A quart is 2 pints. A pint is sixteen fluid ounces of water and weighs about 16 ounces (avoirdupois weight.) A gallon is 4 quarts (8 pints) and thus weighs about 8 pounds. Five gallons would be about 40 pounds.
In some cases, if your mother is on Medicaid, she can designate you as her personal home care aide and you can get paid a small amount through Medicaid. If your mother has her own resources, you can draw up a contract agreeing to work as her home health aide and she can pay you a salary that you both agree upon.
To get Medicare coverage for nursing home or rehab expenses, your mother will have to meet certain requirements: She must move to a nursing home within 30 days of her hospitalization, and she must have initially stayed in the hospital for at least three or more days. If she meets those qualifications, Medicare will cover 100 days in a nursing home. The first 20 days are covered in full with a $124 per day co-payment for the next 80 days. As for Medicaid, it does cover custodial and nursing home care -- for those who are in financial need.