Poor Baby

This has got to let up soon.  Right?  He's so little, he can't stay this sick for this long.  He needs a break, I need a break.  His poor little body has been taxed all week, and it just seems like he deserves a bit of a break.  I have no answers, just a sick baby who isn't getting any better.  Tests haven't told us anything, and my doctor's office is pissing me off in their completely blasé attitude about our situation.  It took all I had to not yell at the nurse the other day, when she snottily told me, "Well, according to his charts, you can't even tell us when this all started."  I explained again, I'm not quite sure . . . the stools just got a little more frequent and a little looser, but he was teething and drooling.  He's always had loose and frequent stools with teething.  I honestly am not sure when it started, it just kept getting a little worse bit by bit.  What I do know is that last Thursday, he had a couple diapers where the stool was basically water, and I called and took him in to the doctor's immediately.  I know he was throwing up and barely able to stay hydrated Sunday morning.  I know the vomiting thankfully stopped and he started chugging pedialyte (to the tune of 2+ liters a day since Sunday), and we got him hydrated and didn't have to do an ER visit.  But the diarrhea isn't getting any better.  I know there are some hours I change 4, 5 or 6 diapers an hour.  I know we're struggling against a persistent diaper rash because of this.  I know it lets up enough for him to nap, usually, but starts up with a vegenenge as soon as he wakes up.  I know he's tired, and his body is drained.  He woke up so many times last night, then woke up at 6AM, and we never could get him back to sleep.  His whole world is off.  I'm keeping his diet as bland as possible, which he's not always happy about.  He's stopped drinking water, he refuses anything but pedialyte (which we learned the hard way when we ran out in the middle of the night and he wouldn't take a sip of anything until we got him more pedialyte.)  He's uncomfortable, he's miserable.  He tries so hard to be happy, but mornings like this he's basically cried, cuddled, screamed, thrown things, cuddled again and then sobbed pretty much all morning.  I don't know what to do for him.  We are waiting on one last test result, but I have little hope it will tell us something.  We're all so tired, and drained.  Poor Ellie feels so lost in the shuffle.  It seems like every single time she needs me or wants my attention, I'm elbows deep in the latest mess with Isaac -- "Ellie, I can't!  I'm changing Isaac's clothes/giving Isaac a bath/have diaper rash cream smeared half way across the carpet 'cause your brother rolled away when I attempted to touch his sore, sore butt."  Isaac needs so much of my energy and attention, and my energy was already in short supply between not sleeping well and being 32 weeks pregnant.  I've tried to set aside Isaac's naptimes for one-on-one Ellie time, but the last couple days she's been so super pissy and upset by the time that's rolled around, that she's needed a nap herself.  Poor Annie's picking up all kinds of slack -- my five year old has made lunch the last two days for her and her sister.  Peanut butter sandwiches, carrot sticks and grapes.  She's got out yogurt for snacks for them, she's carefully doled out prearranged portions of their Halloween candy for each of them, and she's an expert at putting in and changing movies.  My kids have watched so much more television than usual this week.  I haven't been sending them to friend's houses, and obviously friends aren't coming to our house, so they both feel bored and isolated.  I feel like a recluse, we haven't gone anywhere but to the doctor's and hospital and to buy more pedialyte (I need to rearrange my grocery budget this month -- I hadn't planned on the $60+ we've already spent on the stuff this week).  I just yearn for a glimpse of our normal life.  When we're not consumed by this illness, this nameless, elusive illness that has taken over our home and made our lives hellish.  I just want my baby to feel better, for our lives to feel normal again.  To know that my baby is okay, that serious damage isn't being done to his tiny body.  I just want some answers.  I just want him to be well.