Earning My Mommy Stripes

Regardless of whether you are a parent, there are weeks that are easy, and others that test your core.  Last week was definitely the latter.  Now let me clarify that nothing catastrophic happened last week… it was simply challenging.

For those following the weather, you can recall that Chicago started out last week with record lows.  Monday had highs of -10 (without the wind chill) and on Tuesday I believe we hit the single digits.  These low temps made both days work at home days for me, since taking a toddler out in these conditions seemed dangerous.

To complicate matters my daughter also started to show signs of having a cold early in the week, but was cooperative enough to allow her mommy to put in a fairly complete work days.  (And yes, I did take at least one conference call with a sleeping toddler in my arms).

By Wednesday the temperatures were still very cold, but were safe enough to leave the condo.  Despite my daughter seeming a little under the weather, we bundled up and attempted to get a “day in the office.”  After what was a very long commute, I was in the office for maybe 30 minutes when I got the call that my daughter was running a 100.6 temperature.  Not high enough that I had to drop everything, but still concerning,  After completing a few “must do” items, I packed up everything and headed in a taxi to pick up my little one.  (And yes, I spent a record one hour in the office!)

I worked the remainder of the Wednesday and all day Thursday from home.  (Luckily on Thursday, I arranged for in home back-up care to allow me to focus).  If having a sick toddler was not enough, work was also serving up challenges each day.  There were times that I felt like my juggling skills were just not enough, but somehow I managed through.

I woke up on Friday feeling like maybe we made it through the worst of it.  But as my daughter woke up it was clear that I was one “mistaken mommy,” the curve ball of the week was still to come.  My daughter was clearly not well.  She had a low grade fever that would not break, very little interest in food or liquids and was now extremely lethargic.  With these symptoms I was one of the first parents in queue when her pediatrician’s office opened at 9am.

After quickly making ourselves presentable (my daughter in her PJs and me not much better), we walked .75 mile through slushy sidewalks and were in the doctor’s office by 9:45am.  Within 30 minutes I learned my daughter had the start of pneumonia. (Wow, that’s a scary word.)  As her doctor explained that my intuition was spot on; that I came in at exactly the right time; that my daughter would seem like a completely new child within 48 hours: I started to slowly exhale.

Flash forward 72 hours and my daughter is recovering well.  The fever is completely gone and she returned to daycare today.  She still has a lingering cough – but her playful personality and appetite is back.  It is so great to see the smiles and high energy, and hear the giggles.

As I reflected on last week and shared how I was feeling with my mom, she simply remarked, “You are earning your mommy stripes.” It’s these weeks that remind you what’s important and teaches you what you are made of.  So here are the stripes that I think I’ve earned so far:

• Tapping into and trusting my gut/intuition
• Running on minimal sleep (and having expert hearing – through walls and sleepy state)
• Multi tasking (I believe my current maximum is doing 3-4 things at once – although not well)
• Creative cooking and menu prep (Getting a sick toddler to eat is not easy)
• Being silly and doing almost anything to make my toddler laugh (singing, tickling, dancing, etc)
• Going with the flow (On my little one’s sickest days there was plenty of TV, snuggles, apple sauce/snacks and flexible napping)
• Breaking down to “let it go” (Yes, there was at least one night when I broke down into tears when the busy period of the day finally ended.  I was so tired and knew that it would be “more of the same tomorrow” but also kept reminding myself that “this too shall pass.”)

And it did pass… now I know this week will present its own challenges, but I know that it will be better than last week.  And for those times when life’s circumstances seem almost too much to bear, I often remind myself of one of my favorite prayers (shared before) and know that we will weather through: