Tinkle Tinkle

Years ago when I was working on my BA, I did a field school. I won't go into details about that - but the wife of one of the instructors was doing the cooking and such, so she was there with her two youngest children. They had a trampoline in back and her daughter was always trying to get all of us students to jump on it with her. Someone suggested that the wife go jump with her daughter... her response was "I can't possibly do that - I've had 3 kids and I would end up wetting myself."

Of course at the time I thought it was a complete cop out.

Now? I would have to agree and empathize. I'm 27 weeks along with my 3rd, and every time I cough, sneeze, bend over, or exert myself in anyway-- sure enough a little tinkle...

Seriously, last night I guess I was trying a little too hard to fart and totally started wetting myself! I know, TMI!!! I had to run to the bathroom. Thank God I was at home! Of course I do not hang out trying to fart in public or anything. Though, certainly, if I have to fart and am in public, I try to do so as discretely as possible. (Which is a lot easier when you are shopping with a bunch of kids!) I learned that from my first pregnancy. When you are pregnant and try to hold it in, its just not good at all. It ends up building up until you are completely miserable and have to take drastic measures. Seriously, at one point in my first pregnancy, I had my husband timing my gas pains! ;)

Anyway, back to the bladder issue.... So when that lady said that she couldn't jump on the trampoline because she would wet herself after having given birth to 3 children, I thought of my mother. My though process went something like this: OK, well, my mom had 5 kids and she would probably still jump on a trampoline. She never mentioned that having so many kids made her lose her bladder control.

But then after further thought... my mom was always wetting herself! She had to pee all the time! Whenever we were going anywhere, she would pee before we left and then have to go really bad immediately when we got to wherever we were going. And several times, she actually wet herself on the way there or on the way home!

So now I'm terrified. We live out in the middle of nowhere, and the drives to get anywhere are full of nothing. There's no place to stop to go. And the shoulders are pretty non-existent here. They aren't even big enough to pull your car completely over. I've thought about the issue quite a bit with potty training. I know the day will come when my son has to pee on our way somewhere. And there is really no place to stop once you leave the closest town (30 miles away).

I hate to admit it, but I did actually wet the car once. And I immediately thought of my mother. I wasn't even pregnant, and I only had given birth to one chld at that time. It was right after we moved up here to the middle of nowhere. I went to town and had to pee on the way home... I tried really hard to make it, but nope.

Anyway, these days my mother's lack of bladder control is no longer quite as funny :)