By: Allison Norris

Each step sends a throb to my face… and then to my temples… and then to my ears. Snot is on the verge of cascading out of my nostril, but I sniff it back up because my hands are full and I can’t reach my sleeve, and especially not a tissue. I’m sick. I am a mom, and I am sick.

I can’t remember if I used the thermometer for Bay’s temperature –rectally –or if it was a different one. I also wonder if I cleaned it after I stuck it up there. It doesn’t matter and I stick it in my mouth to see if a fever will accompany this head thing.

All I need is a good night of sleep, I think. And then I laugh.

What a joke the flu shot must be as I am now sick for the second time in two months. They said that because I am a new mom, I need the flu shot and the H1N1 vaccine. Did they forget that new moms do not actually sleep and that their immune systems are weak and that injecting them with a virus may not be the best idea. I don’t actually know how the whole vaccine thing works, but all I know is that I got them, and now I’m sick.

Bay grabs the thermometer out of my mouth and tries to stick it in his… not because I was doing it, just because he puts everything in that little saliva pit. It had only climbed to 96.5 so either I am literally cold, or I need to do it again. Forget it.

Hopefully this tea is laced with super strength serum or something.