Strange days indeed - a 24 x 7 experiment

[Newbee]

14 minutes ago, oznl said:

I accidentally spent 24 hours in the same nappy this weekend.  This will require some explanation.  It’s not your everyday kind of oversight.

I’d spent Friday working outdoors in high heat and humidity.  The wettest garment I was wearing was my t-shirt.  My Abena L4 had largely disintegrated inside my plastic pants over the course of the day more due to the physical activity and sweat rather than pee.  I suspect I’d used it a bit here and there but not to any great extent.

That evening we were to go out to a friend’s place for a few beers and dinner.  This friend has the good fortune to live only 500 meters from our house so there’s no need to negotiate designated drivers, we simply walk there.  At around 6:30pm I showered and changed.  I’d decided that a Rearz Elite Hybrid (aka “Barry”) might be my weapon of choice.  Thin enough to be discrete, it might also cope with a few beers and still have capacity to perform the overnight shift, saving me from embarrassing nappy changes in front of a still-awake beloved.

By 7pm, I was into my first 8.8% imperial IPA and cheese.

As is usually the case with these friends, we partied on long into the night at it was 1am by the time I was back home.  Oddly, my nappy seemed dry and I had no clear recollection of using it.  This doesn’t automatically mean that I did NOT use it these days.  Sometimes I can forget.  I was still hot though.  If it WAS wet, it was so minor that there was zero question that it could deal with the rest-of-the-night shift.

Partially disrobing, I ditched the compression pant and Gary waterproofs, pulling on a puffy terry-lined pair of Babykins plastic pants whilst my beloved lay in the adjacent bed staring fixedly at the ceiling.  We went to bed with the AC running.  Oddly, I didn’t feel ANY need to pee at all so I didn’t bother and as far as I know, fell asleep dry.  I assumed that things would most likely take care of themselves overnight and I’d find myself wet upon waking.

The next morning, this didn’t seem to be the case.  I SEEMED fairly dry.  I might have a bit sweaty down there inside Barry but it was hard to tell.  I could tell I needed to pee a little.  It was a bit unusual, a faint rusty signal from my bladder that I’d not heard in a long time.

For some reason, it was HARD to pee though.  It was like my body really didn’t want to.  Eventually, an anaemic dribble appeared but it hardly seemed worth the effort and felt like battery acid going into my nappy.  I estimated at that point, it had been 14 hours since I could last actually remember wetting.

It was so little, I decided that a morning change would be a waste of a perfectly good Barry.  Instead, I peeled off my terry-lined waterproofs, pulled on some Gary waterproofs and a compression pant over my “night” nappy and went about my day.

Presumably, I was eventually wetting myself here and there but these days those events are quite unmemorable and I swiftly lost track about how my nappy was holding up.

By afternoon, I was aware that I was a bit “saggy” down there (especially for a Barry) and an hour or two after that, I felt the first hints of cool wetness appearing at my plastic pant leggings: press-out leaks.  I also wasn’t that comfortable, VERY aware that by now I’d been marinating in the same nappy for nearly 24 hours, was close to leaking and I worried that it might be starting to smell.  It’s not often that my nappy annoys me but this one was starting to.

It was nearly time for a change anyway.  I decided to bring forward events by 45m or so and headed to the shower at around 5:30pm.

As I pulled down my plastic pants, I saw immediately that Barry was carrying a full load: swollen and a suspiciously dark shade of yellow.  As I peeled the tapes, it fell off me, landing on the floor with a dull “thud” and immediately, the strong smell of ammonia struck me.  The interior of my nappy was almost tan coloured.  I’d peed alright but the colour suggested significant dehydration.

I’m wondering if I HAD actually wet myself at some point either the previous evening or overnight but not enough for it to be obvious.  Barry smelled just like a nappy that had been wet a LONG time.   I could also feel the faint “sunburn” sensations from my nappy zone hinting at imminent nappy rash. 

I thanked it for its service and swiftly binned it.  A burial might have been a better idea.

I still intend to try a 24 hour shift in a nappy but using a product designed for just that.  Whilst the Tykables “Camelots” are still (according to the proprietor of Littles Downunder), sitting on a foreign dock waiting for a shipping container to Australia to become available (a very COVID-times thing it seems), he does have Rearz “Mermaid Tales” available which advertise a similar capacity.  I just need to figure out if I should go for “Large” or “Extra Large” as the sizing guides seem quite confusing.  Barry in the “Large” seems fine to me so that’s probably what I’ll do.

Any "real world" battle experience feedback on the suitability of "Mermaid Tales" for a 24 hour shift appreciated.

