Ill Stay at Home Moms Soldier On!

I should have called this post: Female Slave Mentality and Stay at Home Moms

I want to know why otherwise intelligent women allow biology to overwhelm their commonsense when ill?

Here I am pregnant and suffering from bronchitis and yet I am trying to entertain a houseguest, keep our home clean, and care for my becoming-sick-too child.

If I were an ill man, I'd be in bed moaning right now. So why do I feel the slightest obligation to be upright and moving? Why am I doing this rather than taking care of myself first?

I'll tell you why, stay-at-home moms have no recourse when ill. If I were working and had H in daycare, I could call in sick, drop H off, and rest. Not an option. I'm not sick enough to justify I leaving work, but if I weren't a stay-at-home parent, I'd have called in sick myself.

But that's not it either. If I really wanted to, I could find a way to take care of myself. Here I am an woman raised to believe in herself as a person. Who never once held back because she was a girl (including entering the men's room when really urgent). Yet when it comes to I and H, my first reaction is to always take care of them first. I don't want to be a martyr on one hand, but sometimes it just seems so expected - even by me!

Why is that?

Is this just a girl thing?

Is it our education system?

I'd really like to know.