When I woke up this morning around 5am, I had a terrible migraine. I tried to do my usual routine of taking my medicine and showering in steaming hot water to relax my muscles. I tried to get my day started early so that I could be well enough to deal with my son. My husband just recently started a new job so the idea of him staying home was not even a possibility. Normally I can fight through the pain but today it was unbearable. Recently, I have experienced only a handful of migraines a month. In my teenage years, I would typically have a migraine about 4 to 5 days a week. But I learned to just deal with it. Thankfully, my pain tolerance is pretty high because of it. But today was definitely one of the bad days because the pain was shooting down my neck as well.
My son woke up with a full amount of energy as usual around 7am. Before my husband left for work he fed him a pop tart and some juice. He told me he left him in the living room watching Sesame Street. After about an hour or so I got up and took a shower. I made me a cup of strong coffee and tried to check some emails. My phone screen was so bright it made me nauseous. Besides going to the bathroom and making his lunch, I was hopeless. I managed to get through most of the day by using a cold water bottle on my neck and laying down in bed trying not to lift my head at all.
Even while laying in my bed in excruciating pain I still felt guilty. I know that I am only human and that we all get sick sometimes. But I feel it is my duty as a mother to make sure my son is taken care of, not the other way around. I want to think that I am superwoman, and most of the time I feel like I am. Which is why it is hard for me to take breaks or relax when there is work to do. Being a work-at-home mom is as tough as it gets. I am so grateful for a son that is self-sufficient and caring. He made sure not to make a lot of noise so that mommy could rest and feel better. The pain got unbearable again after lunch and I wanted to sleep some more. I decided to lay back down and put on The Lego Movie for my son on our tablet. My son is almost six and doesn’t normally take a nap but today I made sure he did.
Because I home-school him, we have a somewhat strict routine in the morning. But my migraine threw off our whole morning, and we didn’t get his full work of studies done today. Which of course, made him happy. Given that it is summer I guess it’s OK.
Today has been a reminder that mommies get sick too. We are just good at hiding it most of the time :)