I got very little sleep last night, and the sleep that I did get was less than restful. My little Logan had a rough night. He was restless and woke up in tears. I’m still not sure exactly what was bothering him, but he clearly wasn’t feeling very well. I tended to him throughout the night, but his restlessness in turn became my restlessness which made for a bit of a long night in the Mommy department. I woke up exhausted with the beginnings of a migraine and knew that it was going to be a very long day. I wanted nothing more than to crawl back in bed and sleep the day away, but motherhood is one of the few jobs that doesn’t offer sick days, so I got to go into work anyways.
One of the most difficult things as a single parent is learning how to parent when you just don’t feel well. Whether you feel well or not, your kids still need to be taken care of, and you are the only one there to do it. You don’t have the luxury of handing them off to your significant other so that you can get some rest. Instead you get to run around and take care of their needs, while your own get pushed aside. As a mother you don’t really mind this. You love your children and want to take care of them, but when you are sick it’s hard to have the motivation to do much of anything.
Some days Dora is my saving grace. She gives me the twenty minutes of sleep I need to recharge enough to make it through the rest of the day. Heaven knows chasing around a four year old all day sucks the energy right out of you, so that twenty minutes to close your eyes can make a world of difference, especially when you aren’t feeling well yourself. It’s definitely not easy, but you do it anyways, because you love your children and they need you in sickness and in health, forever and always.