The pox.

My baby has chicken pox. She actually got the virus from the chicken pox vaccine. It contains a weakened form of the virus, so one in 20 children actually develop chicken pox from the vaccine. Which makes me wonder why we even bother to immunize against it in the first place. But I digress.

Bubby has the chicken pox, complete with nasty lesions, itching, and irritability. Dillon's mom usually watches her on Thursdays, but she's babysitting my 6-month-old niece today. The doctor said we can't expose Bubbs to anyone under 1. So here I am, at home.

I'll have to make up my hours somehow. Ten whole hours. I'll probably have to go in on weekends or something.

So, what do working moms do when the kids are sick? Companies usually give their employers a set amount of sick/unplanned days. Dillon has six for the year, which seems reasonable. But if I had six sick days, that would effectively mean I had none because they'd all go to my kids. Most daycares don't allow you to drop off a child with a fever or vomiting (and certainly, chicken pox would be on the short list). So, when the kids are sick, Mom has to take a sick day from work.

But, you don't get sick days from motherhood. If I happened to wake up with the chicken pox, I'd still be required to change diapers and chase after the munchkin all day. No breaks for Mom, no matter how crappy she feels.

I guess I'll just enjoy my day off. On the bright side, I don't have to drive 80 miles today! And I got the chicken pox as a wee child, so don't worry about me. In case you were. ;)