I’ll have to keep the “Mermaid Tales” VERY well-hidden.  “Meilani” (Pink Tail/Pronouns she/her) and “Sam” (green tail/Pronouns they/them) as they are described by the Rearz website are likely to be the stuff from which spousal lawyer’s letters are wrought.

I have tried the mermaid nappies and I found them good they are very crinkly but the capacity is great. As for sizing  I went the extra large and according to the size guide this is smaller than my usual size but fit perfectly.

[Little Sherri]

On 12/5/2021 at 7:01 PM, oznl said:

Any "real world" battle experience feedback on the suitability of "Mermaid Tales" for a 24 hour shift appreciated.

I can't claim to have occupied one for a full 24 hours, yet, but I did wear one for 20 hours, and it still seemed like it had a bit of mileage left in it; I only changed it because it had become quite swollen and the timing of the kickoff on the preceding evening had me at the 20-hour point at about 5 PM, needing to run some errands, and wearing a diaper that weighed as much as a dead badger. It hadn't leaked yet, the tabs were holding firm, and the scent when I opened it was not in the "active fermentation" zone. I went with a large size, and it fit me perfectly, but I am at the lower end of most products' "large" size range, with a waist that would fit in a medium, but legs that require a large. 

I was going to say that I unfortunately don't have a size large "Barry" left in inventory, or I'd bust out the measuring tape for you, BUT, I decided to go look, and I found two of them remaining in my larder. I laid a Barry on top of a Tale, and what I found is this: the L-sized Tale is 1.5 inches smaller in width, and exactly the same length, as the L-sized Barry. Also, the Tale's landing zone for the tabs is about another 1/4 inch inward on each side, so call it 1 inch less of usable runway available on each side, or 2" total. So, depending on how close you are to the dimensional limits of Barry, if a true, 24-hour diaper is the goal, then I suspect an XL Mermaid Tale might be the answer. Although it may be visible from space once it starts to expand. I'm far enough within the limits that a large of either works for me. 

As to your beloved's reaction to the print... my wife's approach to all of this seems to be one of the print on the diaper being deckchairs on the titanic. The fact that I'm running around in diapers is the overarching story. It would be like if I brought a python home. Green python, brown python, yellow python... the operative word would still be "python" (she's not a fan of snakes, so we live in the right country...)

[~Brian~]

On 12/5/2021 at 7:16 PM, Newbee said:

I have tried the mermaid nappies and I found them good they are very crinkly but the capacity is great. As for sizing  I went the extra large and according to the size guide this is smaller than my usual size but fit perfectly.

I have also spent at least 12 or 14 hours in the same diaper. Although it’s just a mega max, I think that was the first time that I ever had done this. The reason is is because at the time that I came home I was tired, and did not want to get up to change. The diaper did hold, I saw it because it wasn’t totally drenched and it wasn’t causing a problem with my skin itching burning or reddening. I left the diaper in place.

Although this is not a “mermaid diaper” I have not spent a full 24 hours in the same garment. I would think by that time I would know that the thing would be saturated, and if it gets overly saturated, then my skin would be wet all over my nether region as well as onto my waist and above.  I could probably do this if it was just urine that I was expelling, and I wasn’t dealing with mess. If it was mess, then I would probably have to change the diaper because then it would smell really bad if I had released a large amount. There have been times when I have released poo, but it was quite minor and in some cases And circumstances, I did not realize I had done it, so if that happens it does not bother me. The reason why it doesn’t bother me is because I know the diaper that I have on can  handle the load that I am giving it. If there is one thing that I now understand, it is that the mega max is one of the best diapers made, until something better comes along that will always be my sentiment.

another thought:  I am not sure if there are any diapers that are made to last a full 24 hours. The mega max I thinks minimum is eight, and the mega max is a 12 hour diaper. Unless we’re talking about someone who is totally incontinent and bedridden and in need of a diaper that last more than 12 hours, I am on aware of such a diaper. I believe 24 hours would be pushing it, but if you are unable to change, or you feel as if you are dry after releasing, as long as the diaper can hold up, there shouldn’t be an issue. However, From experience, I don’t think there is any diaper that would last more than 12 hours, but I have gone a full night and a full day in the same diaper. The only thing you have to be careful of is that you don’t end up with a severe rash or skin breakdown. I was warned by a good friend as well as medical professionals that skin breakdown can be very painful and sometimes can be very dangerous, because if you have infection that is one way that it can be a problem since it can enter through an open wound. This is why I keepMy zinc oxide handy, because it is a good thing to have when you are in need.

