Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Bed Wetting

OK. I will be honest and admit that I have been lying. Not actively, but passively. I haven’t mentioned up to now that Ricki is a bed wetter. Not always, of course, but often enough.
First, bed wetting is nothing new to me. I remember when I was a young mother reading doctors reports that bed wetting is caused by overly –exacting mothers, et al, and saying to myself: “Mah Pitom!” (*&%^*$&^$&#^$). Years later the “learned scholars” came up with the same cause that I had know all along: people who are deep, heavy sleepers have a tendency to be bed wetters.
While some of my children were bed wetters, and some were not, it was obvious that the deep sleepers were the ones who went “swimming” at night. I‘ve had teens who were so deeply asleep that it took five minutes of tapping on a window near their head to awaken them to unlock the door they had inadvertently left the key in (preventing it’s being unlocked from the outside). (That’s a DIFFERENT post maybe, someday…..) If it takes an atomic blast to awaken you, it is not surprising if “Mother Nature” doesn’t succeed either…..
Of course, we went the same route as most other parents in this quandary: beepers, buzzers, and waking the kid up, etc., and eventually all were cured. Except Ricki.
Ricki not only inherited the “deep sleep” gene, but it must be a gene on the 21st chromosome, because I swear that she must have three of them! In addition, she hates buzzers, and, and removes them if we place any in her bed or clothing. She has NOT been interested.
Obviously, some of this comes from her not really being too interested or concerned about the problem. It is noticeable that when I was with her at my parent’s house a year and a half ago, on a visit, she got through the entire month with out accident. (She does get medication that helps prevent bedwetting, but it is by no means fool-proof.)
Anyway, lately I have noticed that Ricki has been on occasion, getting up to the toilet when half asleep. This is the first sign of concern on her part. This is a very hopeful sign, so I am thinking of “stoking the fire” by offering (now that she has shown SOME concern) some type of incentive. Wish us luck!

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