Awww....sounds like you have wonderful people stepping up!

I also hated using rechargeable batteries for my digital camera. I switched from regular ones to lithium. They are a bit more, but they last forever in my camera!

When they are too low to operate the camera, something else gets a lot of use out of them - my alarm clock, etc!

I hope you get the sleep thing worked out. How long do they have to be fed every 2 hours?