Poor Sick Micah.

I feel very blessed to have such healthy kids. Aside from jaundice as newborns, I have only made visits to the doctor for well-baby checks--that is, until last week.

Wednesday night Micah started running a fever. He didn't seem to have any other symptoms, so I was just giving him ibuprofen and I figured it was teething. Thursday he started to lose his appetite, and Thursday night, he only slept for about an hour at a time. He'd wake up crying, and Josh and I took turns watching movies with him until he fell asleep again. Friday he refused to eat anything, even candy--that's when I knew something was wrong.

I took him to the doctor and they said it was hand, foot, and mouth disease. It's a virus that causes blisters in the cheeks and throat (and sometimes on the palms and soles of your feet, although he didn't have that). So he was absolutely miserable--couldn't eat, couldn't drink, wouldn't swallow medicine, wouldn't talk. It hurt him to swallow his saliva, so he'd just hold it in his mouth until something made his lips open, then he would drool like crazy. Saturday was the worst day, and today (Monday) was the first day he ate much of anything. It's really contagious, too, so we were keeping Eli in the basement and Micah in the living room and we sanitized everything. So far, Eli hasn't gotten it, so I hope we're past this. Yuck.

It's so tough to see your kids hurting, and even tougher when there's nothing you can do for them. We'd try to give him children's ibuprofen, but he refused it, and when we'd try to force in in his mouth he would spit it back out. And I'm sure he was hungry, but eating hurt worse than the hunger pains. Poor guy!

Once again, I would like to praise my heavenly Father for blessing me with kids that are generally healthy. It's something I don't take for granted! And if your kids ever get hand, foot, and mouth disease.....well, I'm sorry for them, and I feel your pain, too.