First Time Dad Experiences: Illness

Soooooooo, the next couple of posts are essentially detailing what it is like when you have certain things happen for the first time.  Last time I talked about teething, which the great thing is that it is the gift that keeps on giving (we are going through it for a second time).  Todays post will be when your kid gets sick for the first time!

As you may already know (avid readers especially) our daughter is in daycare.  Our daycare is awesome: it has great teachers, great administrators and great location and facilities.  But quickly you learn that they are also prime locations for your little beauty to get sick.  Drooling, snotty, poopy animals lurk all over the rooms of these places (if you are a germaphobe you will pass out).  So it isn't whether your child will get sick, it is when.

Here are some things we learned for the first time:

1.  Your child is about 1000 times more miserable than you
Remember how much it sucks to get sick?  The aches and pain, the uncomfortable feeling that nothing is right in the world and you hate it?  Yeah now put that into a tiny body of someone who cannot speak English or convey how they really feel or what hurts without spitting.  Your child will be miserable and it doesn't matter if they have some sort of cold or type of thing that is small to us adults.  It sucks and your baby WILL let you know it.

2.  Get ready, you are about 99.9% away from getting sick!
Who says your child never gave you anything? Well more than likely you will get whatever it is your child has.  Our daughter had a cold and spread that thing throughout our family like fire to gasoline.  Funny thing is I just got over a cold a week before and boom second cold.  My wife even got hand, foot, mouth disease (your hands itch and your throat feels like you ate glass for lunch).   It is super rare for moms to get, but not in our house.  Thanks baby!!  Update: I am now on my second illness that I received from my baby in less than two months, right after I recovered from my own cold.  My wife got the cold first then I got it and was blasted with a sinus infection for two days of our vacation!
Just make sure you have some sick days saved up just in case you need to take them.  The hardest part about this is the reality that whoever is healthy will be doing the bulk of caring for your kid during this time.  As heroic as you want to sound about "even if I'm sick I will"....no you won't.  Best thing for you to do is rest, get healthy and make up for it with date nights and flowers.

3.  Your Baby will have Snot like You've Never Seen Before
So sure babies drool, they have snot come out of their nose, but not like this.   Your baby will become a factory of bodily fluids.  You will constantly have to wipe their nose and keep them dry.  In our case, our daughter hated every time we wiped her face so we basically put a bib on her to help catch the snot/drool combo.  It is part of the sick process, but just be prepared for how much of it ends up on your shirt, shoes, floor, you get the hint.


Next first time experience I want to cover: Vacations

Bye!