Un-expected hospital stays with children

[mumma_jessy]

Have you ever had an un-expected night at hospital with your child/ren?

What did they supply you as a parent?

What do you wish you were supplied with to make it easier on you?


For example food, toiletries, entertainment etc...

I have an idea in mind, but need some feedback about your experiences first...

[Cheekychops]

I've had quite a number of them actually.... I think the main thing for me was soap... they didn't have any for parents.... even just if they handed the parents one of those small hotel ones iykwim.... they supplied a quiet room - no kids allowed - with tea and coffee but no bikkies or anything - some of those pre-packed bikkies would have been nice at 2am when we finally were settled into the ward.... um I think anything more than that is getting a bit much - the health system and childrens wards / hospitals are already behind, but soap and bikkies would be a big help. Totally different story in a private hospital though... that's just at the public....
Hope this helps.... and makes sense?!?!

[Starlet]

I have had my kids in hospital 3 times unexpectedly.

The first two times was DS1 and he was 5 month and 9 months. I had to sleep in a chair with no pillow, blankets(though I did get one night in a fold out bed, until they had to bring someone else in and then it was back in the chair. No food or drink. They did have a room for the parents to go watch TV and had free tea and coffee. They supplied towels for the parents, but no toiletries.

The third time I went, DS2 was 10 days old and we stayed for 2 weeks. They supplied me with 3 meals a day(as I was a breastfeeding mother) and a private room with a bed and TV.

This was all at public hospitals.

[M~T~J~M]

Have you ever had an un-expected night at hospital with your child/ren?
Yes, I have recently. It was the longest night I've had I think!

What did they supply you as a parent?
A fold out bed and linen for it. A cot for DS3 that also had to stay with us. Other than that, ZILCH!

What do you wish you were supplied with to make it easier on you?
I had to drive 20 mins back home (40 min round trip)at midnight to get a bag of stuff for me and the children. They honestly supplied us with nothing to help us get through the night. It would also have been nice to be offered some breakfast, shich I was not, either was my baby. DS2, as he was the patient, got his breakfast though.

[QTB]

Have you ever had an un-expected night at hospital with your child/ren? Yep sure have... un-expected weeks even!

What did they supply you as a parent? a bed, a shower & toilet (both public ones)

What do you wish you were supplied with to make it easier on you?

For example food, toiletries, entertainment etc...
magazines & meals & toiletries... i got AF while i was in there with DS and had nothing on me... it wasnt cool using papertowels til my mum could bring supplies up!!

I have an idea in mind, but need some feedback about your experiences first...

[Leeny]

Our unexpected stay with DD in a childrens ward was pretty terrible really. We were in emergency from early morning until late that night, supplied no meals even though I had to stay with dd the whole time, as if i'd leave her anyway.

After we were finally settled at night, we got a fold out couch, and linen, thats it.

I agree, even some biscuits would have been great.

Even though its not a materialistic thing, the thing that annoyed me most is the fact that DD wasnt allowed to sleep in my arms in the stupid chair, she had to be in the cold stupid rattly cot which woke her up every time she moved or the nurses walked past.

I dont expect a hotel stay, but they certainly dont make it pleasent for parents that are already having a rough time with children in hospital.

[mollymoosmum]

Hi there, sorry this is a bit lengthy...

My unexpected hospital stay was a terrible, stressful time which still upsets me...

We spent 15hrs (from 10pm-1pm) waiting in emergency, with our nearly 3 month old daughter. (we were in a curtained off sect)

There was no bassinett/cot provided for her during this whole time, dp and I took turns holding her.

We were told at about midnight that it shouldn't be too much longer for them to find my sick baby a room.....

10 hours later, I had had enough and was slightly hysterical ( I was a new mum and sooo tired), I was threatening to take molly to a private hospital. One lovely nurse let me shower in the staff showers... there was soap, shampoo and towels and she pushed pretty hard for them to find us a room.

We finally got up to a room (nice nurse got us a private one:thumbsup: ) after lunchtime, dp did the 1hr round trip to pack a few things for us, they provided Molly with some nappies.( I had spare clothes/wipes ect in her nappy bag)

I got my own fold out bed at about 6pm (supplied with linen), was offered a recliner till then...I was provided with a meal because i was a breastfeeding mother. Dp was told he could not stay the night. Molly was provided with a huge metal cot, dp brought up our pram top bassinette but was told we could not sleep her in that, she was used to sleeping in her snuggly warm bassinette, not some cold, open ,metal cage, so no wonder she didn't want to sleep!!

