Each winter’s flu season presents itself to be harsher than the previous, and it couldn’t be truer today. Everywhere you look or whomever you see will be in some sort of contagious mode, warning you to take proper care of yourself before it hits you. Well this lecture is mine to present because the bug I caught last week that is still ongoing is enough to put sense into the busiest of mothers to take a moment and follow this advice.
Mothers are always on the go, putting their children first, multitasking, making sure everyone is fine while forgetting themselves along the way. But did you know that a weak body makes you predisposed to sickness? This is what happened to me and I hadn’t noticed it until someone pointed out to me and said: you need to take a break. As moms there is no such thing as a break, and trust me I haven’t taken one since I became pregnant, BUT it doesn’t mean that I won’t be putting the brakes on some of the stress factors in my life.
I initially caught the flu which manifested in high grade fever after a couple of days where I would get out of my car without a jacket on, making sure the kids had jackets. (Mistake 1) Then handling the kids after a very long day (and week, and month etc) when I felt my back was hurting and all I wanted to do was cry. (Mistake 2) However I had a long night ahead of me, I took a shower and immediately went out in the cold. (Mistake 3)
Sure in the moment these seem like minute details that won’t ever build up to a horrible grippe but they did turn into one of the worst in my life. The next morning I woke up with a fever, cold and hot flashes, no medication made my back well, barely breathing, the works. I even had someone take my daughter to her friend’s birthday so she doesn’t miss it, it was the first time ever that I wasn’t with her to see her happy. I cancelled all my social events, and still cancelling as we speak, I entered the emergency room and spent the day there getting a chest x-ray, blood tests, breathing oxygen and medicine through a mask and tube. Oh, did I mention crying a river from the fatigue I felt? And all throughout, trust me when I say that I didn’t think of myself, I thought about the piles of laundry, what to prepare for the kids so they can sleepover at their grandparents, my work commitments and deadlines to name a few. I went back home after having spent a couple of days unable to hold my phone, sleeping after have taken medication but to no avail, with a voice that was gone and a cough that didn’t allow me to sleep or breathe. I drove to Beirut for an important meeting in horrible traffic all while feeling so dizzy and praying I don’t crash my car.
These aren’t a means for sympathy; they are what every mother goes through when she gets sick. It is being sick and tending to the kids, it is cooking, cleaning and everything else you need to do to get the household running. Now, yes I am still sick, I didn’t get the chance to recover, but my lesson to you mothers who are reading this, during this extreme flu season please don’t allow yourself to reach this point, please take care of yourself. Drink a lot of water, eat fruits with vitamin C, drink hot ginger tea with honey, wear a jacket and scarf at all times, and please listen to your body when it tells you to take a break.
Maria Najem
Photo: workingmother.com
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