Brian

[oznl]

Thank you @Newbee, @Little Sherri and @~Brian~ for your guidance.  The hive-mind of DD is indeed an amazing place.

As of a few hours ago, I’m now the proud owner of a rather fluorescently-coloured pack of “Mermaid Tales” in XL. 

There’s no room in my study-cupboard yet for these so for now, they remain in the frunk of my car (yes, it’s one of “those” cars).  If my beloved sees them, there WILL be marital fall-out.  I’m not sure if this would extend to falling out of marriage but it’s not a question I intend to resolve through experimentation.  I am however moderately confident she doesn’t know about the existence of a “frunk”, thinking it to be an engine compartment: a place that she has dimly heard of but definitely never visited in her life.

I don’t expect a 24-hour-nappy to be a truly practical proposition for everyday use but I was curious and the way I look at it, even if they can only be used on occasional days for a 24 hour shift, the experiment is actually cash-flow positive:  I will spend less on one 24-hour nappy even if it is premium-priced than I would for two high quality ones.

The window of opportunity for this experiment is rapidly closing with a combination of rather a lot of gig-economy work following by rather a lot of (unpaid) Christmas shut-down leave which will include remaining in close proximity to my beloved.  I suspect she might have something pithy to say about wearing a bloated and lurid mermaid after the first nappy change of the day was skipped.

Using a (rare) weekday off, I’d driven up to LittlesDownunder to stock up and bought the “Mermaid Tales” as a kind of whim-purchase on top of my usual, sobrely-white padded pants.  The proprietor’s face (we are actually on first name terms but I’m not sure if I should disclose his name on DD) was a picture of studied neutrality as somewhat sheepishly, I added the “Mermaid Tales” to my more conventional order.

“Ah”, he said.  “I’ll have to get THOSE from the other side”.

I thought to myself “what is the OTHER SIDE of which he speaks?”  I imagined an exotic land that existed Narnia-like behind the metaphorical wardrobe could be the fully-equipped adult nappy changing facility that he has at the rear of his showroom.  Although I have glimpsed the change table and evidence of recent and/or pending changes, I’ve never liked to enquire lest my simple curiosity be misconstrued as proposal.

The “other place” turned out to be merely an auxiliary lock-up area adjacent to his main warehouse. 

Rather disappointing really.  I’d much preferred to imagine that his more exotic ABDL products did in fact come from a  land more mystical than Brendale.  A land that, if not reached via a trans-dimensional wardrobe, then at least could only be accessed via platform 9 and ¾.  Waiting alone adjacent to his office for him to return however it became obvious that he wasn’t that interested in quarantining ABDL products from incontinence ones.  Absent-mindedly staring at his desk, I realised that the glass display bowl was filled with adult sized dummies (pacifiers) in the same way a more conventional reception desk may have contained fruit.

Mermaids were duly added to my pile of fresh cases of BetterDry and Rearz Elite Hybrid (Barry).

I’ve calculated that I could really use to STOP buying more nappies by about, say, 2 weeks ago: the last couple of orders were probably superfluous and have simply triggered a storage crisis.  I suppose if the doomsayers have their way and world transport collapses for the want of urea, covid-free stevedores and shipping containers, I’ll have something to pee in for a while.  Some back-of-the-envelope calculations show me that I now have enough nappies on hand to remain 24/7 100% in disposables until (drumroll…) early April. 

The heat and humidity is stifling this year.  I’ve taken to looking forward to the severe thunderstorms that roll through just to provide some temperature relief.  I can’t begin to convince dear readers how little thick nappies help with alleviating this discomfort.

A report on my diving experiment with Mermaids will be forthcoming…

[Little Sherri]

10 hours ago, oznl said:

Some back-of-the-envelope calculations show me that I now have enough nappies on hand to remain 24/7 100% in disposables until (drumroll…) early April. 

So I'm not the only one. I now have 9 cases in inventory... this would take me through April as well. I foolishly forgot about Black Friday, thinking that, in this inflationary and supply-starved environment, nobody would have any notable sales going, so I bought a bunch of diapers a few weeks ago. But then Rearz put most of their products on sale at 15% off, in celebration of the pilgrims introducing the word "pandemic" to North America's indigenous population. I know I'm gonna have to buy them sooner or later, so... although I did not "have" to buy the Mermaid Tales, arguably. But here we are. 

[oznl]

16 hours ago, Little Sherri said:

So I'm not the only one. I now have 9 cases in inventory...

