Article from MomsMichiana.com

Make time for mommy By MELISSA JACKSON
Mother's Day comes but once a year. But that doesn't mean busy moms shouldn't take time for themselves the remaining 364 days. (You know, when you're not busy bandaging boo-boos, scheduling appointments, coordinating practices, catching up on housework or cooking dinner.)

Making time for mommy isn't easy, and, other than on the second Sunday in May no one is really going to do it for you. But it's important. And it needs to go beyond squeezing in a haircut or sipping the occasional latte.

“You've got to take care of yourself, too, so you can be there for your kids,” says Dr. Melissa Bunton, a family doctor at LaPorte Medical Group who has an infant and a teen at home.

If you identify with any of these scenarios below, try and find one way before school lets out to address it.

You've been AWOL from the doctor for a while: Heart disease is the No. 1 cause of death among women. A regular checkup to monitor cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar can help prevent the problems that are precursors to heart attacks and strokes, Bunton explains.

So for starters, go see your doc if you haven't in a few years. You make sure Junior is up-to-date on his physicals. Do the same for yourself.

You're unusually moody or irritable. Do little things that shouldn't bother you really get you worked up? Stress, anxiety or depression could be the cause — but you don't have to feel that way.

“I see it all the time in moms, whether they work outside of the house or not, because they do things for everyone else and they come last,” Bunton says. “Women just need to kind of watch out and make sure their mood is the way it's always been.

“You can be happy. There are things — not necessarily medications, but medications help, too — that can help you through the tough times and help you get through the stress. It can get back to how it was before you had three kids and a mortgage. … A lot of times you don't realize how bad you feel until you feel good again.”

You're always tired. Fatigue is among the most common complaints that Dr. Michelle Migliore, of Michiana Family Medicine in South Bend, hears from women.

“If you're a mom and you have blown it off, you have every excuse in the book,” the mother of two teens says. “Moms are usually burning the candle at both ends. They don't go to be until (late). They should be tired.”

The question is, how can you tell if your exhaustion is from life in general or from a medical condition such as anemia or a thyroid condition? Migliore recommends talking to your doctor if you haven't felt like yourself for more than three months.

“If there is something seriously wrong, the longer you let something go the harder it is to turn around,” she says.

Your vaccines are not up-to-date. When was your last tetanus shot? Boosters are recommended every 10 years and are now combined with a pertussis (whooping cough) booster. Migliori says the latter is especially important for women of childbearing age in order to protect newborns who can't be inoculated right away.

Also, who wants lockjaw?

You've put on a few pounds. “Moms tend to be like, ‘I don't have time for myself,'æ” says local StrollerFit instructor and mother of three Melissa Galicia.

But you shouldn't view your gym class or evening walks as a luxury. Maintaining a healthy weight reduces your risk for a number ailments. And, as Galicia notes, “there's always time to exercise. You've got to start a new routine, but once you get into (it), that routine will stick.”

Galicia notes that exercise tends to help people sleep better and feel better, in general.

“It will help you be a happier person, which will help you be a happier mom, which means you will have a happier home,” she says.