HFMD

Cas has Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease. If your kids have never had it, PRAY TO GOD they never will. Watching Cas suffer the last three days  has rivaled sitting by his bed in the NICU the week he was born. He has terrible sores all inside his mouth, throat, and on his lips. He is in severe pain and doesn't want to eat anything except maybe yogurt or popsicles. There is a slight rash over his entire body, with concentrated rashes and sores popping up on his hands, ankles and knees. Sometimes he will point to a painful spot on his arm, leg or face that doesn't have any visible sore on it. Jay and I are taxed to the max. Jake spent yesterday with Nana and Grandad, who are lifesavers for us. We are doing everything we can to keep the baby from getting it, but I think it will come down to God intervening on our behalf to protect him, because the virus is highly contagious even a few days before the fever starts.

All this after all four of us got a nasty several-day-long stomach virus last week. 

I have had to reach up to heaven constantly just to make it through the morning, and then through the afternoon, and then through the evening, and then through the night with Cas waking wailing several times a night. He grabs me and wraps his arms and legs around me and I lay with him until he falls back asleep. And then I pray some more that I won't get it, as I lie on his saliva-drenched pillow with his mouth an inch from mine.