We both come from a technical consultancy field (well, at least I USED to).  We're probably a bit "on the spectrum" to begin with and then you add years of thinking about planning, contingencies, risk mitigation etc.  It's a wonder we only have a few months buffered I suppose...

[BabyJilly_S]

I  bought a load of diapers recently myself, have enough stock for quite some time. I like to have a selection to fit the mood though most were the bread and butter daily stuff.  I just did a vague number count and frightened myself with it being over 300 ?.

Its always interesting to read what people are using and try them. I think that's why I have so many (that and the fact I  live alone).

For the longest time we couldn't get Megamax in the uk and now we can, they're terrific. Kind of industrial hard-core diaper. 

Haven't been able to get any "Barrys" to try yet...or Mermaid Tales, they look cute. Still waiting on the re-release of the Rearz Pink Princess ones too they were a favourite, so soft and pillow-y. 

[Little Sherri]

6 hours ago, BabyJilly_S said:

Still waiting on the re-release of the Rearz Pink Princess ones too they were a favourite, so soft and pillow-y. 

The new ones are still a great diaper, very comfortable, robust tabs, great capacity. My only complaint is not going to make sense, given that they're called "Princess Pinks", so what did I think I was going to get... anyway, I still do find them very pink. I've bought samples of them a couple of times, because I've heard people raving about them, but I can't commit to a caseload. Not too many things make me bashful in front of my wife anymore, but, the print on these will do it. If they made a version that was mostly white, with maybe a printed landing zone, maybe I could pull that off without going red in the face. But I understand why people are dedicated to them. 

[oznl]

Potentially a “TMI” update here but in the interests of accurate journalism, I’ll document it regardless.  The squeamish may prefer to stop reading at this point.  I’ll even put in a couple of blank lines to give your brain time to activate your mouse finger to click away.

 

 

It's not too late...   There's a load of funny cat videos out there on YouTube you could be watching.

 

 

 

Still reading?  You were warned.

This one relates to a side discussion on @Little Sherri's "24/7 startups" thread involving @BabyJilly_S seeking advice on an issue I felt remarkably unqualified to advise on since it has recently become and issue for me too.

I’ve no idea if this is some kind of weird developmental milestone as one waves goodbye to slowly receding urinary continence or just some kind of cosmic joke but my long comfortable slide into permanent bedwetting has been recently disrupted by a plague of unwanted nocturnal erections.

What is the collective noun for erections?  I’m proposing “a wood” of erections.

It seems that almost every night for the last few weeks, I’ve woken at 3am to discover that my auxiliary brain between my legs is doing its very best to turn my nappy into a tee-pee.  As I’m pointing “down”, I find it straining against my padding, Atlas-like in a most uncomfortable way upholding the heavens.

Apparently these events are called “nocturnal penile tumescences” (NPT to avoid wearing out my keyboard) but I call them “bloody annoying”.

In addition to being physically uncomfortable at times, I find them to be also interfering with bedwetting (a personal development that although the vast majority of the human race would find ghastly, I find to be something of a godsend with respect to improved sleep opportunity).  Adding insult to injury, NPT seem to increase my nocturnal nappy-leak risk when I DO “use my nappy” in bed.

I suspect that a lot of after-dark pee incidents have been taking place inside my night nappies automatically without me being directly aware of them but NPT stops that show.  Male anatomy is such that NPT (or indeed any kind of erection) inhibits urination.  On multiple occasions lately I’ve been woken to discover that I haven’t wet myself, I would LIKE to wet myself but I can’t because NPT is placing a physiological “kink in the hose” so to speak.

Even after waking, it doesn’t seem in a rush to go away.  I often have to physically rearrange myself down there in order to have a pee and get back to sleep.  Even then, it takes uncomfortable ages for pee to get past my prostate and then I’m still peeing in a tee-pee.  My nappy is not snug up against me as it normally would be, my anatomy is doing a fire-sprinkler impersonation off the ceiling and the odd bit of pee has been known to escape into my terry-lined waterproofs when wetting in this mode.

Strangely enough, NPT disappears almost immediately after I manage to empty whatever happens to be in my bladder.

I’ve no idea what’s going on. In case you are wondering, they do not seem to be related to erotic dreams in which my renew-ably nubile beloved discards her prejudices at attempts to have her wicked way with me.  It’s not like I’ve got much interest in sex anyway these strange days.  I actually thought the mechanism didn’t work anymore (one of the less glamorous and less talked-about side effects of long term permanent nappies) but apparently it works when I am asleep.  This leaves me with the somewhat bleak side-conclusion that my alleged “erectile dysfunction” is psychological rather than physiological in nature.  There’s probably a PhD in there somewhere for somebody.  I’ll add that to my list of shortcomings.

