Just a few days ago I got a tickle in my throat. You know that tickle you try to ignore and suppress and move on with life because you are a mom, wife, and host to a friend coming into town. Plus its Christmas time and “ain’t nobody got time for that” with the end of school in sight. Well the tickle turned into losing my voice and me tanking for three days until my husband finally convinced me to go to the doctor. However, the doctor gave me no good prognosis other than just a plain old ugly sinus infection. I am prone to sinus infections but for the last several years I have miraculously not had one. In the past I was religious about using the neti pot when the winter months arrived, but this year I had to dig it out of the cabinet and give it a good cleaning if you know what I mean.

Monday, I worked but could feel myself tanking all day. Went to bed early and unfortunately my husband and I forgot the tooth fairy for my oldest daughter. Definitely a good giggle for us the next day.  Thankfully our oldest is so tender and sweet that she just rolled with the punches and was agreeable to the fact that the tooth fairy was busy and had other places to be. Her sweet first grade teacher also told her that it was really foggy that night…haha! 

Tuesday, I was home sick with my two littles trying to keep telling myself to just move on and ignore the fact that my voice sounds like a gruff man. I moseyed around the house trying to stay busy with tidying up and playing with the littles. I convinced myself that I was well enough to do my weekly morning walk with another mom on Wednesday morning which did not seem bad initially, but the rest of the day Wednesday got worse and worse. My voice deepened and I literally sat on the couch like a play toy while my littles crawled and jumped on me. My husband kept hounding me to go to the doctor but I loathe going to the doctor. My symptoms were literally a sore throat, loss of voice, and puny with a little bit of body ache. I had no fever. Nonetheless, I succumbed and went to the walk-in because that is the only place you can go last minute. The big three were negative, strep, flu, and Covid. So that leaves me with a virus or sinus infection, however, at the time of my doctor visit Wednesday evening I had zero sinus symptoms. I walked out of there knowing I was going to have to let the sickness run its course.

Well, Thursday night and morning my sinuses exploded and my eyes started watering, nose running, and throat draining. Ding, ding, ding….sinus infection it is!

Thursday was spent sitting and laying on the couch folding a load of laundry here and there because there is always laundry to be folded, am I right? I am the queen at washing and turning over loads, but when it comes to folding call me the joker. I had the Hallmark channel playing while my little ones once again just crawled on me and thought Mom was fun being a bump in the couch. My skin had that sore tender feeling and my mouth tasted weird all day. My head was about to explode and I finally got a fever Thursday evening. I wrestled my fever all night, shaking violently and then sweating through my jams and sheets. Upon waking up the storm felt like it had passed and Friday morning felt like a new day. Praise be for new morning mercies! 

Can I tell you sick mom days are just the pits. We live in this weird world where we as moms think we make the world go round, yet on our sick days somehow the world keeps spinning. All the children make it to school on time, lunches made, breakfast on the table, folders ready in the backpacks, and dressed and ready for the day.  Being sick is a humbling experience in my opinion. Sickness, whether just a cold, virus, or something more serious really makes you see how fleeting this life can be. As much value as we esteem ourselves as moms, on sick days we have to swallow our pride and take time to take care of ourselves and watch how a family can come together. I can tell you all of my girls walked into my bedroom this morning to check on me because they knew their mom was sick and not out of bed like usual. That perspective is also a sweet moment when your children turn a tender heart towards you. Also in these vulnerable sick moments as moms our minds can race. Does yours race down rabbit holes of all the things you are not doing or is it racing down rabbit holes of all the things you could be doing or honestly it may not be racing at all because you are too sick to think. In whatever direction your mind may race, I hope the racing can cease and you can be still and have a peace about where you are at. When I was young, I would get so upset about being sick. I would cry and cry and cry to my mother because I just didn’t want to be sick and have to miss school or soccer practice or church etc. I absolutely loathed being under the weather and thought I was letting the world down or that I was just too important for life to go on without me. A couple of weeks ago my oldest was sick and had several crying moments because she didn’t want to be sick and miss school. My advice to her is that we all have sick days and God made our bodies to heal. We just have to do the things like rest, drink fluids, and take medicine if needed to allow for that healing to happen. I also told her and speaking to myself, that it is ok to have a sick day and miss a day of school. Our friends will be so happy upon our return. It’s the same with motherhood. I give you permission to miss a day or two of motherhood even when it’s a crummy sick day. Don’t beat yourself up over the coulds and shoulds of what we are missing out on. I haven’t had a sick day in a long time, but the stillness has been nice in a way. Slowing the pace and allowing my body to rest has been life giving in more ways than one. 

Here are some of my sparks of joy even in my sickness…

What’s the old adage, “Feed a cold and starve a fever.” Well, I have been eating decently, but drinking tons. I have this regimen of alternating between Nuun immunity tablets in my water, bone broth, hot tea, and a ginger lemon kombucha. Plain water just doesn’t taste good when sickness is around. 

Nuun immunity tablets: My husband and I started drinking Nuuns a long time ago when we did training for triathlons. They have added more tablets to their regimen and we love the immunity tablets for sick days or just the winter time. We each drink them as well as use them in our girls’ water bottles. 

Bone broth: I get the Costco brand of sipping bone broth. Soothes the throat and provides good nutrients for the not so hungry stomach. 

Hot tea of any kind is a must when sick. I add a squirt of honey and a squeeze of lemon as well to help coat the throat. 

Kombucha: I love a good Kombucha! Especially one with ginger and lemon. Sams and Costco have their own brand of Kombucha and both are really good. Other brands we like are Synergy or the Health-Aide Kombucha which you can find at local grocery stores.

Cheers to you mom! Even on the sick days! 

Xoxo,

Kimberly