Am I A Bad Mommy?

Little Julianne is hardly ever sick. She’s almost 2 and a half and I can remember maybe twice that she came down with a cold that was frustrating for us. You know, the constantly runny nose, bad cough, the need to rush off to the doctor for fear that she is in so much pain and you just want to comfort her. Slight fevers, etc. But those instances were over a year ago. Since then, she has had minor sicknesses. Maybe a little cough that lasted no more than a day and even then it didn’t seem to phase her one little bit. In my eyes, she has become some kind of mutant specimen. A toddler that’s never sick. It’s unheard of.

So…last week I took her for a play date at a friends house that I had been warned full well that her child was coming down with a cold. In my mind, my first thought was that good, maybe she will actually get sick. Build up her immunity. But at the same time I thought, is that irresponsible of me? We are supposed to protect our children. Sinister as it may seem, I opted to still took her. In hopes that either she would continue to display those mutant tendencies or she would actually get sick.

That was a week ago Tuesday. By Saturday she was still not sick. But I was. Oh boy, was I ever. The classic stuffed nose, cough and just feeling generally miserable. She did have a bit of a cough but nothing more. And her energy level was still at the max. You would not know she was coming down with something.

Maybe my child was destined to be a carrier of viruses but not actually display symptoms herself. Could I be that lucky?

Sunday was the same. She had a cough, and I was really sick. But nothing more from her.

But Monday…uh oh. I started to question my choices as a mother. Yikes. The stuffy, runny nose came on full force with a super phlegmy cough and a fever. With a little Children’s Tylenol, the fever left and it was just the runny nose and she was still full of energy. Though intermittent this time.

Tuesday was even worse. Then she woke up in the middle of the night, all stuffed and coughing and miserable and she was definitely feverish. She won’t drink, though she should be. She doesn’t want to take her medicine. Arie stayed up with her until around 3 in the morning when she finally fell back to sleep but only slept until around 6. Not enough sleep for sure.

And they we are at today. I am still sick, but much better than I was a few days ago. But Julianne is lethargic. Sleeping off and on, coughing, not so feverish anymore, thank goodness and the nose isn’t running all that much. But she’s coughing and she’s tired.

And I did this to her. I’m sure of it. If it wasn’t the germs she collected on her own, then for sure it was from me when I got sick. So either way, I made her this way and even though I am happy she is sick just so that I can be reminded that she is normal, I feel bad for her that she is like this.

On the other side, it’s probably good for her to be exposed. Soon enough she will be in pre-school and will be far more exposed to the germs of the other little people. Might as well get used to it now, right?