lessons from sickness

Like I mentioned in my post the other day, I woke up Sunday morning with a 101.1 degree fever.  I’m not usually one to run fevers, so this one knocked me on my butt pretty hard.  I thought I broke my fever that morning, only for it to return a few hours later and last through the night and into Monday morning.  I called in sick to work on Monday and was finally able to break my fever early Monday afternoon.

Unfortunately, with the fever came a lack of appetite.  So, I really have nothing to show for What I Ate Wednesday - unless you want to see Wheat Thins, Goldfish crackers, and animal crackers for pretty much every meal.  The best thing I probably ate Sunday and Monday was tortilla chips on Monday night.  Salty + bland = perfect for not having any appetite.

Instead of pictures of crappy looking food, here are some of the things I learned while being sick.

You should continue to breastfeed even when you’re running a fever.  Apparently, the antibodies your body is building up to help you fight off the infection is passed along through breastmilk, helping keep your baby safe from infection.  Breastfeeding was probably the last thing I wanted to do Sunday + Monday, but I did it anyway because of this and she hasn’t gotten sick… yet.

There are very few things you can take for a fever/flu when you’re a breastfeeding mama.  Matt went and bought some alka-seltzer only to find out I shouldn’t take it since I’m breastfeeding.  I don’t know why this is, but I wasn’t willing to take the risk and wanted to continue nursing her for the above reason.  I stuck to Tylenol twice a day which seemed to help a little.

You can and will become obsessed with taking your (and your baby’s) temperature.  I’m pretty sure I checked my temperature at least a hundred times on Sunday.  And then obsessively checked MacKenna’s every hour also.

You don’t get to call in sick when you are a full time mom.  I wanted to keep MacKenna on her normal schedule, so I was still up with her at 6 AM, fed her at her normal times, gave her a bath and got her to bed on time.  Plus, changed her every 2 hours since we are still battling diaper rash (it’s much better now, thanks to the frequent diaper changes).  Although, diaper changes were done from the floor because I simply couldn’t stand long enough to change her.  I also had to play with her while laying next to her on the playmat or from the couch while she bounced in the exersaucer.

Thankfully, I am feeling much better now, and although Matt’s been dealing with the same thing I had, MacKenna seems to be doing just fine.  Here’s hoping she stays healthy + happy and I don’t have to take care of a miserable, sick baby because I know that will be 100x harder than either of us being sick…

Does anyone else obsessively check their temperature when they’re sick?  No?  Just me?