The Bedside Manners of Child Nurses

Aren't mothers supposed to inherit some sort of immunibility gene when they give birth? Wasn't there something in the contract about never getting sick again, if only to attend to the needs of your family while they are sick? Isn't motherhood supposed to give you a super-strength immune system?

When I was growing up, it seemed like my mom hardly ever got sick... other than seasonal allergies. There are very few times I remember her actually being ill. In fact, nobody's mom seemed to ever get sick. It was like they were in another category of their own. Some sort of super hero power kept them from getting the flu or catching cold.

So when I became a mom myself, I thought I would suddenly be blessed with an inhuman ability to ward off all disease.

Boy, was I wrong.

Within the last month I had severe allergies, a cold, and full-body hives. Luckily the hives didn't last long. But the allergies almost made my head explode on a flight back from Florida. The sinus congestion moved to my chest, and you know the rest of that story.

Mothers are expected to be sympathetic when their families are ill. But what happens when Momma doesn't feel well?

Let me tell you...

Nada.

I realized this when I had an unavoidable coughing fit and my son scolded me.

"No, mommy, don't cough into your hands. You'll cough the germs into your hands and then touch other stuff and the germs will go everywhere and get everyone sick. Cough into your elbow like this." Then he proceeded to demonstrate a fake cough into his sleeve.

I had tears in my eyes - not because I was so impressed with the preventative medical instruction I had just received from a 4-year-old, but because my throat felt like sandpaper rubbing against a cheese grater set on fire.

Immune to my pain and the fact that I was stifling another coughing fit in order to pay attention to my petite nurse, my son continued, "Or you can cough into your shirt like this." And he did exactly that.

The icing on the cake was being told by the same child nurse to immediately go wash my hands... so I don't get everyone else sick.

Wow.

A few days later, hives broke out all over my body. Luckily, it wasn't as bad as I've had before, but it was still painful. I heard my husband on the phone telling someone about my unfortunate condition and stating, "but she's a trooper. She doesn't let it bother her."

That's when I finally had my aha moment. It's not that moms don't get sick. It's that we often have no choice but to suck it up and carry on. All those mothers I watched never get sick while I was growing up probably did have the flu or bronchitis or colds. But they had families to take care of and jobs to do so they just sucked it up and carried on.

So I'll just grab my vitamin C and box of Kleenex and fight off my own infirmities so I can be ready for when my family is stricken with illness. Because, after all... I didn't cough into my elbow!


Just a Note: To be honest, my family is usually pretty healthy. We hardly ever have to visit a doctor. And that includes me. :-)