You can run yourselves ragged when your child is in the hospital for a long time. Try to find one or two ways to stay healthy and feel balanced. Parents who have walked this road before you share the following ideas:

• Try to eat, sleep, and get a few minutes of exercise every day.

• Take turns staying with your child at night. If the hospital is far from home, you could rent a hotel room nearby, stay in a Ronald McDonald House or hospital hospitality house, or borrow a mobile home or trailer to park at the hospital. A refuge from the noise and smells of a hospital can be a welcome, and needed, relief.

• Ask a favorite aunt, uncle, or grandparent to spend nights at the hospital occasionally so both parents can go home to sleep. This can be especially comforting for siblings.

• Find ways to share your feelings about what is happening. You can talk with your spouse, another parent at the hospital, a friend, a family member, the hospital chaplain, or a counselor.