...and THIS is why being a working mom sucks sometimes

jovencita1224

Herpangina.

Sounds gross, right?  Well, it is.  It is basically hand, foot, and mouth disease WITHOUT the hand and foot part.   For all of you 1st timers out there...HFM disease, which I had never even HEARD of before having a baby, is a miserable little B!#$% of an illness that causes blisters on the hands, feet, and inside the mouths and throats of the little munchkins it inflicts with its wrath.  It doesn't sound that bad until you think of...BLISTERS ON THE FREAKING INSIDE OF YOUR KID'S MOUTH.  Um...ouch?  Herpangina takes the worst part of HFM, and just leaves you with the miserable blisters on the inside of your LO's mouth, but none on the hands and feet where it is easier to see and diagnose.  It also comes with a very high fever and general misery.  Awesomesauce.  

So, crazy baby has it.  And, it is likely that I have it too, although the pedi wouldn't diagnose me officially.  I have slept exactly three hours in the past 48.  This is one of those times where being a working mom married to a cop that works nights and sleeps during the day is especially sucktastic.  I will never say that being pregnant sucks, because I am so so very thankful for this pregnancy and the baby...but I will say that general nausea and feeling of mind-numbing exhaustion from just BEING pregnant, on TOP of having a sick 1-year-old...is just a suck sandwich.

I'm going to rant. Get ready for it.  For anyone that thinks that people working for the government (local, state OR federal) have such cushy benefits...I'm here to dispel that little myth.  When pregnant, we get to use the medical leave bank for 6 weeks for a vaginal delivery or 8 weeks for a c-section.  That sounds awesome...until you find out that you have to exhaust ALL forms of leave and have a zero leave balance before that kicks in.  And it isn't like you use up your leave and THEN get your 6 or 8 weeks...nope...you can have 5 weeks and six days of leave saved up, and the medical leave bank kicks in to give you exactly ONE day. I know a lot of people get no leave, and I realize I have it better than them, but forcing a woman to use up her leave before the medical leave bank kicks in, and then making her start back to work with NO leave and a child going to daycare getting exposed to things like...HERPANGINA...is just stupid.  This particular illness can last the better part of a week, and I can't take crazy baby to daycare with a fever (which happens to be 101.8 WITH Tylenol AND Advil) and she is so miserable I wouldn't want to send her anyway...and I am doing this with no leave.  So, now I have to take leave without pay, but I still have to pay the daycare the $300 for the week to hold her spot, even if she isn't there.  

The other thing that makes me mad is that I know EXACTLY which child gave this to her.  The mom brought her in at the opening of daycare and told the providers "oh, she has been up all night crying but she doesn't have a fever so oh well!" and left her there for the day.  However, she CLEARLY did have a fever, but had been medicated, because she was flushed, sweaty, had glassy and watery eyes, and was inconsolable and shoving her hands into her throat so far it was almost gagging her.  JUST like my baby for the past 24 hours.  The daycare lady in crazy baby's class told me they had been trying to call the parents to come and get her, but they weren't responding to the calls.  Of course, I can't PROVE it was this girl, but if you had seen what she looked like and then see my daughter in the past 24 hours, they would be sickness twins.  

So why is it that some working moms think they are SO IMPORTANT that they will take their kid to daycare  when they are clearly and obviously sick (uh-hello-not getting any sleep the night before would be a huge sign something was wrong) and infect the other kids and think that is o.k.?  She might not have had any leave, but neither do I!  My job is actually important too (at times) and this week in particular I had a LOT of things that I had on the agenda to get done.  And I can't.  

And while I'm mad at people...what the heck is it with men in law enforcement that insist they can't take sick leave ever?  How about them? Earlier this year I had mastitis and got so run down I actually ended up in the hospital.  The night I was admitted I told him earlier in the day that I just couldn't take care of crazy baby by myself feeling the way I felt.  And he...went in to work.  I couldn't even ;pick her up without feeling so dizzy I thought I would fall.  I had mastitis and was apparently very dehydrated, but that wasn't enough.  And now I'm pregnant, existing on my new average of 1.5 hours per sleep while trying to grow a baby up in there AND I have the same freaking illness my crazy baby has...and yet I am the one sitting with her, holding her, giving her medicine and a tepid bath.  Yeah, he went to the store for us...but I need a freaking break.  

SMH for so many things tonight.  Damn you, hormones and illness.