(no subject)

[rivka]

If you were going to be spending several days in the hospital at the side of your sick toddler, what could someone bring you that would make things easier?

My friend Emily's husband decided to cancel his business trip, so she's at least going to have someone consistent to help, and give her breaks. But she's going to be the one spending nights at the hospital and so forth. Zoe's still very sick - they've given up on the idea that she'll be able to go home before Thursday or Friday at the earliest.

I'm going by to visit tonight. I'm planning to bring coloring books, crayons, and stickers for Zoe, and my electric kettle filled with herbal tea and cocoa packets for Emily. (I suspect that all they'll have on the unit is a coffee pot, and Emily is an observant Mormon.) I'm also going to bring by a light and frivolous novel.

Any other suggestions?

Comments

[naomikritzer]

Light books (personally, I often find amusing nonfiction easier to read in a high-distraction environment -- my shelf this week includes "Kids" by Meredith Small, "See You In a Hundred Years," about a couple of New York yuppies who decided to pretend they were living in 1900, bought a farmhouse in rural Virginia and had the plumbing and electricity taken out, and a book about the top ten sporting events, written by a sportswriter who realized he'd never been to any of the biggies and thus did so and then wrote about it entertainingly.) I also find magazines really easy reading, though I'd stay away from the "ARE YOUR KIDS PROTECTED FROM THESE TWENTY RANDOM AND UNLIKELY DEADLY THREATS?" school of parenting magazines.

If my younger kid were in the hospital, I'd want a small CD player plus a stack of CDs that she would enjoy listening to, a mix of music (she has diverse tastes) and children's stories.

I think the preferred hand lotion and feminine necessities are excellent ideas. Also snacks -- if this were me, I would want something that didn't urgently require refrigeration but that also was not dry like a granola bar as I have trouble eating while under stress, and dry food is particularly difficult to get down. There are these pop-top cans of canned fruit and peel-top children's lunch packages of mandarin oranges that would be exactly what I needed.