Friday, September 3, 2010

Preparing for Hospital

After my last stay in hospital I am determined to ensure our next stay is as harmonious as possible. Now that I know what to expect there are some things I can take responsibility for doing in order to make it easier for the nurses and therefore easier on ourselves. I am putting a list here so I can refer back to it. If you have any experience with hospitals and have any suggestions please let me know.

  • Have a typed out, detailed list of all of Oscar’s medications to give to the nurses on admission (last time they forgot to put his anti-nausea medication on the Dr’s list and it took 24 hours to get a Dr to add it to the list, which meant Oscar felt sick unnecessarily for way too long)
  • Make a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign for the door with the hours of Oscar’s day sleep written on it and explain to the nurses up front they can’t come in and do a procedure during that time unless absolutely necessary.
  • Before I go to sleep (ha,ha) find out who will be our night nurse and explain the tricks to getting Oscar’s observations (temperature and BP) without waking him.
  • Take the black cover for Oscar’s pram so that if we are in a shared room I can put him in that for his day sleep.
  • Take Oscar’s noise machine so I can play ocean waves during his sleep to block out the noise.
  • Do not give Oscar’s formula over to the nurses to prepare no matter how strict they are on this policy (seriously, they will have to strap me down and drug me to get his bottle away from me this time)
  • Take the poster Auntie Robyn made for Oscar to put up in his room to make him feel more at home.
  • Take lots of DVDs for Oscar
  • Take my yoga and meditation stuff and ensure my IPOD charger is with me.
  • Take the Ergobaby backpack so that if Oscar is hooked up to an IV I can still take him for a walk on my back and push the IV stand (I cannot push a pram and IV stand at the same time)
  • Constantly remind my ego that this is not about me and my discomfort at having no control over my environment or the freedom to make certain choices for Oscar and instead remind myself when I get anxious or angry to think about what love would do in this circumstance. In every situation, no matter how hard, the question must always be – what would love do? (Of course, sometimes when a nurse is inconsiderate of Oscar’s needs the most loving thing to do is correct her but the trick is to do it with grace and not anger). OK, I can intellectually know this – the challenge for me is whether or not I can put this knowledge into peaceful practice.

    Things I can do for Auden in my absence:
  • Update the book Auntie Lisa made about what happens when baby goes to hospital and read it to him and get others to read it to him in my absence.
  • Try to have him out to visit each day and spend some time with him in the hospital playground.
  • Remember how intelligent, resilient, intuitive and remarkable he is and trust him to find his own coping strategies.

5 comments:

  1. Cindy, I continue to find your strength a source of inspriation. The list is very practical and so loving. What a crazy world that the list has to exist at all...

    ReplyDelete
  2. A great and honest list - my prayers are there. xx my only additions are medications to help stay calm...:)...naughty me!

    ReplyDelete
  3. oh and i will drop the mobile internet USB into your letterbox. xx

    ReplyDelete
  4. If the question is 'what would love do?'...I'm pretty sure that the answer would be 'write this list.' I hope if I'm ever called to battle like this Cind I can step up as well as you have. Have a good week, and big kisses to little O. xxx

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks so much everyone. Your encouragement is a lifeline. xx

    ReplyDelete