dlsafrica

Warning -- this is going to be very Abigail Breslin, Jean Claude van Damme and Barbie heavy... Final Girl, Nim's Island, The Call, Nowhere To Run, In Hell, Dolphin Magic (was released on Monday and it's awesome), Diamond Castle

Thanks. I was wondering if I should actually go ahead with it this morning and purchase a bag. I just hope I don't end up with a horrid diaper that leaks. This might be the start of something kind of semi-permamanent. I don't know.

A quick recap of the last 11 days... on 2 August I was walking to the shop when I hit the top of my head against a low hanging branch. I was not able to successfully stop the bleeding... well, it did for a while but then I needed to medicate myself intravenously and couldn't. So I went to the hospital and had stitches and they insisted on a CAT Scan. I got home just after midnight but had to be back for a regular checkup eight hours later anyway. That's background -- now it starts rolling... I got home on Friday at lunch time and my brother showed up at my door and said my mom had had a stroke and was in hospital. Two days later he phoned me and said she had died. The nurses couldn't believe it because they had checked her vital signs two minutes before. The funeral was yesterday. The only time I felt any emotion or anything was about ten minutes into the reception when people were talking to me about how they had known my mom.

So I see some places that polls ask what's your real age and what's your baby age? How does one determine what one's baby age is? Is it just a personal feeling thing or is there some other more definitive method? The reason this is even on my mind right now is that yesterday at my mom's funeral, my nephew had his pacifier in his mouth all the time. Well, he was at times trying to talk but... now Michael is (I think) two and eight months. Anyway, it got me thinking of the way I am with my pacifier. When I have a pacifier in my mouth the whole world just melts away. My tongue hangs limp on the pacifier and I have no thought in the world of even having the capacity of strength to spit it out. Anyway, this all got me thinking of the concept of baby age.

So I think I last wore a diaper probably between four and six years ago, but I have seen a pattern in my life where if I don't know how to handle something or I feel insecure, I have tended towards diapers. Well, last Sunday my mom died, and it hasn't really affected me. I'm told that people have different reactions and "grieve" differently. When my dad died in 2011 the only time I ever felt it was when I was meant to give a speech at his funeral, so maybe this Wednesday it'll hit me. I don't know. But I woke up this morning (eight months into going to sleep and waking up with - with the exception of three nights when it fell out - a pacifier firmly in my mouth) thinking of investing in diapers again, and maybe, for once since I started dreaming of it six years ago, waking up diapered on my birthday, as it should be in my opinion. That's in 12 days time. Fortunately, the funeral is well before my birthday. I had an aunt die on my birthday in I think 1991. Does anyone else here find diapers to be a coping mechanism to put one's mind at ease?

Are you kidding me? Out on a yellow card count... humph...

Many times before I discovered diapers / realised what they are there for

I know. I have been with an American church plant here for 3 years and 3 months now... and it's great. I was going to visit them the second week they had a venue, but I got three quarter way there and chickened out. I can't remember why... I was on crutches recovering from a hip replacement, so tiredness might have had something to do with it

My reply in the trading cards thread made me think of this. Has anyone here ever received rebuttal or shunning from a group (for ease of understanding let's extend that to even a social group of friends) or organisation because of an expressed interest in diapers etc? I would imagine experiences may be few and far between because this isn't normally the kind of thing one just advertises to the world, but I thought about this question when I posted about Magic cards, because I remember how my church at the time came after me with a toothpick and told me it was evil. I then got to thinking about another church I went to but left because of their ridiculousness. They denounced a whole bunch of things (including reflexology) because it apparently had roots in evil practices. Well, guess what? So does the choice of 25 December as the date for Christmas... I mean, really... Sorry. I'm getting off track. But I was thinking about how that church denounced things that weren't enjoyed by the majority of the congregation at the time, and how they would probably speak out against something like AB/DL. Has anyone ever encountered such stories or experiences?

I used to play Magic The Gathering. There was a whole society at the University of Cape Town that played mostly that game. I built up decks. I think my strongest deck ever was blue and white - and artifact and enchantment destruction deck. Anyway, that was a lifetime ago (maybe two). A church persuaded me to stop playing. I don't know. Looking at it now, my belief is that things can be used for good or evil and it's down to an individual's will power as to which results.

No entry cost? Okay... but in the event of winning... here we can only pay with Paypal, and not receive cash... but a VISA gift card has been used to purchase my book internationally before so that's an option. Country drawn randomly? I guess I'm okay with that. You know - funny thing. I never supported Brazil in anything until I had friends there and started learning Portugues. But count me in.

I LOVE my pacifier! I used to just use it when I felt like it, but in December last year, I started having to sleep with one in my mouth all the time to keep my airway open. I had started suffering from oxygen starvation and sleep paralysis simultaneously... and there's literally nothing one can do --- your mind is awake, you know you can't breathe, but you can't even open your eyes!! Anyway, pacifiers are amazing. There are actually two toddlers at church that have pacifiers at church, and I can't help looking at them and thinking 'you don't know how lucky you are'. It used to bother me a little when I found myself dribbling for the first time. It doesn't happen often -- maybe 4 times in the last six months... but I just go with it if it happens now. It adds to the helplessness of not having control. I guess the size of the pacifier is important when it comes to that. I have got one for 0-6 months. It doesn't hurt my teeth (fine, maybe five times it has bothered my teeth a bit) but it fits, it stays (only twice I've woken up and it's fallen out of my mouth), and it's super comfortable.

I have never used any lotion, but I presume, since the point of it is to prevent or alleviate rash discomfort, there wouldn't be any long term effects. I was fortunate enough to find diapers that work for me ie don't cause rash. In the beginning, when all I knew were infant diapers, this worked with Huggies only. Last time I used a brand here, but I think it's just a store brand.

It seems it might have even been deliberate to make people internationally feel welcome.

For me a pacifier brings it out of me. I specifically purchased a pacifier for 0-6 months because it was the cheapest, but it was the best option for me. i don't what it is about a pacifier but it makes my mind go totally limp... I feel my tongue resting against it and there is absolutely no thought that the tongue is a muscle with any power. On the odd occasion that I have dribbled, it has a further effect of being helpless to stop it from happening. I generally sleep with a pacifier so it could take up to a quarter of any given day in my mouth.