Do you dream of being hospitalised?

[Rocknrollstar]

I just read some research that said many women dream of being hospitalised with something relatively minor just for a few days. They see it as a way of being able to stay in bed and be looked after instead of running round after everyone else. And I thought it was only me! (Please bear in mind that not everyone can arrange a couple of days away).

Yes! I used to fantasise about being hospitalised with a broken leg when my kids were small!! I didn’t realise it’s so common. It was the only way I could have got a break.

Me too, and I quit too.

Yes in the past. I spent the last 6 weeks of my pregnancy in a consultancy unit. It was lovely.

Absolutely not I've spent significant periods of time in hospital it isn't relaxing. Unless you enjoy no sleep. Sharing a room with patients who have dementia so they scream constantly. Your life being put at risk by wrong meds and dosages. Being woken throughout the night for obs. Catching god knows what why in there. And having to listen to people right next to you use the commode why you try to eat. Plus the temperature hospitals are boiling and getting water is a nightmare. As you will press the buzzer after 10 minutes someone will appear and by the time they leave the room they will have forgotten what you asked. Also hearing the cardiac arrest alarm going off is one of the most heartbreaking sounds. Or when some dies in your room its horrific. Also zero privacy or confidentiality.

Exactly, and you have to be pretty sick to be allowed in them normally (maternity aside, I know most women still go to one to give birth).
And the staff are so busy, you don't get a lot of running around after you, and as you say, on a ward you've almost no chance of sleeping.
Anyone who says they want this must be visualising a private hospital or something from TV. Doubt they've been on our local NHS wards (and lots of respect for the amazing staff who were maxxed out) for a while.

I was in 2 hospitals for a month around this time last year - the 2nd one was a specialist one and was amazing. I'd never want to be that unwell again but being brilliantly cared for was quite the experience and I am forever grateful to them and think of them fondly and emotionally. So I get the fantasy totally. The illness bit is grim though. And also has to be tip top / own room and brand new everything.

Yes. It’s definitely a thing.

Yup. I regularly used to when the kids were younger and I was a SINGIE parent even when not single

Yes, I do! I often daydream about lying in a hospital bed, being pampered, having all my ailments, (however minor), seen to and being given some pleasant drugs.

Strangely, the fact that my only experience of in-patient care was on an NHS post-natal ward has not ruined this fantasy in the slightest.

Hospital? No!
Prison? Yes!!
Don't even have to turn a light on and off in prison.... 3 meals a day. Where do I sign?!

I completely understand the sentiment. And I have fantasized about this myself. We all know the realities of what our hospitals are like, I lived in the hospital with my son for 6 months when he was receiving treatment for brain cancer.

the fantasy stems from a desperation to escape your own life and responsibilities. I used to fantasise about just lying still, not speaking, someone bringing me food 3 times a day. Not even having to make a decision about what to eat. I was exhausted from the tragedy of 2 years watching my child die. The responsibility of trying to make things ok for my other son. Just the thought of making a decision on what to wear was beyond me.

I get that the fantasy of a spa is nicer but when you are that desperate even going to a spa/hotel would require too many decisions to be made. I wanted someone to look after me and make every single decision so I could just rest, not even think, quite honestly I hardly had the energy to blink.

it isn’t about being in hospital (in reality) it’s about needing to be totally looked after, a total break from every minute responsibility. And it’s horrible to feel that desperate.

Yes, when I was burnt out from work, or not hospitalised but too unwell to go to work for a few weeks. Years later, burnt out from grieving and solo parenting DC with SEN, I cried because I realised I didn’t even have that fantasy anymore because there was no one else to look after DC if I am ill.

Not hospital but a few days in bed with someone decent to care for me. It’s happened to me many times (I’m very accident prone) and whilst I’m usually in pain of some sort, a few days out of the hubbub often looks appealing. Or it did. Now that I’m retired and accidentally crippled, being able to get out for a walk is my current obsession.

Why did you decide to have many children in 7 years?. Was it on purpose?

None of your business!

Yes. Where I live, you stay in the hospital for 3-5 days after giving birth. I'm pregnant again and already looking forward to my stay!

I guess I hit a nerve🤔

Or... It's an incredibly rude question to ask a stranger. Someone else's reproductive choices are none of your business.

At one point with v small children even a few nights in prison would have appealed 🤣

Apart from having babies, I’ve only been in hospital once - 3 weeks, pneumonia and pleurisy. TBH I was too ill at first to give much of a shit about anything, but the experience was very positive - I felt nothing but gratitude for the excellent care I received. Even the food wasn’t too bad - once I had the will and energy to eat anything.
Once I was a bit better I’d have gone mad without my Kindle, though!

You certainly have a nerve to comment as you did. How rude.

I think it was different years ago. My mother used to love going into hospital. She would go in for what were probably pretty minor operations (ie cyst removal, gynae investigations, bladder issues) and be away for a couple of weeks. With five kids I don't blame her (and we loved it- spoilt rotten by grandparents).

In fact, when I had my first DC I was in hospital for 8 days and the philosophy then was "new mums need the rest". Had DD2 3 years later and was out next day.

Hospitals are far from restful these days. I can think of very few things worse than a hospital stay.

Or, strangers on the internet don’t owe you deeply private information that they might not even have shared with people in their own life.

God no it’s really difficult to sleep as noisy and activity going on constantly. I don’t do well without sleep. It’s pretty boring as well.

And the food is often terrible