Back to the hospital we go...

Ever since Baby E. arrived at the beginning of March, he's been sick. Recently, he's not wanted to eat and is noticeably losing weight. Obviously this is a problem! He throws up what little he does eat, but because he refuses to drink from a bottle, we're having to give him milk in a syringe and he's not loving that either. This may be a little too much information, but he's also had diarrhea every time his diaper is changed. As you may remember from other posts, he's been to the doctor several times, and he's also been to the hospital for blood work and rehydration fluids. 

Baby E. also had all of the classic cold symptoms like a stuffy nose, cough, and what seemed to be a sore throat. However, because he was throwing up and had diarrhea, we (and all of the doctors) thought he had rotovirus. I don't know much about rotovirus, but I do know it's contagious… and it just so happened that about half of our kids had the same cold symptoms (without the vomiting and diarrhea) ever since Baby E. arrived. So, all of that to say, a diagnosis of rotovirus seemed correct!

While at the hospital for dehydration, blood work was done, and then we found out he actually didn't have rotovirus. It was some sort of infection. The good news was that an infection could be cleared up with antibiotics, so after a few more tests, we thought we knew what kind of infection it was. The key phrase there being "we thought"… He seemed a bit better after a few days of taking medicine. 

Then the symptoms started all over again. Tía Maria decided to take him back to the pediatrician (the same pediatricion for Baby C. and Baby A…. she's fabulous!), and she said we needed to take him immediately to the hospital. So he was admitted to the children's hospital. We're not sure how long he'll be there. For now, he's receiving rehydration fluid through an IV. He's still crying constantly (something he was also doing in the house… the most pathetic, sad cry I've ever heard), but we're hoping that'll stop once he feels better! More tests are also being done to figure out what Baby E. has. 

*Update on April 4th- Baby E. is still in the hospital, but after a month, we finally have a diagnosis! He has had a severe UTI. Because it was undiagnosed and therefore untreated, it got so bad that it was causing the vomitting and diarrhea. We feel so bad for it getting to that point without us knowing about it, but we're happy to finally know what was causing all of his symptoms and pain. We're also happy to know that it really isn't rotovirus and it's not contagious. He's still in the hospital, but we're hoping he'll be released sometime next week.