Single Mothers Don't Get Sick.

I overheard two mothers talking in Costa this morning. I think one of their friends must have been ill or something. One said to the other, "what would you do if you were a single mother, though, and you were ill? I mean, what would you do with the kid?"

This is something that crosses mind periodically. Every time I'm a bit careless with crossing the road, I think "you're an idiot; what if a car had hit you and broken your leg, or worse?"

S is 15 months old now, and I'm lucky that the worst I've had to deal with, illness-wise, is a bit of a cold, or a headache. The one day I had a monstrous migraine, S went to nursery and I was able to call in sick for work and sleep it off.

You can't call in sick for parenthood though; especially when you're a single parent.

The idea of getting properly ill, especially while S is still so young, scares the bejesus out of me. I have actual nightmares about it. What if I did get ill? What if I had to spend one or more nights in hospital? What would become of my beautiful girl?

In the early days, I was petrified that I would become ill in some way, and that her father would turn up and take her away.

Now I'd like to think I'm in a position where, if I ended up in hospital, he wouldn't even know about it - and even if he did, would never have the nerve to rock up and try to take my child away.

But it still worries me.

And so, I just don't get sick.

Seriously.

I think being a single mother has forced me to man up when it comes to illness. I can't just laze about in bed all day if I feel a bit rubbish; S still need to be dressed, fed, and played with. There's nobody else here that I can kick out of bed and ask, "can you just give me a few more hours' sleep?" And so I kick myself out of bed, and I get on with it.

I take all sorts of supplements, religiously, so as to maintain some semblance of health. I try to exercise and stay active.

I have been very, very lucky not to have been seriously ill so far, and had to try and find ways to keep S cared for and safe.

Mostly, I try to stay positive mentally. I really think that makes all the difference. I don't allow myself to think "oh, I feel a bit rubbish, I feel sick, I might be coming down with something..." I tell myself, "it's just a niggle, drink more water, you'll feel better."


I'm interested to find out what other single parents think about this? Do you constantly worry about what would happen if you got ill?