattered more.  I had to choose them and, for that matter, me.  When I made the decision not to go back everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Mine was the heaviest.

I was leaving what I had trained for all of my life.  It's true… my parents say when I came out of the womb I started speaking (now that I've had my son - I believe them).  I have always loved learning about people and businesses, passions and places.  It's just in me.  It was a lot to give up but this was more.  Now when I get sick... (i.e.: today) the 6 o'clock news comes on and I do not panic, in fact, I chuckle.  It reminds me of a life once lived.  Now, I really do get sick a lot less.   My kids come down with something, even BP gets it and I seem to scoot by it all unharmed. Now, I am more of a super mom than I ever was before.



But getting sick, like this week, is a huge reminder of what once was… all the feelings boil back up.  I start to, once again, appreciate my new life.  I now know what it was like to be a working mom and a stay at home mom.  There are good and bad points to both.  For me, in the end, it wasn't a choice.  I was sick of being sick.  My body (and my son) chose for me.  I'm glad they did because it made the decision easier.  Not to mention, all of that... brought me here.  To this blog.  I love it.  I am blessed by it.  It doesn't make me any money.  There's about 10 people reading it.  But that's okay.  I'm no longer a super SICK mom.

Sometimes my 7 year old daughter asks me when I'm going back to work and I simply say - I am working.  Working on being your super mom.  

4 comments

  1. I hear ya! I was freelancing when I started having children, so I was on a flexible schedule, but freelance also means HUSTLE ALL THE TIME. I still try to freelance as much as possible, but the thought of committing to a full time 40 hour a week job is scary...and now that we are going through the "sick" cycles, I am so torn about what would happen if I did go back to a "full time" job. I can see both sides of the coin here, and for anyone trying to be a SUPER MOM, it's a tough challenge either way you flip it.

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    1. Aubrey, please know I'm not saying being a stay at home mom is the only way to be a super mom… it's just what worked for me. If I could find a flexible job (only worked like 1, maybe 2 days a week ;) …. ) I'd be all for it!

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  2. So more than like 10 people read this blog - and you have no idea how much this resonated with me. As I sit here at 3:15am with complete insomnia because I have no idea what I'm supposed to be doing with my life. It's funny how life can lead you, but we have to listen. THANK YOU for writing this. You are helping people with this blog!! (not sure if this made sense, super tired!)

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    1. it did. and thank you! p.s. i know it's way more than 10… totally up to like 25 now! ;)

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