I was quite surprised when Porter came down with the chickenpox at the beginning of December. None of my older kids have had the chickenpox because they have all been immunized, but of course at 9 months old Porter wasn't old enough for the vaccine. He was pretty miserable around days three and four of the infection. He had a fever and I'm sure his body was aching. During that time I literally held him day and night because that was what calmed and comforted him. The itching never really seemed horrible. He had his moments when I could tell they were itching and so I'd give him oatmeal baths, like the one he is having in the pictures. Most of them were covered by his diaper and so he couldn't get to them. He did have several on his head and he would try to scratch those which I must say (if I can do so without being insensitive to his discomfort) was about the cutest thing I've seen him do.
So Porter having the chickenpox was disturbing on another level because it has always been in question whether or not I have ever had the disease myself. I pretty much pushed it out of my mind hoping for the best and figured that if I was going to get them it would be right around Christmas. The week before Christmas my throat got really sore and I started wondering if it was the beginning of "it". In the end it turned out to be strep throat and I forgot about the looming pox. The next few days continued to be crazy with a work party, two of us with strep, the "single mother of 5" Sunday, my sister coming into town (which was actually helpful), our basement flooding (yes: new house but the same story), our anniversary, Christmas break, and did I mention that I was sick and didn't feel so hot? The best part of it all, seriously, was that as I was bailing water out of our window well on Monday (our anniversary) I was just so grateful that my sister, Krista, was at our house already and she could keep an eye on the kids and that because I had started a round of antibiotics the day before my throat was not on fire for the first time in 3 days and so I felt good enough to bail water in the freezing cold. I don't think I would have been able to handle it otherwise. Heavenly Father sends us tender mercies even in the midst of our disasters!
Wednesday morning as I went to get into the shower I noticed several red blistered spots on my abdomen and it was then that I realized that it had finally caught up to me, about 30 years too late in my opinion. Sorry to all of the people at the grocery store the day before and the people at the gym that morning! Paige also broke out in a very mild case that afternoon. They never blistered and went away after a couple of days. She had had one dose of vaccine and obviously it helped her. Let's just say that things went rapidly down hill for me over the next couple of days and by Christmas I was no longer eating because the inside of my throat was covered with pox and it hurt!! I'm feeling much better now although the pox marks will take some time to fade. I can now say with confidence that I've had the chickenpox. Boy howdy, did I ever!
