Calling In Sick....

This morning, I woke up, felt like death, rolled over, and decided to call in sick.

And then the baby started crying....

and Anthony left for work.

Oh yeah...SAHM's don't get "sick days." So it was with not-so-great joy that I got up and fixed kid some breakfast, changed a diaper, and assumed my regular morning position on the loveseat, curled up under a blanket.

At some point I think I got up and fixed myself some cereal and started eating it until I realized it was painful to swallow. That's when I decided I would call for a sub. Oh wait...teachers get subs, not SAHM's. Dang it.

Eventually, around 10ish Ansleigh went down for her nap. Perfect...mommy can take a nap too. Oh wait. The house literally looked like it was involved in some kind of terrorist toy takeover. Oh and there are coupons all over the place. And dirty dishes in the dishwasher. The laundry basket is overflowing. The bathtub edge has moutainous piles of clean, not put up, clothes. Oh and I needed to transfer over coupons, finish clipping the ones from yesterday, organize them, and put them away. Oh and don't forget about Bible study time! Oh...and just for good measure--throw in a visit to the Ped office at 1:30. Grrr...no nap.

Well, I tried my dangedest to pick up the living room, causing all my muscles to ache and yell cuss words at me that only body parts seem to understand. I gave up. I climbed in bed and set to sorting my coupons. Until I ached too much to do that either. Then I worked on my Bible study. Got one day's worth done and called it....I TOOK A NAP. Not because I was tired (which is usually the case). Because I felt like I was dying.

It worked too....for about an hour. I literally got out of the bed at 12:45. Got dressed. Got stuff ready and fixed Bug's lunch. Got her up at 1. Got her dressed. Gave her her scrumptous cheese sandwich and got into the car to head to the Dr. office for a check-up. Pretended I felt fine until we got back into the car around 3ish. Wanted to die...all the way home.

Put Bug's to bed. Remembered I needed lunch. Then...I remembered it hurt to swallow when I tried to eat that lunch. Gave up. Got into bed. Said some prayers for Ansleigh to nap for a very long time.

She did. Woke up at 5:30. Just in case you were wondering.

What is the point to all this?

In any other job, if I woke up feeling like death, I could have called in. Not gone. Gotten a sub. Found a fill-in. Traded shifts. You get the point. This job, you can't do that. It doesn't matter if you are sick. It doesn't matter if you are tired. You still have a child to raise. You still have a child to feed, and teach, and entertain...and in my case, take to the doctor.

Mommy is a 24-7-365 job. No breaks. No vacations. No sick leave.

Sounds like a crappy job but it is the best one I've ever had. :) Even if I can't call in sick.