11 Reasons Why Being Sick When Your Kid Is Sick Is Basically Hell On Earth

Trying to nurse someone to health when you need your own nurse is a miserable mess. It's like a doctor trying to set a broken bone by using their broken hand. (OK, that might be dramatic but that's how it feels, so just go with it.)

Not only do you have to make an appointment for your kid, you have to make an appointment for yourself. And, unless your Ross Geller, you can't go to the same doctor; your kid needs a pediatrician, and you need a "big kid" doctor. You can't "one-stop shop" for diagnoses and some prescriptions until your kid is old enough, and when you're both sick, it feels like that day will never come.

Your home starts to look like a graveyard of snotty tissues. It's like Christmas morning where ripped wrapping paper is everywhere, except instead of presents there's just phlegm. Because both you and your kid are sick, there's double everything used to ease symptoms: double the soup, double the tea, double the over-the-counter whatever...double it all. Your home looks like a triage center.

So apparently, not only can you pass a cold back and forth between family members, you often get a new cold, as a result of an already diminished immune system. So you could get sick, then get someone else sick, then get a different kind of sick. Science! Ugh.

While your kid might sleep or nap more during the day when they're sick, they'll also wake up more frequently. A baby and/or toddler who normally sleeps through the night will probably wake up numerous times in need of hugs or water or because they're just so uncomfortable. So, even if your kid does end up sleeping more overall, the long, uninterruped hours of sleep will cease to exist.

The average medical cost of a baby's first year in the United States is $3,342.00. That's just run-of-the-mill wellness checkups, like scheduled visits for immunizations that a baby would have when they're not sick. Now, just imagine how much more expensive it can be when your baby is sick, and you have to pay for additional pediatrician visits on top of the doctor's visits you'll need when you're sick too.

It's hard to stay positive when everyone is sick. Because there's not a healthy person around to remind you that this is temporary and you won't die and the world is more than just a germ-infested circle of inevitable death, you can tend to feel more negative than positive. (Just me?)

If your kids are old enough to take care of and/or help themselves with a few things normally, they won't when they're sick. They feel horrible and need someone to take care of them, which means you won't get the normal break you're used to. They're too sick to do their chores, so you'll do them. You don't want your kid trying to care for themselves when they're running a fever and throwing up, so you'll do everything for them. You're back to having a newborn baby...except you're sick too.

I mean, you'll blow off everything you can, but sure enough, there will be some tasks that just have to get done, no matter how crappy you feel, nor how many equally crappy-feeling children you're taking care of.

Nothing actually makes you feel worse than watching your kid feel bad too. When you're a parent, misery doesn't love company — and there's nothing comforting about someone being just as sick as you are. You would much rather be the only one battling a nasty flu and/or cold.

This is hell, you guys. This is the seventh circle of hell: a never-ending cycle of diarrhea diapers, and you being forced to choke back vomit while running a 101.4 degree fever.