Baby Blues

     The receptionist here at work is out today, sick. I was sick a week ago, as was some other people in the office, so I know there is a bad flu going around. Well, you only have to read the newspaper to know that. Tonnes of articles about hospitals being overrun, when exactly you should go to the hospital, and debates about the usefulness of the flu shot. It's not really what I wanted to talk about, except for the bit of irking I feel that I now have to help with the phones for today. That is left over feelings from the last receptionist, who was sick constantly - or I should say, took sick days constantly. The current receptionist can't help it if she's sick, I know that, especially with a flu raging through the office.

    But she's also pregnant. And this is what I want to talk about. Not about the fact that it only took her two months to get pregnant after coming back from her last maternity leave. That's a whole subject for another day. But, about how she announced that, if she were to get the flu, how she was going to suffer so much worse than any of the rest of us, because, you know... she pregnant and can't take anything. Not a single aspirin or tylenol.

     I really need someone to explain this to me, because I don't understand why you have to suffer so much to have a kid these days. Okay, no booze, no smoking, I understand, mostly. There are studies that show booze affects a fetus's brain, and smoking affects a baby's birth weight, among other things. I won't dwell on the fact that me and all my brothers and sisters were born under these adverse conditions and have all turned out fine. I was born with a weight of almost 9 pounds. I would hate to think what my poor mother would have went through if she hadn't of smoked.

     But...suffering through a flu or a cold when you don't have to just doesn't make sense to me. Is it even smart? If you have a flu with a high fever, and you don't take anything to help reduce that fever, isn't that dangerous for you and the baby? How high does a fever have to be before the baby is affected? And also, when the baby is born, and it gets a cold or flu with a fever, are you going to never give it anything to reduce that fever? Silly me, but that sounds like a trip to the hospital for sure. You can't mess around with fevers in babies. This I know.

    I imagine, as well, without being able to take anything, her absence from work is going to be even longer. I got the flu on Jan 6th, and still feel like I'm operating in a fog. I did nothing all weekend but sleep. Just don't have the energy for anything else. And that's with taking pills to ease the symptoms.

     Good luck to her, I say... and I am so glad I am not pregnant in this day and age - I would be breaking all the rules. I would be one of those women being chastised by Molly Dogooder in the Drug store, when caught reaching for a bottle of cough syrup. "I'm calling Child Services on you!".