Judgment day

I felt so bad on Wednesday night that I went to bed at 8:45 p.m., pretty much as soon as I took care of a few things after Baby B went to bed at 8. I slept horribly that night and put in a half-day at work before heading home for the afternoon. I don't really feel better today, but I don't feel worse, either.

But poor Baby B! She wasn't herself yesterday after coming home from daycare; in fact, the two of us sickies slept on the couch for half an hour after she came home. We put her to bed a little early, and she woke up about every two hours just because she was sick and not feeling well. This morning she was worse--she woke up with her head and chest congestion, but she had labored, wheezing breathing on top of it. We decided to keep her home today, and The Husband took her to the doctor this morning. As expected, there's not really anything they can do for us, though her ears did look fine, so that was good (I was afraid of an ear infection since those often recur).

I have a job where certain things have to get done each week, because we're a weekly magazine that is published no matter what. (In the 100+ years the magazine has existed, only ONE issue has been missed, back in 2002 when we had a major ice storm that essentially paralyzed the city and knocked out power for a week in our buiding.) So on certain days, it's hard for me to call in sick, and I can't work from home, so I have to go in and get these things done. I know my co-workers hate it, but it's not like I want to come in. That's just how it is.

But what I love on top of having to deal with working while sick (mostly against my will) is all the judgments I get when they find out I mostly likely got sick from Baby B. "That's the problem with daycare...the kids are sick all the time." "I could never send my kid to daycare for that reason." It goes on and on. Thank you for the support, people. I know this happens. It's a drawback. Get over it. The way they look at me and say such things, you'd think I'd rolled her around in a vat of botulism before sprinkling on some malaria for good measure, then came into the office and licked all the keyboards.