The night that followed was probably my worst as a mother.... I was so tired (Molly hadn't been sleeping for a week prior to this), stressed, and was left alone in a hospital room and from about 8pm-4am I think I cryed solid (I'm crying now just thinking how bad it was) Molly would not settle and I had no one to call on for just half an hour sleep. I honestly couldn't cope... one nurse came in and offered to take my screaming baby for a while... she promptly returned with my still screaming baby about 15mins later!!

Molly didn't sleep that night, and neither did I...

Not long after that stay I had a dramatic drop in the supply of my breastmilk, I always wonder if it wasn't helped along by the stress....:crying:

I guess for me I didn't need anything "material" I just needed some emotional support..... and a hug.

[mollymoosmum]

Ummm:o .... I just re-read your origional post........ I kinda read it wrong the first time :laughing: , so my long post probably won't help any, but atleast you know my life story!!:laughing: :o

[JnA]

Have you ever had an un-expected night at hospital with your child/ren?

yes, christmas eve 2006


What did they supply you as a parent?

A fold out bed, linen, pillows, breakfast, coffee/tea


What do you wish you were supplied with to make it easier on you?

I was given all I needed.. I didn't need or want anything else, apart from the health of my child.

[nugglyboysmum]

Archie had to have an emergency operation at 3 weeks old, which meant he had to unexpectedly stay in the hospital for 3 nights. i was provided with a tiny room with a sliding door and a single bed and lamp. i was a breastfeeding mother, they told me where the pumps were, not once did anyone advise me on how often and how much to pump (wasn't allowed to feed him for 2 days and nights) and i certainly wasn't offered any food. there was a bathroom with toilet and shower facitlities. luckily we only lived 15 mins away from hospital so we could fairly easily get things from home.

As a result of not expressing properly and the nurses giving DS bottles of water without my permission bfing failed at 5 weeks old, much to my regret. i really wish someone had just come up to me and told me what a wonderful thing i was doing for my baby by bfing him and given me advice and support on expressing.

i found the lack of attention to a 3 week olds bfing mum in a Womens and Childrens Hospital to be very poor and it still upsets me to think about it.

[alisando01]

Yes I have had an unexpected 10 day stay in paed ward with a 5 week old.

They supplied: Linen, foldout bed, bassinet, nappies, lunch and dinner til BF could not continue (bubs problem, not mine), all breakfasts, even when not bf, Tea, coffee, snacks, juice, formula, bottles, teats, emotional support. Bathroom shared between us and next room, both single rooms so ok

They were really good and made our stay a little bit easier. I would recommend Flinder's in adelaide 2 any1.

[emilysmumma]

Yes, 4 nights at a remote hospital in the north of WA. A small hospital that only had approx 8 rooms. We were first given a room with 2 single beds, and promptly a cot was bought in. DD was 21 months old at the time. When told she co-sleeps with us that was fine for me to be in the single bed with her.
Wthin an hour they moved us to a private room with a fold out sofa bed and private bathroom.
DH didn't spend the night but he did for the next 3 in the sofa bed. Linen and towels were provided. Nappies, wipes, popper juice as much as needed and fresh water. As DD had a nasal gastric tube she wasn't eating so we shared her b/fast and lunch tray. One night we were given an extra meal for DH to have.
The tv/coffee room had a microwave and some sofas but we didn't go in there as a bit smelly from the local people. Our room was quite large and had it's own tv anyway.
Very happy with the room while we were there. I guess at least there were two of us so one could go and get some food while the other stayed.

Someone mentioned soap and yes that could of been provided but they had the handwash there for the first night, then DH bought our own in the next day.
Maybe an idea is giving the parents a break for 10 minutes every now and then and someone to watch the child, especially if only one parent is allowed to stay or is around. Being stuck 24/7 in a hospital room can make you get cabin fever. Lucky for us we had a sliding door that opened onto the large lawn area.

Personally the care provided couldn't really be faulted. Being a small country hospital has it's advantages. I don't know if we would of gotten the same care and service in a large city hospital.

[Nowhere]

Have you ever had an un-expected night at hospital with your child/ren?
Yes many


What did they supply you as a parent?

depends sometimes a recliner chair other times a fold bed other times a room with a bed, soap tooth paste breakfast coffee tea, etc

We spend so much time there we know where to get al the good stuf

What do you wish you were supplied with to make it easier on you?

Would be good if all rooms had a oparents bed but never going to happen