I am up.

I hate nights like this.  Well, usually, I don’t mind them when it’s night…it’s the day after that I hate.

It’s 2:25am, and I am wide awake.  I was sound asleep.  But, about an hour ago, Emily came into my room coughing and saying she had a headache, sore throat, stuffy nose, and I could tell she had a fever.  We’ve all been battling this gunk the past three weeks at our house.  My own gunk has held on for three weeks, rearing it’s ugly head every night with coughing fits when I’m trying to get to sleep, and then again in the morning when everyone else is trying to sleep.   

So, I comforted her and gave her some medicine, tucked her back into bed.  And then I went back to bed.  And laid there…. for an hour….trying to fall back to sleep.

Until now, when I finally gave up.  I knew I wasn’t going to fall back to sleep.  But, I kept hoping I would.  I was weighing the dilemma in my mind…. I only have 3 more days of work before I am finished with my job there.  And of course, it’s really busy, and I have a lot going on at work.  I mean a LOT.  So much that I’ve had to have extra help this week because I was afraid I couldn’t get it all done.

And now my daughter is sick.  With most likely the same thing that has been dragging me down the last three weeks, so I know how miserable she must feel. It’s only the second day of school of course.  And no child wants to miss the second day of school.  She’ll be disappointed if she wakes up in the morning and still has a fever and can’t go to school.

Even though we have a house full of people right now, it isn’t like I  should rely on any of them to care for my sick child while I work.  So, I have a dilemma.  Do I call in to work three days before my last day because I have to care for my sick 11 year old (who is the main reason I only have three more days of work left in the first place)? Or do I relegate my responsibility to my 18 year old, hoping its just the beginning of a nasty summer cold and doesn’t need more attention, like a doctor’s visit?

This is the dilemma of  a working mom. In the middle of the night. Who can’t get back to sleep.