Saturday morning of last week was business as usual. Breakfast, nap, swim class. After being in the pool for a few minutes Leo was noticeably fussy, but I chalked it up to him being sleepy. Near the end of the class he was so crabby that we just left early. After we got home I took his temperature, and sure enough, he had a low-grade fever. After lunch and another nap he seemed fine, was playing as usual, just fussier than normal. I continued to monitor his temperature and by the time night rolled around it had crept up to 101.2°F. I placed a cool wet towel on his forehead as I nursed him in hopes that he would wake up in the morning feeling better.

The next morning I was relieved to see his temperature return back to normal. But now my husband was complaining about a runny nose and a sore throat. I gave him a hard time at first because he always seems so dramatic when he gets sick but eventually I  started acting like the supportive, nurturing wife he needed me to be. I encouraged him to sleep, made him tea, and made sure he was drinking enough water and eating.

By the time Monday morning rolled around my husband was feeling ten times worse. I went downstairs early to make sure he taking a sick day before Leo and I started our daily routine. After urging him to go back to bed, I made Leo and I breakfast, went out for our morning walk with the dog, put Leo down for a nap, showered, and began preparing the ingredients I needed to put in the CrockPot for chicken noodle soup. After spending the majority of the day upstairs in bed my husband came down just in time for dinner and then shortly after went back to bed.

That night I woke up in the middle of the night to nurse Leo with a scratchy throat. My first thought was “Shit!”. Now, I had been taking shots of my homemade fire tonic (just like fire cider minus the apple cider vinegar) twice a day since Saturday and usually that gives my immune system the boost it needs to keep any viruses at bay. Not this time. All day Tuesday I had a wicked sore throat and a runny nose, but for the most part I was able to continue on as normal.

By Tuesday night, however, my runny nose had switched over to a stuffy one and I don’t cope well when I can’t breathe properly. I don’t remember being like this before, but the past couple of times I’ve gotten really congested at night, I’ve had a mild panic attack. This time I was so anxious I couldn’t sleep. My nasal passages were completely blocked and my throat was so scratchy and dry that breathing through my mouth only seemed to make my anxiety worse. I tried ujjayi breaths. I did some vinyasas. I even tried sleeping in child’s pose, but none of this seemed to work. I took a bath to help me relax with the hopes that the steam would also relieve some of my congestion. This helped but, of course, as soon as I laid back down I was stuffed up again, even with my pillow propped up. Eventually I took Leo downstairs to his room and I tried sleeping in the La-Z-Boy next to his crib, but by this time it was 2 a.m. and my anxiety had been running rampant for a good four hours. After playing on my phone in the dark of Leo’s room for an hour, I finally decided to go out to the main room and watch some shows on Netflix. I’ve always been able to fall asleep in front of the TV. And sure enough, I was able to dose off right around the time my husband’s alarm went off Wednesday morning. I think I got a good hour of sleep in on the couch before Leo woke up at six.

What a difference a day makes. Sure, I was sleep deprived, but whatever this was it was aiming to take me out. I was stuffy and achy and had the chills. By eleven that morning I had fever, which I rarely get. All I could think was, “please, don’t let this be the flu”. You see, Leo and my husband had both received their flu shots already, but I hadn’t had time to get mine yet. I called Leo’s doctor and mine to see what was safe for me to take given I’m still nursing. I usually don’t take anything when I’m sick, but being sick while chasing a seven-month-old all over the house who is crawling and trying to pull himself up every chance he gets is another story. After talking with the doctors, I ended up taking Cold-EeZe, which is essentially a shot of zinc to your system. I took one every four hours (as directed) and continued to drink ginger tea mixed with apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, raw honey, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper. Oh yea, and chicken noodle soup. I had that for lunch and dinner two days in a row.

After Leo was in bed, I took another bath, finished a movie on Netflix with my husband (now we know “What Happened to Monday”), and this time, went directly to the recliner to sleep. And oh, what a glorious sleep it was. Although I took a few naps earlier in the day when Leo was sleeping, I hadn’t gotten a decent amount of sleep in 24 hours. I had the humidifier on blast, which I had gotten in the middle of the night at CVS the night before, and I was all snuggled up in a quilt my mom had made. It was honestly one of the best night’s of sleep I’ve had since Leo was born. Thursday morning I woke up feeling a ten times better than I did the morning before. It was amazing. And by Friday I was feeling like myself again.

There’s a lot to be said about parenting while sick, especially when you and your partner are sick at the same time. The past week was nothing short of exhausting. But now we will hopefully be better equipped to handle “the sickening” next time it invades our house. To all of the mamas out there that continue to hold it down for their families no matter what germs life throws your way, rock that cape, Wonder Woman.