Delivering Mail and the Pox

Today was a hectic day! Mary woke up with a 100-degree fever that rose to 104 at its peak. She seemed cheerful for the first couple of hours, so I wasn't sure what was going on and I went about my day.

While going through the steps of baking bread, I did a craft project with John, creating a make believe mail box. This proved to be a fantastic project! My part of taping and cutting the box, then covering it with white paper took all of 10 minutes. Then I let John decorate it.

John spent much of the rest of the day enthusiastically playing mail man! I gave him some junk mail, some slips of paper, and some free cards I've received from charities seeking donations. John absolutely loves playing mail man and spent all day making up stories about the letters, what they were about, and who they were to or from.

It was a good thing John had something to occupy him because Mary became very ill and I was so busy taking care of her. I realized she had broken out in spots the day before (yes, the day we went to a party with 25 other children), which had now extended from a inconspicuous area on her arm, to both arms, both legs, and her stomach. She had the high fever and vomited twice. So I took her into the doctor's office and she was diagnosed with "very likely chicken pox." The little girl has been so miserable today, so clingy, exhausted and yet unable to fall asleep. She just wants to nurse in my arms and remain in a relaxed state without ever falling asleep. As of this blog post, she's been awake for 15 hours, utterly sick, and with only one 45-minute nap!

We should know for sure within one to two days if Mary has chicken pox or "some other viral rash with fever" because her spots will follow a typical course of progress if they are varicella.