Mommies Can't Get Sick

Mommies can’t get sick. That’s about all I can say. For someone who talks a lot, I feel like I don’t have a whole lot more to say right now. Maybe because I’m so tired. The past month has seen two of my triplets in the hospital for pneumonia, and the third with two ear infections. When the first one got out of the hospital, I was back in with the next one 36 hours later. Same room, same bed, same nurses. I felt like putting our name on the door. If you don’t already know it, a hospital is the least restful place there is. Between the vital sign checks every four hours, the 0-dark-thirty blood draws so labs can be processed and ready before the doctors make rounds, the janitorial staff tidying up at 7am to ‘get your day started’, and the early doctor visit to discuss said labs, I felt like I was studying for finals in college all over again. Without the junk food and the loud music. And that was just me. Sleep was not on the orders for anyone.

My CP daughter has sensory issues, and I was all geared up for her to resist the IV, the blood draw, breathing treatments and just about anything else they might throw in. She didn’t. She was an angel. She spoke in a quiet, gentle little voice and asked me to hold her and for help when she needed it. What a relief. She was out in a little under four days. Her NDA brother on the other hand, became feral after breathing treatments, kicking me, screaming at the top of his lungs, throwing things and generally not inhabiting his own body. Not sure who was in there but it wasn’t “Mommy’s Little Snowflake”. Six days later . . .

 . . . everyone is on antibiotics, doctor follow ups completed and fevers down . . . my daughter gets another chest x-ray to find out part of her lung has collapsed. More breathing treatments and a new medication. My husband has come down with bronchitis and our teenager has a cold. Everyone has kindly offered to help, and oh how I wish there was something anyone else could do. But they can’t. Just have to ride it out. We are all incredulous that I have not gotten sick. Especially after spending two weeks in a hospital room. So I guess I said a bit more than I thought I would, but I’ll say this again because apparently it's true: Mommies can’t get sick.