This is the next chapter in our long struggle with sick babies. Of course, the story began over 16 years ago. If you are just tuning in, you may want to start at the beginning.

Previous Chapter: Ruling Out Hirschsprung's Disease~ Or Did We?

 

 

We were beginning to settle into a bit of normalcy at home. We were still watchful of any screaming symptoms of Hirschsprung’s Disease in Baby Sean. Judah caught a bit of a stomach flu that found its way to Colleen. Hubby and I were hoping that he and I and Sean could avoid it.

 

 

One night before bed Sean was a bit fussy and his belly was gurgling. My 11 day old baby then slept the entire night. I woke him the next morning. Of course, this made me worry that he may have the stomach flu.

 

Sean had not had a poopy diaper in several days. The poopy diapers he had before then were not very big. He was pooping but it seemed that only a tiny bit was making its way out—maybe the size of a quarter in a diaper, sometimes smaller. Worry was beginning to set in about the possibility of Hirschsprung’s, but he didn’t have any of those big signs that told me to drive to the hospital immediately.

 

So we waited. But it seemed that he had caught stomach flu from the children.

 

After I woke Sean that morning, he didn’t seem interested in eating. However, he nursed when I offered it. So we went to church. It was Sean’s first time at church! We were eager to show off our tiny boy (the smallest of all our babies), but we didn’t let others hold him since I wanted to be sure that he wasn’t sick.

So many women told me that day that I shouldn’t worry about him. It was normal for babies to only poop tiny bits. It was fine that my 12 day old hadn’t had a poopy diaper in several days. That was normal, and he would start pooping more as he got bigger. I tried to believe them.

 

That day Sean had several poopy diapers! His biggest ones yet! Since he still didn’t really seem hungry, I figured this meant he definitely had a stomach bug. He wasn’t hungry and had a bit of diarrhea. Add the gurgling belly, and that means stomach flu, right? Then he started throwing up. He threw up three times that afternoon. Stomach flu.

When Colleen got sick, she wouldn’t eat at all, was not pooping at all, and was throwing up. Since Sean was still pooping and pooping more than before, I felt certain that this was not Hirschsprung’s Disease. And Hubby was feeling like he was sick now, too. Stomach flu.

 

Monday morning Sean was not at all interested in nursing and slept most of the time. I didn’t try to force him to eat. I figured if he didn’t feel like eating, he would probably throw up if I forced him. I’d give him a little while. I called the doctor since Sean was so young, and I didn’t want him to get dehydrated.

The doc wanted to see him. He felt like Sean had stomach flu that he caught from the rest of the family. He wanted me to try to give Sean some sugar water to see if he could keep it down. He took two swallows and threw up. Doc said to wait 30 minutes and try it again. If he could hold it down, then we could try giving him some very easily digestible formula (Nutramigen). But 30 minutes later, he threw up the sugar water again.

 

So we went to the hospital. We went to our local hospital rather than the children’s hospital. If I had had any strong feeling that this might be Hirschsprung’s, I would not have agreed to go to the local hospital. We would have been at the children’s hospital for sure. But it looked like we just needed to hydrate him and let the stomach bug run its course. I knew that the staff at the local hospital would not be as friendly to my breastfeeding and not giving a pacifier, but I could handle them for a day or so.

 

We got checked into the hospital, and they started an IV. When the nurse weighed Sean, he only weighed 6 pounds, 3 ounces. Five days earlier, he had weighed 7 pounds, 15 ounces. He had lost 1 pound, 12 ounces already!

 

I felt pretty certain that this was just the stomach flu. It made sense. Everyone else in the family had had it except for me. But I couldn’t be completely certain. Sean’s weight loss sparked a tiny seed of worry. I kept praying, “Lord, please don’t let this be Hirschsprung’s!” Even so, I knew that God had made our little Sean, and He would guard and take care of him.

 

It didn’t take too long before Sean began to feel a bit better. The IV fluids seemed to be helping him.

I stayed at the hospital with Sean that night. Judah and Colleen were with my mom. Hubby went home to sleep.

 

He wanted to stay at the hospital with us, but he had to start his new job in the morning.

 

That’s right– A baby in the hospital and a new job.

 

 

 

Next Chapter: Part 1 of the Part I Will Always Regret

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