Why I Will Choose To Be a Stay at Home Mom

Yesterday morning, about 5 minutes before I was supposed to walk out the door to go to work, Teddy and I went for a little walk so he could do his morning business. After much parading but before he managed to pick out just the right spot to apply his special brand of fertilizer, he turned around and made a bee-line right back to our front door and asked to go inside.

I noticed he was making a little wheezing sound and looked down and saw that he had his eyes shut. As I picked him up he snuggled close and made a little whimper. I became seriously concerned as he continued to keep his eyes closed and squint at me.

Scott had needed to take the car to work early that morning, and Melinda, who had graciously agreed to give me a ride to work, arrived just as I was starting to go into panic mode. Teddy got really excited to see her and managed to open his eyes for just long enough to give her his usual "I am going to MAKE you love me. How can you resist? I'm the cutest dog in the world - LOVE ME!!!" look but then shut them again right away. (Melinda is a self-proclaimed not-a-dog-person, but I know that she really does love him!)

I was really concerned, but with her assurance that Teddy would be fine, I left for work.

And felt worse and worse with every mile that took me further away from my boy.

Soon after I got to my desk at the office, I was sobbing quietly. And googling (which was not a good thing because everything I read had me convinced that he was either going to go into anaphylactic shock and have his windpipe close up or that he had some rare, incurable disease...) and calling vets who of course all told me that they couldn't tell me anything on the phone and that I should bring him right it.

But I couldn't bring him right in! I was stuck at work without a car and I had left my little doggie at home ALL ALONE. Having some kind of health problem. What kind of mother was I?

Pretty soon, my boss was aware that I was upset and had the whole story from me. She gave me her car keys and told me to go home and take care of him. Yes, she is an AWESOME boss.

So, I rushed home, took him to the vet, they figured he had been stung or bitten by some sort of insect and was having an allergic reaction, they prescribed him some doggie antihistamines and by that evening the swelling was gone, his eyes were open and he seems to be just fine.

(Heaving sigh.)

This is one of the (many) reasons why I will choose to stay at home with any children we may be blessed with...

My mom was always home with us. She was always there, no matter what. She never had to drop us off at daycare and go to work. What a HUGE blessing. Whenever I was sick, she was the one there taking care of me. Even now, when I'm sick, I still want my mom. I call her on the phone to get her opinion of my symptoms and to get her home remedy prescriptions. And to just hear her voice. It always makes me feel better.

I want to be able to do that for my kids. I'm glad I was able to be there for Teddy yesterday.

'Cause when you're sick, you just want your mommy.