The cessation of sex isn’t the end of the world as my beloved doesn’t seem very interested in that part of me either.  My only regret there is the possibility that I put her off it by being constantly in nappies.  She is certainly not keen to deal with a soggy nappy and I’ve no intention of making her.  I HAVE to own that possibility.  I can offset this regret by postulating that her own menopause had something to do with her losing interest (thusly avoiding anxiety-inducing failure experiences for me) and so it’s not my fault.

But what if it IS?

Anyway, I thought that these recent wood of NPT might just be some outcome of my auxiliary brain being ensconced in warm wet padding but thinking critically, it’s spent its nights in warm wet padding for nearly three years now: it’s not exactly a novel tactile experience.   A new and different experience for it these days would be waking up dry.  I know that penises make very poor auxiliary brains but does it really take three years to work out that it likes to be warm and wet at night?

Another possibility is that this is some kind of reflex event emanating from sacral nerves being stimulated by my bladder.  ANY pee event these days however is very low volume.  It’s not like my bladder would be distended.  Perhaps there is some hyper-sensitivity developing from a bladder that by now has long forgotten what it is like to be filled. 

Whatever it is, I hope it passes.

There is some cause for hope.  Wednesday night was brilliant.  It was our mid-week “wine night” and so I went to bed suitably refreshed and suitably hydrated.  I woke up the next morning with a fully empty bladder, a fully wet bum and fully zero recollection of ANY waking event during the night: a highly unusual night pattern for me.  Compounding this was that my beloved informed me that she’d been plagued by inexplicable leg cramps through the night, periodically leaping out of bed to dance around the room in order to make them stop.  Amazingly, I can recall none of that either.  I am a notoriously light sleeper.

More nights spent sleeping in such deep repose please and less nights in tee-pees.  More pee, less tee.

[Stroller]

On 12/17/2021 at 6:10 AM, oznl said:

I’ve no idea if this is some kind of weird developmental milestone as one waves goodbye to slowly receding urinary continence or just some kind of cosmic joke but my long comfortable slide into permanent bedwetting has been recently disrupted by a plague of unwanted nocturnal erections.

What is the collective noun for erections?  I’m proposing “a wood” of erections.

It seems that almost every night for the last few weeks, I’ve woken at 3am to discover that my auxiliary brain between my legs is doing its very best to turn my nappy into a tee-pee.  As I’m pointing “down”, I find it straining against my padding, Atlas-like in a most uncomfortable way upholding the heavens.

Apparently these events are called “nocturnal penile tumescences” (NPT to avoid wearing out my keyboard) but I call them “bloody annoying”.

In addition to being physically uncomfortable at times, I find them to be also interfering with bedwetting (a personal development that although the vast majority of the human race would find ghastly, I find to be something of a godsend with respect to improved sleep opportunity).  Adding insult to injury, NPT seem to increase my nocturnal nappy-leak risk when I DO “use my nappy” in bed.

Yep, me too.  I've learned to live with it though - never look back!  It happens less if I've had a bit of conjugal attention recently.  My "NPTs" never get the chance to turn into an up-pointing leak hazard though, as my overnight cloth nappies are too constricting to make a down-pointing thingy turn into an up-pointing one.  So I get half-erect and then stay that way.  It's not too uncomfortable, but it means I can't wet, presumably because the hose is kinked.  So it's the only circumstance when I can end up with a bladder filling up.  If it happens I turn onto my back and think about cabbages and misery, which usually does the trick.  I wet, cuddle Mummy & go back to sleep.

[oznl]

3 hours ago, Stroller said:

 think about cabbages and misery

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the kind of intellectual fortitude that built an empire ?

[BabyJilly_S]

I make sure i am pointing in the right direction, down is preferable. I do wake up and have to lie there for a while whilst my brain reasserts control so i can release...it's getting easier though.

 

[oznl]

It’s time to saturate a Mermaid: my latest proposed misadventure whereby having bought a packet of 7 litre capacity nappies, I will attempt to wear at least one of them for 24 hours straight.  What could possibly go wrong?

My weapon of choice here was governed as much by product availability as personal preference.  I’d been intending to conduct such an experiment with the Tykables “Camelot” 7000ml nappy but it appears that COVID-afflicted international shipping said otherwise.  Plan “B” for this appeared with the sudden availability (in Queensland, Australia of all places) of the Rearz “Mermaid Tales All-Night Brief” with an identically-impressive 7000ml load capacity claim.

