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It doesn’t usually happen to me, but when it happens, it typically hits me really hard. I hate it when anyone my family gets sick, but I especially hate it when I get sick!
When I was a young mother and my first born was still really little, I tried powering through an illness. I thought that I could just use sheer willpower to get better. After all, I was mom and I had to take care of ALL THE THINGS. I had a supermom mentality, if I didn’t do something, how would it get done? I resisted help from my husband and friends. And a simple cold turned into bronchitis. And that bronchitis turned into walking pneumonia that took me almost seven weeks to heal from.
I will never forget that trip to the doctor’s office and I remember feeling shame wash over me when he asked if I allowed myself time to rest and get well. I hated saying no, I hadn’t. Since that day, I vowed that I would still be supermom, just not when I was sick. And I developed a resting and nesting game plan.
Resting And Nesting: A Guide For Moms Who Are Sick
Communicate
My husband is my biggest ally in this one. We work together as a team and each play to our strengths. In our family, that means I handle a lot of the day to day logistics while he handles more of the active play time with the kids. Together we conquer just about the rest of it, good old fashioned team style. When I am sick, he has to step in to handle my role so I can rest.
Drink tea.
When I was a little girl, every time I got sick, my mom would make me hot lemon tea. It was something her mom did for her, and my grandmother’s mom for her and so on- through the generations of women in my family. When I get sick, I want my mom. And since I can’t have her (she passed away a few years ago), I want her lemon tea.
I like to keep Bigelow tea on hand including I Love Lemon and Lemon Ginger.
I almost always get our Bigelow Tea at Walmart. It’s in the coffee aisle and across from the bread. Three birds, one stone.
Stop feeling guilty about needing time to rest.
If my body is going to get well, it needs time to rest and nap. For me, this translates into alternating between Gilmore Girls marathons on the couch and reading in bed.
It also means ditching the daily chores. It took me a long time to get over it, but the truth is that the unfolded laundry and mess in the toy room can wait for me to feel better. Or for my husband to get the chance to take care of them.
Get the kids out of the house for a few hours.
In addition to not spreading my germs, I want my kids to give me a bit of space so I can rest well. This is why the communication step is so important. Typically, if one of us is sick, the other parent will take the kids out of the house for a few hours. Even having a few hours to nap without interruption is huge.
How do you take care of yourself when your sick? For even more great tea flavors, visit Bigelow Tea’s website!
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What a great list of recommendations for when Mom is sick. I know that I try to power through illnesses and it never really works out for me. [client]