When you’re sick as a couple, you can just lay in bed together and argue over who is going to get the door when the pizza delivery guy arrives. You can watch movies and bad TV and only get up to go to the bathroom. You can doze and nap and ignore the accumulating tissues on the night stand that are spilling to the floor. I didn’t know how good we had it when we were sick as a couple.

Sick as a family? Oh man, that’s a whole different thing. First of all, you feel terrible for the kid. Is there anything more heart wrenching than seeing a baby with a running nose just wailing in confusion over his predicament? That’s the saddest thing ever. Or maybe hearing him try to drink from a bottle with a stuffy nose. That’s pretty sad. Or when he wakes up in the middle of the night just angry at the fact that he’s sick. Very hard to watch.

But the worst part is that despite the baby being sick, he still has energy. He wants to play. He wants to crawl. He wants to explore. And he also wants to cuddle for 30 seconds at a time before taking off again. Yes, he may nap for a few minutes longer if he can get settled with the congestion and coughing. But then he’s off and “running” again.

However, the Man and I do not have the energy Gibs has. Those days of leisurely recuperating from a cold are so long gone. Now it’s a fight over which of us is more sick. Because the person who is least sick has to go out for supplies. Like baby formula and baby chest rub and baby saline nasal spray and a pediatric warm mist humidifier. That just means the person who is more sick stays home with the sick baby. So no one really gets the better deal.

The worst of the congestion is mostly over. I have a nightly coughing fit right before bed. So far I haven’t woken the baby with it. Gibs still has a runny nose and a tiny cough a week after onset. Starting to wonder if we need to take him back to the pediatrician in case his cold has turned into a sinus infection. The Man seems mostly mended but exhausted from having to pick up extra shifts with Gibs while I have my fits.

So yeah. Being sick sucks. Being sick as a couple- actually not that bad. Being sick as a family- the WORST. But I wouldn’t change anything.