The 7000ml is of course based on an ISO testing methodology which has about as much relevance to real world nappy usage as interpretive dance might be to say, orbital mechanics.  My experience however is that as a very rough rule of thumb, around one THIRD of an ISO-rating for a nappy may be safely exploited before leakage in real world conditions.  Calculated thusly, a 7 litre notional capacity still leaves 2.3 litres of real-world pee absorbency for an individual who under longitudinal scientific testing conditions was shown to, on average, exude only 2.2 litres of pee in any 24 hour period.  I should be able to wear just one nappy for that long and still have a 5% buffer before reaching the danger zone whereupon furniture is threatened.

Why would anybody want to do this?

Because, like Mt Everest, it is there.  If Rearz take the time and trouble to engineer a 7 litre super-nappy, it is only fit and fair that men (nappy-clad ones) should seek to drive it to its limits.  It is through wild ventures such as this that man may arise from his brutish, squalid and pain-filled world of meat and rocks to strive for the heavens and understand his universe.

Ok, that was a bit over the top.  Let’s run with “morbid curiosity” instead.

A suggestion postulated to me that the “Mermaids Tale” was perhaps simply a badged version of Rearz’s existing “Elite Hybrid” (aka “Barry”) product is I suspect, no quite correct.  The simple metric of comparative product weights suggests that there is more between these models of nappy than enhanced marketing hyperbole.  A packet of “Barry” weighs, on average, 2.7kg whereas a packet of Mermaids is closer to 3.2kg.  As luridly printed as the Mermaids are, I cannot ascribe a 16% weight gain to printer’s ink.  They contain more “stuff” than Barry does.

Perhaps some of these extra weight can be ascribed to the rather florid marketing blurb that accompanies the Mermaids.  Allow me to quote from Rearz:

“Meilani(Pink Tail/Pronouns she/her) and Sam(green tail/Pronouns they/them) plunge themselves into the depths of the sea for a glorious adventure full of mysteries, treasures and the most important of all friendship. These diapers are sure to last you for an all-night adventure or extended playdates.”

I can’t help thinking that a nappy that comes with not only a cast and plot but its own nominative personal pronoun rules has wandered a bit far down Woke St and gotten lost but I digress.  These are garments designed to be urinated and/or defecated in.  What next?  Back stories for brands of toilet paper? Get a grip people!

My test plan was to change into a “Mermaid” at my evening nappy change before a day devoid of work.  The Mermaid could deal with the night shift (which, as a 7 litre muscle-nappy I assume it would do effortlessly) and I’d plan to carry on as far as possible into the following day, ideally right up again to my evening change.  Should it become bloated, leaky or otherwise squalid the next day, I’d be home alone and able to respond accordingly with neither embarrassment nor spousal rage.

Equally florid to the marketing guff were the nappies themselves.  Over time, I’ve become fairly blasé about leaving my “next nappy” within my beloved’s sightline for brief periods of time.  Not so with this one.  It was smuggled from the back of the nappy cupboard in my study to our ensuite under the cover of a towel.  There’s no way she was going to spot one of those without threatening to phone child protection services.

Examining the Mermaid at this evening’s appointed nappy change ceremony, most of the extra bulk is in the crotch area.  If anything, there was slightly less padding front and back relative to my discarded overnight BetterDry.  I’d chosen the “XL” having been advised that the Mermaid sizes run smaller than the Elite Hybrid.  I suspect a “large” would have been fine but chose to err on the size of caution.

Putting them on felt, well, voluptuous, albeit with a “mattress between your legs” kind of feel.  That ultra-wide padding certainly made its presence felt but particularly towards the rear of my crotch area: a bit like having your own private bicycle seat.

About six acres of violently pastel-hued plastic (they could go for gold here and make it glow in the dark) stuck out from everywhere and walking made me sound like an empty potato crisp packet.  Thusly camouflaged with compression pants, I crept downstairs as unobtrusively as I could to spend the evening before bed.

As I write, I’m a bit wet but not particularly so (typical for bedtime) and about to check out for the night.  I’m hoping my terry-lined waterproofs will extend up enough to disguise the Disney-themed look of this nappy from my beloved and we’ll see how things look (and feel) in the morning…  4 hours down, 20 to go…

[BabyJilly_S]

LOL "7 litre muscle-nappy" 

Made my day...

 

[Little Sherri]

I await your results with baited breath, @oznl. I did my own ~25.5 hour marathon in a Mermaid Tale last week. I spent 20 hours or so in an Elite Hybrid this week, and I can report that they are not quite the same diaper. The Elite is an excellent product, but the 'Tale is more than just a printed version of that, as confirmed as well by back-to-back comparisons of their exterior dimensions. As we talked about before, the 'Tale is slightly smaller, and definitely heavier. 

