I’m sure as pre-parents we’ve all done it; certainly, I know I have. You see your friend, or family member, and they’re telling you how their child is sick.

‘Ew,’ you think to yourself. Be careful with those germs. You wonder about all the snots, coughing and spluttering that is going on in their house, and then sure enough, your friend gets sick from their child.

‘Be more careful,’ you think. ‘Don’t catch your child’s germs.’

Huh.

Well, then comes the time when you have a child. And all of a sudden, your child gets sick.

My baby girl has been sick.

And what did I do? Did I ‘be careful’ not to catch those germs? Did I stay away from her?

Hell no. I cuddled her, kissed her, engulfed her as per usual, and every time snots flew out of her nose when she sneezed, or she coughed, or she whinged about being sick, I ran to her, not from her. I went “awww,” and tended to all her sickly woes. ‘I don’t care if I get sick,’ I said to myself. ‘I’d rather be sick, and take on those germs, then have her be sick.’

What a difference having a child of your own makes.

Then, you get sick. You think ‘Shit. I forgot how bad this can get.’

I am currently sick.