What does a 31 year old woman do when she is handed out bad news? She cries her eyes out to her mother, like a child saying, “They are saying that they won’t give me toffee. They are saying they will give me an injection. ” Yup! That is what I, a mother of two, did when I was told I had chicken pox!

It all started on a thursday (as far as I know). The day began as usual, but as hours passed by, I started feeling body ache. I passed it off to gastric and acidity instensifying. Friday looked good when I woke up. But within a couple of hours, back pain started saying hello. Though I was not feeling hot, I checked my temperature. It read 101. I was surprised. By touch, my body didn’t feel hot. I wrote it off to lack of sleep and excess heat.

Friday night, as I woke up to feed my baby, I felt around my face and realised that many pimples had sprouted on my face and thought that I’m having an episode of heat bubbles breakout. I even counted it to 13 in the middle of the night as I waited for the baby to finish his feed. Early in the morning, when my husband came in to check on us, I even told him about the pimples. But, since it was dark, he couldn’t see it.

Waking up in the morning, after brushing my teeth, I went into the kitchen to heat up milk. That’s when my husband looked at my face. He quipped that it looked like chicken pox, but just to confirm, he called his mother who lived downstairs to come have a look. My kitchen had started doing salsa by now. I slowly walked into the waltzing hall and sat on the jiggling sofa. My mother-in-law also confirmed that it was chicken pox. We decided to go to doctor for medical confirmation. Once things around me stopped spinning, we left our kids at the care of my mother-in-law and went to consult the doctor.

The doctor also said that it was chicken pox. He added salt to the wound by saying that I can not feed my 6 month old baby as he didn’t even get vaccinated against the chicken pox virus. That was the last thing I wanted to hear. While my husband was getting the medicines, I sat outside the clinic and tried hard to stop the waterworks.

After coming home, I called our Ayurvedic doctor at Mysore and asked her about the feeding. She said that I could feed, but she would still check with a paediatrician and confirm. In the gap that I had before I got her call, I called up my Amma and cried out my heart. “They are saying that I have chicken pox. They are saying that I can not feed the baby, “I cried. My mother tried to console me as best as she could over the phone.

The first piece of relief came when our Ayurvedic doctor said that I could feed the baby. After feeding the baby, we consulted a paediatrician to be doubly sure (mostly to assuage my husband’s doubts). The paediatrician reaffirmed that I could feed while wearing a mask and must follow strict hand wash. I had to, however, limit my time with him. Immediately after feeding him, I had to let someone else handle the baby to minimise the chances of him getting the infection.

Thanking God for giving me the opportunity to continue to feed my little one, I sat down wondering how I would manage. Even though my in-laws stayed downstairs, I’ve never been completely dependent on them. That’s when my second wave of relief arrived in the form of phone call from Amma. She said she would come here to help take care of all the things. All my stress went right out the window.

I know Amma’s health is not so great. I know she probably has to take more medicines to be able to take care of us. I know Pa has to fend for himself alone while Amma is here. I know Amma is worried about Pa not taking care of his health while she is here. I know it will be a great inconvenience for her to accept the hospitality of my in-laws. I know all of this, but still, I want her here with me. Yes! I’m selfish. But, when I’m at a low in my life, it’s Amma who helps me to rise up and move on.

Armed with the presence of my super woman and the support of my family, I will sail over this tide! Hopefully!