[oznl]

Mermaids part 2:

It’s the “morning after” and I’m still in the Mermaid I put on 14 hours ago.

I’ve truly lost insight into a lot of nappy wetting events that occur, especially overnight so it’s hard for me to know how used it is but it’s definitely gained weight and stature from when I put it on.  Instead of my usual rinse and nappy change, I simply peeled off my terry-lined waterproofs, pulled on some Gary PUL waterproofs and a compression pant before getting dressed.  It felt a little odd to be getting dressed for the day over the top of a wet night nappy.

I’ve deferred the morning #2, hoping to have that occur at my evening change instead.  If that becomes urgent however, the Mermaid may become even more squalid than it otherwise would but I’m moderately confident I can avoid this.

I had to adjust the tapes upon undressing to counteract Madam Gravity having her wicked way (at least this is possible with a Mermaid) and the “padded bicycle seat” Mermaid feature right down in the region of my arse hole has swollen considerably.  I’ve never tried sitting on a pee-soaked plush toy but I imagine it would feel like this.  I’m slightly worried that the Mermaid may fall foul of the usual downfall of over over-stuffed ABDL nappies whereby its vast capacity remains unexploited due to wicking failure and I just get press-out leaks anyway at the rear of my thighs due to localised saturation and hard chairs.

It was an interesting night with loads of nappy dreams for some reason: all revolving around far-too-wet nappies needing changing.  I was standing in my study, hauling out a never-ending series of over-soaked booster pads like dead fish, surveying the disintegrating yellowed nappy that had hosted them wondering how in the hell it was going to last.  Another dream was of me vividly conducting my usual morning nappy change before remembering I wasn’t supposed  to do that.  These dreams had to be entirely psychological because the Mermaid would at that stage have been no wetter than any other nappy I’d put on at the usual time.

To be honest sitting here the next day, I’d kind of like a nappy change.  My outerwear has remained dry so far but I’m acutely aware that my Mermaid is noticeably “wet” and for some reason, I feel just a little, well, “icky”.  I’ve got another 9 hours to try to get out of it though.

[oznl]

Mermaids part 3:  FAIL!!

The ineffable human drive to complete shopping prior to Christmas prevailed over sanity and so, marinating in a 17 hour old Mermaid, I hopped into the car (sitting down very carefully) and took off for some shopping.  I’d used loose, dark shorts with a too-large, way-overhanging t-shirt that hopefully disguised the by-then rather swollen nappy swaying pendulously between my legs.

For some reason my bladder, as though relaxed at the joyous prospect of an air-conditioned car ride decided to spurt, drip and dribble for most of the 30 minute drive to my retail-outlet-of-choice.  Located in an inner city area on the edge of downtown, I had to circle the block a number of times before snagging a parking spot before exercising extreme skill in precision parallel parking but it was done.

Getting out of the car, the Mermaid felt dangerously squishy and quite heavy.  Amazingly though, there were zero press-out leaks despite (what I though) were a series of protracted pee episodes whilst driving.  I’m not sure if anybody paid much attention to the loosely-attired guy cautiously dabbing at the rear of his thighs after hauling himself out of the car but if my outerwear was wet, I wanted to know BEFORE I potentially joined a queue in a shop that I ardently hoped would not subsequently be named as a “contact site” for COVID forcing me to spend Christmas in Government-enforced isolation (this is a huge thing here right now).

Compounding my risk, I called in at my favourite liquor store on the way home and procured me some Christmas beer (a tragic lapse in planning has seen me run dry of ready-to-drink homebrew between Christmas and new year, my Narci/Citra IPA won’t be out of secondary until at least New Year’s eve) before I got home, still dry on the outside.

By lunchtime it felt like I was wearing a giant, pee-soaked pillow between my legs.  It would have been almost voluptuously comfortable except for the fact that I imagined I could detect the occasional whiff of pee and my wet crotch and bum was beginning to feel just the first few hints of irritation.

And then, at around 1pm, I arose from my chair and felt the tell-tale cool patches of evaporative cooling at the back of my legs.

The press-out leak was very minor.  An inflight partial disrobing and rearranging of the bloated Mermaid inside my plastic pants later, I partied on.

It didn’t last though.   By 2pm, I checked and found that the insides of my plastic pants were slick and wet – all over.  The Mermaid was definitely leaking into my waterproofs and onwards to my outerwear.

