Hanging A Hammock In A Hospital Room

**lazy river road** · 06-08-2013, 17:31

OK, Hammock Forums my back can not take it any longer and its killing me. I've been sleeping on a hospital cot for several nights now and I got to figure out a way to hang my hammock in my wife's hospital room.

So here's the story, My wife is pregnant with twin boys, that's right two boys and is currently 28 weeks. Last Sunday she started having contractions and dilating so they admitted her into labor and delivery where she has been since. She stopped dilating but is still having frequent contractions. The Dr's are talking about keeping her here through the duration of the pregnancy which could be up to two more months. She is considered a high risk pregnancy so they are airing on the side of caution and just keeping her in house till she goes into labor. So were looking at a long haul and lots of nights in the hospital. I want to be as supportive as possible and spend as many nights here as I can but these hospital cots (if you can even call them that) well just are brutal to sleep on.

So all this got me to thinking, because I'm gonna be here a while and I still need my sleep how can I hang my hammock in a hospital room. Has anyone every done this? I was thinking eye bolts in the wall, they might be the easiest to sneak in, bring a beam finder and screw them in quietly. I could hide them by putting a picture over them possibly.

Then I was thinking a hammock stand, but the room is kinda small and I am not sure what the guard would say to me if I started hauling in metal piping into the labor and deliver ward.

I was also thinking about checking underneath the panels of the sealing and seeing if their were any exposed beams I could wrap a suspension system around.

I'm gonna have a lot of time to think about this and the faster I figure it out the happier my back will be.

But in all reality I am just trying to stay positive throughout the trying time and thinking about hammocks certainly helps keeps my mind from worrying for a while.

So their it is, my conundrum. We have already received so much support from family and friends which we are so grateful for. I can only hope these baby's hold out for another 2-4 weeks but who can blame them wanting to get out of their mommy's tummy, they already know a hammock is more comfortable then being squished inside a uterus.

Peace
LRR

**Cranky Bear** · 06-08-2013, 17:37

Move the room outside????? Preferably between two tree's of course......

**Cranky Bear** · 06-08-2013, 17:40

Don't tell her I said that, well, wait a sec you throw me under the buss all the time anyways....ha I'll beat ya too it and tell her myself....no wait that won't work either, lol

**richtorfla** · 06-08-2013, 18:41

Good luck on your hammock dilema; but more importantly good luck on your wifes' situation. That is going to be tough to be bed riddin for 2 months!

My wife only had to do that a couple of weeks when her BP rose because of the pregnacy. At least that was a short term problem.....

Till I seem to make her mad!

**MarkM** · 06-08-2013, 18:45

I would talk to the charge nurse / supervisor or unit manager about your situation with your back and try to work out a solution with them. You don't want to screw anything into the walls as someone will see you sleeping in the hammock, realize what happened, and promptly invite you to leave for defacing / destroying hospital property (that would not be very supportive of your wife). As for looking in the ceiling, I am told that rooms should be unoccupied and sealed before lifting the tiles due to dust and other contaminants, so that would not be a wise option either. If the unit manager is reasonable, he / she will be willing to work on a compromise - if not, the next step is hospital administration. The best thing for your wife, though, is to take the time to work with them rather than being kicked out.

**Ratdog** · 06-08-2013, 18:51

Corner of the bathroom door to the edge of a bed?
Wedge a board between the wall and the foot of the bed so it doesn't move?

Of course anyone having to use the bathroom is gonna drop you like a lead balloon.

**2Questions** · 06-08-2013, 19:10

Donna here.....When we have to stay in a hotel room, Tim takes along one of those outside gravity chair recliners...puts his air pad (used to use it on the ground...long time ago!) on the chair...covers it with a sheet and sleeps on it. Not as good as the hammock, but much better than the bed or cot.

**oldgringo** · 06-08-2013, 19:23

Originally Posted by 2Questions

Donna here.....When we have to stay in a hotel room, Tim takes along one of those outside gravity chair recliners...puts his air pad (used to use it on the ground...long time ago!) on the chair...covers it with a sheet and sleeps on it. Not as good as the hammock, but much better than the bed or cot.

Yep. Done that, myownself. Not great, but tolerable.

**SilvrSurfr** · 06-08-2013, 20:40

I feel for ya, LRR. Hospitals love their regulations and they probably have ten to thwart any one plan you have. And if they don't have a regulation to stop you? They'll invent ten new ones.

When my first child was born, my wife gave me one responsibility: take the placenta home with me (don't ask; it's a long story). Of course, placentas at that time (21 years ago) were a gold mine for the hospitals; they sold them to drug companies to make pitocin (used to induce labor) and god knows what else.

My wife wasn't entirely unreasonable; they could have the placenta for $500 cash. I think I met every doctor and administrator in the hospital that night (never letting the placenta out of my sight), as they told me we did not own our own biological material, that it was medical waste and we had no right to it. I spent several hours arguing with them about it.

I left that night with the placenta in a plastic bag. I put it in my father-in-law's freezer, and a couple years later, found it thawing out on the kitchen counter. I asked my father-in-law what he was doing, and he said he was going to cook liver and onions. I informed him it was not a liver but placenta, and he could not eat it.

Since it was already thawed out, I cut it up in pieces, and used it to fertilize my tomato plants, kinda like the Indians dropping a fish in each hole before planting crops. We had a bumper crop of tomatoes that year, but for some reason, nobody would eat them but me and my wife.

Good luck fighting the hospital machine; it's an uphill battle. They'll probably refer you to a back specialist before they let you hang a hammock, just like they referred me to a mental health professional rather than give me my wife's placenta.