Creating Homemaking Rhythms During Hospitalizations

At Braving Beautiful, we thrive in facing hard things with beauty. An example of a hard thing is facing a hospitalization with a chronically ill child. There is a sadness to it. A sadness that is not always felt when it occurs in a child who is expected ultimately to get healthy. 

Healing through homemaking is a core tenet here, and for this post I want to help encourage you to not only find the rest and rhythms of homemaking to help in healing but especially to find them when in an inpatient setting. 

How am I supposed to make a home that is not home? Is it a hospital? 

Home is where we make it. If you are facing a time of uncertainty and hospitalization with your child, consider engaging in at least one of these activities to help heal, help create normalcy in an unnormal situation, and help create a cozy space even within the walls of a hospital. 

Top 5 suggestions for creating homemaking rhythms during an inpatient stay. 

• 1. Intentionally create some semblance of a hospital rhythm. Doctors and rounds often happen very early in the morning. It can be difficult to have a solid schedule (amid testing, doctors, and treatments), but try to set your sights on some semblance of a rhythm that includes intentional rooms for the most necessary things such as eating, rest, and giving yourself a little time to wake before the barrage of doctors comes in the room.
• 2. Make the hospital and/or sleep chair (for parent) with a blanket and/or bedding from home. There is something cozy about having your own blanket. For comfort, if you are sleeping alongside your child on a chair or pull-out couch, consider a yoga foam mat and/or a thin twin mattress pad. This extra padding often makes all the difference.
• 3. Plan your meals even if they are hospital food or quick fast food. Intentionally eat and drink fluids at mealtimes. When possible, sit by the window. Clear the bedside table. Step out in the family room.
• 4. If able, try to do your laundry. If it feels too overwhelming, do not worry about it. Many hospitals have laundry areas. It often is a place where many parents are gathering. You may first go for clean clothes but then find yourself sharing community and conversation with another parent who is also living at the bedside.
• 5. Decorate with the seasons. This one is so simple! Hospital activity staff often have décor and crafts surrounding the seasons and major holidays. It is fun to decorate the door outside your room and welcome in a little joy to all who enter.

What are some ways you can create homemaking rhythms even in the hospital? 

Leave your ideas below!