Its A Tough Job

But somebody has to do it. What's tough? Being a mother is. That's what.

When the kids are happy, the house is clean, everyone is sharing and having fun life is great. Those times are wonderful, but let's face it, those times are not everyday. There are days like the ones I've had this week: one kid has a case of the sniffles and whines, one has a temperature of 102 and just lies on the couch dozing and another has a temperature of 104 with a little whimper. And they all want their mama. This scene is tough, but when the latter two carry their parts over to 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning, things get a little tougher.

This week has been one for sickness at the Kidd house. Sunday morning Ethan began complaining that his ear hurt. I was ready to head to urgent care, but Ronnie had me wait it out. So I did. That afternoon I got him some ear drops and he responded well. He's only had a runny nose the rest of the week. But at the same time Ezra developed a little cough like the one right before Christmas when he had bronchiolitis. Then Monday he started running a fever, but he did better during the day on Tuesday when Elijah started running a fever. Tuesday night was tough as both Elijah and Ezra were running temps of 102+ and we kept up with meds and warm sponge baths. Wednesday morning we had a decision to make: who was going to take care of two sick babies and take them to the doctor. I couldn't because it was one of those rare days that I had to be at work. So Ronnie decided to stay home. But he didn't take them to the doctor because he felt that they were getting better. That evening it was apparent that Elijah was better, but Ezra was worse. At 3 in the morning we knew that he needed to see a doctor that day and he only continued to run a high temperature throughout the day. Grandma said his fever broke around 3 that afternoon and his appointment was at 5. Turns out he has a bad ear infection in one ear and the beginnings of one in his other ear.

While it was tough to deal with all the sickness, it was tougher to make the decision about when to go to the doctor. I don't want to be one of the parents that runs to the pediatrician with every sniffle, but I also don't want to be the parent that lets my child suffer because I didn't think he needed to go to the doctor. Sometimes its not so cut and dry. So, like I said, its a tough job, but I'm the one that gets to do it.