LO has been getting sicker and sicker for days. He has a yucky sounding cough, sneezing and occasional runny nose and eyes. Yesterday he broke out with a rash over half of his face which has not gone away. Last night he was up several times because of coughing and congestion and because the poor guy was cold and clammy and uncomfortable. I got a bad nights sleep and then woke to a miserable congested baby who sounded like he was having trouble breathing. He was clinging to me and breaking my heart. This coupled with a lack of sleep and the fact that both DH and I do NOT have faith in our daycare to handle anything outside the norm led me to call in sick. I hardly ever call in sick but I Just. Couldn't. Leave. Him. I thought I would take him to the doctor but I called the nurses line and they are completely unconcerned with his symptoms and don't want to see him. I feel like I completely overreacted and am regretting not being at work. Can I just say having to make these decisions sucks much less early in the morning with little sleep and under duress. Sometimes finding balance as a working mom really sucks. If I go to work I feel like a bad mom, if I stay home I feel like I am ruining my career and letting my coworkers down. I can't win 
rant over.
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You are not alone my friend. We constantly have this struggle as well! Although we do have faith in our day care to take proper care of LO when she is sick, we hate sending her if we worry she's going to get other kids sick. It's a tough struggle to wear two hats of mama and career woman.
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I absolutely and completely sympathise. My little girl has been continually ill since starting daycare and has had a night cough now for 5 weeks - she wakes herself up coughing approx every 2hrs during the night. DH and I are beyond exhausted so when we got up on Wednesday to find pus oozing out of her eyes (it was conjunctivitis) I completely over-reacted and cried until DH agreed to take her to the doctor! I had to be in London that day (100 miles from home) and just didn't feel like I could skip work. I fought the urge to cry the whole way there but as soon as I walked into the office I burst into tears! My boss couldn't understand why I had come into work (he's very supportive) but I just felt so guilty and like such a sucky employee AND such a sucky mum......
I really hope your LO gets well soon. It's so hard to see them poorly (especially when you're tired yourself).
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My son was so sick that first year in daycare, actually, the first 6 months. We were best friends with the staff of the peds office.
It gets better, it really does. -
I am home sick from work today too! I've been fighting something all week and "powering through" with dayquil, etc. but this morning it was just too much. And last Friday I had to leave early to pick up DS who had conjunctivitus. Thankfully my boss is really understanding, but I totally feel the same way, that I'm letting my coworkers down (none of them have kids) and always "the one" who needs special treatment..
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We're going through the same thing. I really love our daycare and so does LO, but the constant sickness is awful and definitely my least favorite part of having my LO in daycare. She was up off and on for hours last night coughing. It was so sad
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It really does suck sometimes. My company has been really supportive, but I just can't shake the feeling that I'm letting everyone down when I have to leave early, come in late, or miss an event because LO needs me.
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It does really suck. I hate having to miss work cause she is sick but what can you do. I don't want to send her to day care cause then she gets everyone sick.
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This was me on Monday! I kept her home because I knew she was the first kid with the symptoms and didn't want to expose her to everyone else. She still feels awful but I hope keeping her home kept the other kids healthy.
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@tillma: awww! This has been my LIFE since January, since my LO has been sick for literally 4 months now. 4 months of coughing, on-and-off fevers, crap sleep, crankiness. It's terrible and I constantly feel like I'm failing my LO in that way.
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You are not alone. ((hugs))
I work for a government agency that *should* be the very most family-friendly place on earth, but it's not. It's expected that people will need to stay home once in a while, but I still feel like it's looked down upon. You truly can't win.
FWIW, I may very well be destroying my career, but my attitude is that my days out of the office aren't a big deal. I work hard to make sure that I am valuable and I always get my work done, even if it means I have to call into a meeting when I am home or check emails. I don't apologize for having children or for the fact that my family comes first.
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Yes, the first year was hard. I hope your LO feels better soon.
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@looch: haha, this perfectly describes my life right now
I always call it a good week if we don't have to go to the pedi's...Luckily for me working part-time (mo-th fulltime) gives me some flexibility so I can catch up on hours on the the day that I am off if necessary.
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I feel your pain! I've been in and out of work over the past three weeks with the boys having fevers that last days. And inevitably, there's like a two day lag from when the first gets it to the second one.
I just printed this out and taped it to my desk at work. My words to live by recently and I'm not apologizing for it!
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DS went to daycare when he was 3 months old, and he's come home with a cold/illness at least once a month, two being severe (RSV and Influenza). Not cool.
I'm so thankful work is accomodating and let me work from home on those days bc omg.... I think I'd be fired for the number of days I stayed home from work to care for him.
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@sunshineandsushi: Love this.
I hate days like that. The other week we had LO progressively get worse through the week. I know she just needed a day to sleep and catch up but we just couldn't stay home with her. Luckily we were able to cancel all plans on the weekend and she got some rest.
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