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Plenty of people have written well thought out packing lists with the obvious clothes, underwear, chargers, etc. That’s not what this is. I’m writing to the parents that will be holed up in a hospital for an unknown amount of time. I’m writing to the parents that don’t have unlimited resources to have every meal delivered by a local food service. I’m writing to the parents that forget to order those meals and only have a chance to grab quick snacks at 1 am when their child finally goes to sleep. I’m writing to the parents whose kids have been puking for the last 12 hours and refusing all the hospital cafeteria food.
Non-Perishable, Shelf Stable Snacks
- Kiddo’s favorite salty snack – Our kiddo loves goldfish and chips. We stocked up on individual packs of all of his favorites
- Kiddo’s favorite sweet snack – Oreos and gummies. We went for the party size of the Oreos because they are a family favorite snack and nothing helps lift everyone’s mood better than an Oreo pow-wow!
Fresh Foods
Fruit – eventually everyone will get tired of the junk food and want something fresh tasting on their taste buds. Apples, bananas, and oranges all travel well and hit a few different notes flavor-wise. These are also great for keeping your body more even-keeled than a sugar rush or empty carbs. Read your body signs and make sure to have options!
Photo by Regine Tholen on Unsplash
Post-Op Recovery
With most procedures the nurses and doctors want you to blow into a spirometer at some frequency or another to get the floater up to different levels. This was an impossible task for a small child to do after his chest had been opened up for an intense surgery. Enter bubbles and balloons! Our kiddo had so much fun blowing bubbles and blowing up balloons! Both of which accomplished the same thing as the spirometer, but way more fun. We even made a game out of the bubbles and balloons together, where he would score if he was able to hit the balloon with the bubbles (translate – reaching the goal of exhaling harder). At one point, we had him using his straw to blow his cereal around in his bowl. Be creative and keep it simple, any sort of game to distract the kiddo, but getting them breathing will help keep their lungs healthy post-op.
One last thing for the kiddos after surgery, they really need to have a bowel movement before going home. The hospital had powdered laxatives to mix in with drinks, but the taste/texture turned my son off. I really wish we had packed some fiber gummies, like THESE. As always, make sure you check with the nurse or doctor before giving your child something to make sure there aren’t any contraindications.
Photo by Kayla Farmer on Unsplash
For The Parents
- Creamer — The hospital had an endless supply of coffee on every corner, but many of the add-ins were slim pickings or non-existent. I was so glad I packed a box of these creamer pods so I could have that one perfect cup of coffee. Something so small was enough to give me strength to make it through the day.
- Instant Coffee – Iced single serve pods were my lifesaver. Sleep was rare in the hospital and these were perfect for a mid-afternoon pick me up.
- Flavoring – Can you see a theme here? My morning coffee is my ritual. If I can have one cup of coffee that is soothing, I can handle anything that comes my way. Adding some sweet caramel flavor into my coffee is another small thing that goes a long way for me.
- Protein/Breakfast Bars – KIND bars are some of my favorite snack bars, plus they’re kind of healthy.
- Slippers with RUBBER soles, something like THESE are cute and perfect for slipping on to run down to the nurses station, or a walk down the hall.
- Journal – I mentioned this in the last post, HERE. All the information we were constantly bombarded with felt like drinking from a firehose. Every time a specialist came in and ran through our son’s situation, I was able to dump all the information into a journal and then process it to see if I had any questions or concerns. Don’t forget a pen!
- A pillow – the hospital ones are flat, it’s for hygiene reasons. But if you want some good shut-eye, bring your own!
Child Life Specialist
The Child Life Specialists at Children’s were an amazing resource for us and they were always able to brighten our son’s spirits with all the fun ideas and activities they had to offer. Since our son had to stay pretty stationary in the beginning, the Child Life Specialist brought him sensory toys and let him keep one to fidget with to pass the time. As he was able to move more, they brought other activities by, like play dough, Legos, remote control cars, and even provided a game system for the wing to use since there were a lot of older children on our wing!
Next Week I’ll Share The Helpful Gifts From Our Friends.
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