So I'm back at work but I've never felt so tired, looked so old or spent so much time wondering whether I'm going to pass out with exhaustion. And my children are school age. Please tell me it will get better.....

[foxinsocks]

The job is quite stressful but interesting. THe people I work for are lovely and very understanding but the commute is horrible.

First of all dh went away for 2 weeks and I had to hold the fort on my own.

Then both dd and ds have been struck down with the most horrendous bugs which have meant, over the course of the last week or so, I've averaged about an hour or two sleep a night and then had to get up and go into work.

And ds is so ill, if he hasn't improved in 24 hours, he has to go to hospital. And dh has just called from work to say he thinks he has dd's tummy bug (which probably means I'm only a day or so behind him. Sigh).

I know this is a bad time of year but I'm particularly sensitive to all of this because I went back to work when mine were babies and had to give up because they were so ill and I REALLY do not want the same thing to happen again (they are not normally this unwell - I think we've just been unlucky).

I know this is a very self indulgent whinge and I'm really not like that normally (on here or in real life) and I know there's nothing you can do but but but but but.....

and breathe .

Not self indulgent at all.
You must be exhausted.
No advice really, but wanted to send positive vibes.
I hope you all get well soon.

So far as the bugs are concerned, my theory is that it's a seasonal thing and once they've had them your kids will have built up their resistance and get better soon.

I think you're doing really well to be working full time when you've been up half the time.

Can you just have a lazy weekend, hire some dvds, all snuggle up on the sofa with takeaways and try to catch up on your sleep?

Stick with it, everything will seem better once you're back in a good sleep pattern.

oh poor thing...no advice really but no wonder you are exhausted. House of sickness is not going to help matters much.

My prescription is a big bar of my new discovery: Cote D'Or Truffe Lait. Is 150g of loveliness. Hope you get some sleep soon.

thanks for being so kind

I'm not even working full time (though I have been for some of the last weeks as it was agreed in advance!). Aaarrghh.

I just want to wave a wand and make everything and everyone better!

repeat to self - it's a blip, it will pass... (ad nauseum - hopefully not literally)

it's friday, tomorrow will be better

Poor you. Sickness is horrible. Is there anyone who can step in and help? A MIL or someone?

Sympathy on horrid commute, about to embark on that myself. Is there anything you can do to make it easier? First class? Different route? Change your hours temporarily?

Can you take a day off work and go to a hotel/friend's house and SLEEP? Or put children in childcare (once better, obv) and stay at home and sleep?

You have just had an unlucky couple of weeks by the sound of it. Poor you.

I feel for you - we've just had a week with the tummy bug going through the household - really makes you appreciate just being "well".
You say you work for lovely, understanding people - can you take a week off? Especially if your ds is so poorly still - the stress of that will wear you out. Do you get parental leave? I think at my workplace we get up to 14 (unpaid) weeks per year (as well as a certain number of paid days for looking after sick dependAnts). Could be worth it at a time like this. Might be worth checking out. Hope you are all better soon X.

its awful when you are so tired. and then you get one or two good nights sleep and you suddenly feel about a million dollars!
I find it helpful to think that when things get so bad I start threads on mumsnet about them, that is when they suddenly get better. Think of starting your thread as the lowest point.... there, don't you feel a BIT better already?

Have a lovely quiet weekend....

www, no-one to step in (and there lies a big part of the problem I guess). I have no family here and dh's are miles away. Grrr. I hate commuting - was always the only major downside of this job (everything else is pretty good) so I just have to get on with it really.

Yes, I feel this is the lowest of low too minty. I'd never start a thread like this unless thing were really bad so that must mean they have to get better! I hope things are well with you at the moment.

I am not working today so once ds has had his next lot of antibs, I'm tucking him up in bed with me! Thank goodness it is half term next week (and dh has half term off so I can work without being worried about the kids being ill!).

Thankyou so much even for just posting. It really has made me feel better.

are you commuting on South West Trains? If so and for you.

oh foxy so sorry to hear this

If I wasn't off to Wales today I would come round tomorrow and send you to bed

Would you like to borrow my lovely nanny for a bit while I am away? I'm sure she'd be up for the odd afternoon during half term...

oh sorry just seen that your dh is at home next week

make sure he gets up in the night for at least a couple of nights so you can get some unbroken sleep!

btw I was moaning to dh the other day that I felt I looked haggared, he took dd shopping that pm and had a little trip to spaceNK (where he assures me he said "my wife feels she looks haggared, I don't think so but I would like something to make her feel better" and NOT "my wife is a wrinkly old dog please please give me something to make her look less repulsive as I can't bear to look at her with my contacts in"

Anyway he returned with this stuff have been putting it on morning and night for a week and I genuinely look much better!

It is an utterly UTTERLY lousy time of year, isn't it. I have managed to contract minor and bothersome ailments which have stopped me getting enough sleep or ANY exercise for a couple of weeks, and I have the joie de vivre of a run over cat.

My only consolation for you is that at least you don't work in a glossy magazine office surrounded by glossy young things with active social lives and glowing skin....

poor you foxy
but vv good that dh is off for half term, that must take the pressure off a bit. you'll have to be kind to yourself, long baths,early nights etc.
all is good here... remember that I had a hideous job interview ages and ages ago which you always v kindly ask me about? well I keep meaning to tell you that I finally found out a couple of weeks ago that I got the job! So I'll be going back to work too in a couple of months or so. V much part time though. So when I'm coming back from work, stuck in hideous traffic on a rainy evening in february, late for a parents evening..... remind me that it is all worth it really, won't you foxy!

oh yes CD jurlique products are wonderful. and SMELL so GOOD!

yes, margo - you know this commute so well!

minty - CONGRATULATIONS, you clever thing! How wonderful! I hope you've managed to sort out the nanny - I've lost track with what happened there.

Actually, you know what CD, what a brilliant idea. I shall be dropping hints with dh (who is feeling very hard done by as he didn't realise how much work it was looking after the kids ).

My only consolation MI, is that being an accountant, no-one EVER expects me to look stylish really. Whenever I wear one of the tops I quite like, I always get nice comments which makes me think I probably look dreadful in my normal suits .

yes, lovely competant nice non-shouty nanny started 3 weeks ago and has rolled up her sleeves and made friends with everyone HOORAH!
and poor neglected fourth child dd2 is now going to music bugs, tumble tots, village playgroup, church playgroup, library storytime..... she is in heaven!

Working and motherhood..............

When it works, it rocks, it really does.

Then the wheels fall off and you think is it really worth it ....

Then that moment passes and you all settle into a groove again....

Then the wheels fall off.....

Vicious bloody circle.......

But I would not give it up for anything.

oh minty, how brilliant and hooray for poor dd2! How she got through he clingy phase? I'm sure this will make your transition back to work a lot smoother. Is it a localish job or back in central London?

Thanks Bree . I know what you mean. Perhaps next time I take a new job, I should plan it round Spring/Summer time!

Has she got through...

oh fox, poor you.

When all the little routines fit toegther it's a breeze. As soon as one part of the machine breaks you're buggered. Ill children is the worst.

It will all work again. You just need to cry a lot until it does