Sick Stay at Home Mum.

You know the feeling when you go to bed at night and you can feel that niggle that’s growing in your throat. Your glands are feeling sore and slightly swollen and you know you’ll be sick in the morning.
That’s ok, you can just call in sick right? Have some rest, stay in bed, get better and get back to it…… or not. You’re a sick stay at home Mum and stay at home Mums can’t call in sick.

Family Help.

You might be one of the lucky ones that have family close by that can offer some help. Or your partner might be able to take a day off work and take care of the kids so you can stay in bed. Or unfortunately, you just might not be so lucky.

In all honesty I do have family that can help me if I need it. The thing is, I won’t let anyone come around if they’re sick. We don’t want germs coming in the house that might make Norah sick. The last thing we need is extra treatments, meds or admissions.

Heck I don’t want Cole getting sick either. Looking after sick kids is hard work, with or without Cystic Fibrosis. So if people can’t come here if they’ve had a scratchy throat or because they sat next to someone that sneezed on them. Why should they come here into a germ filled house just to help me out?

CF Makes Accepting Help Harder.

Sometimes other people offer help. If Norah didn’t have CF or more people knew her routine and how to look after her, well then maybe it’d be a bit easier. I guess it’s probably my own fault they don’t know. It’s hard to trust others with something (well someone) so important. That’s not to say I don’t appreciate their offer of help. I’m definitely not being ungrateful. It’s just hard.

I guess this is another part of the isolation as a CF/Twin Mum.

Mum Guilt.

Being a sick stay at home Mum is so tough. But what if your child also has CF? Not only are you feeling run down and terrible, you have insane Mum guilt about whether you’re going to make your child sick. Should you be wearing a mask? Is it too late now to be wearing a mask? Wearing a mask makes you feel so much sicker. Then that thought makes you feel even more guilt because your child has to wear a mask and they don’t have a choice.

You know the kids are watching too much TV. They are learning all the shows and they talk about the characters when the TVs not even on. How did 15 mins of TV for physio in the morning and evening stretch into a couple of hours throughout the day?
Honestly how else are you going to rest when you have 2 year old twins that need your constant attention when the TV isn’t on?

The kids end up being pretty miserable and then you find yourself second guessing if they’re getting sick, or just being toddlers, or have truely just had enough of seeing you in your pjs and being stuck at home!

Messing up Routines.

Of course being sick has to fall in line with the kids beginning to wake early. You’re trialling a clock in their room that lights up when it’s a semi acceptable time to actually get out of bed, but it’s not really working.

You were doing so well at encouraging them to pack away before moving to the next thing they want to play with. All that hard work has been thrown out the window because now you’re just trying to make it to nap time (thank goodness there’s still nap time!) and then actual bed time!

The Mess Piles up!

There’s dishes and washing everywhere. You’re getting by with just cleaning the essentials. And even when the kids go to bed at 7, you leave the mess and crawl into bed yourself. Knowing full well that that mess will still be there for you to deal with in the morning…. you’ll feel better then though right?

Probably not. It takes longer for the sick stay at home Mum to get better, because she doesn’t get time to rest. Often the kids end up sick and then the cycle starts all over again.

Sick Parents.

This isn’t to take anything away from the sick working Dad either. They still get up and go to work to support their families. In some cases (like ours) they even quarantine themselves if they’re sick first. Just to hope it doesn’t spread to mum and the kids. You just do whatever you can to keep your child with Cystic Fibrosis healthy.

In actual fact, now that I’ve written this, it’s not really just the sick stay at home Mum or the sick working Dad…. it’s truely any sick parent. Any sick parent that is looking after little kids or going to work to support them. Being a sick parent is hard work. Sending strength to the sick parent that is also looking after the sick kid/s!