By 2:30pm, I’d abandoned my shorts and was sitting on a cloth nappy draped over my chair.  I was no longer “publicly viewable” clad as I was only in a t-shirt and a very swollen, yellowish Mermaid.  At this point, I could feel periodic droplets of pee coursing back over my crotch to run down my outer thighs as I dripped and dribbled.  The base of my t-shirt was also wet where the Mermaid had pulled that Rearz stunt of folding back over to expose wet padding to my outerwear, the abandoned plastic pants no longer protecting them.  Wet skin at my belly was curiously slippery: perhaps some residue from the absorbent chemicals.  Walking around sound (and felt) like I was wearing a plastic shopping back of sodden gelatin.  Sitting down produced a faintly audible squelching and prolific press-out leaks at my legs.  I was pretty sure I smelled of pee.  Good thing I was alone.

Actually, I REALLY wanted a nappy change by this point.  This one wasn’t any fun anymore.

I continued working around the house in it standing only until 4pm but for the last hour, I couldn’t sit down, anywhere.  Actually, the last TWO hours saw the nappy itself completely useless.  Technically I wore it for 22 hours but I’m calling only 20 of those where it was viably acting as a nappy.

Ok, but it did NOT do what it said on the tin.

Post mortem I found the Mermaid to have around 7 Okta of padding coverage saturated and with a product tare weight of 261g, I found they/them to be exhibiting a gross weight of 2647g suggesting a payload of just shy of 2.4 liters of pee.  I have to give kudos to the Mermaid tapes for holding up nearly 6lb of wet nappy without assistance for the last two hours.   Moisture was squeezing past the leak guards where I’d been sitting prolifically.   I’d calculated that an ISO capacity of 7 liters would map to around 2.3 liters in real world conditions: in fact I don’t think I even got that.  I suspect anything above and beyond about 2 liters is most likely heading into the “danger” zone.

Perhaps I’d over-cooked things on the hydration front.  2.4 liters is a LOT of pee for me in 24 hours.  I’m airing out (sitting on a safety-cloth-nappy) now but I’ve got another Mermaid on standby:  we’ll see what happens tomorrow.

[Little Sherri]

7 hours ago, oznl said:

Actually, I REALLY wanted a nappy change by this point.  This one wasn’t any fun anymore.

This is interesting. I really thought you'd make it to 24 hours. Now, one thing I did in my To Kill a Mermaid experiment was to deliberately spend some time dribbling while leaning WELL back in my office chair, and, wetting #1 of the waking day, the morning wetting that is usually the most substantial of the day, occurred while lying on my back in bed. So, there was adequate capacity in the center and up front for the ensuing intermittent daily emissions to saturate. But, as is often the case for me, I emitted either very little, or no wee, overnight, so while I was in that diaper for ~25 hours, 8 of them were uneventful. In theory, my kidneys kept up the good fight, but, they were operating at minimum output. 

I see eye to eye with what you said above, though; although the experiment was entertaining, I eventually grew weary of having absolutely soaked underpants on. My plan is not to move to 1 diaper per 24 hour period. I think 2 is reasonable, and, better for my skin. Plus, I don't want to adjust my lifestyle to permit me to waddle around wearing a soaked pillow in my pants. I don't have many gowns in my wardrobe. 

[oznl]

7 hours ago, Little Sherri said:

This is interesting. I really thought you'd make it to 24 hours. Now, one thing I did in my To Kill a Mermaid experiment was to deliberately spend some time dribbling while leaning WELL back in my office chair, and, wetting #1 of the waking day, the morning wetting that is usually the most substantial of the day, occurred while lying on my back in bed.

One difference here is that I don't think I'm making ANY effort in "managing" when and where pee happens.

Theoretically however, over a period of 24 hours the period of vasopressin-inhibited pee output should be cancelled by the uninhibited period.  To use and electrical metaphor: over 24 hours we should both be seeing a full cycle of the AC waveform but we’re 180 degrees out of phase from one another.

Perhaps it's about which regions get drenched first.  It’s true that in my use case, the Mermaid sees a lot more overnight action but if anything, I would have thought that would have been in its favour as pee tends to drain down to my bum area more in bed rather than simply saturating the padding at my crotch. 

Apart from the fact that it’s going on at 6pm, I strongly suspect I’m wetting in my sleep more than I realise.  I greeted the dawn this morning with the Mermaid leaking out the top slightly (exuding the same curiously-slippery pee wetness of yesterday’s failed Mermaid making me think about some kind of chemical residue).  I’m not really sure how that happened as I don’t sleep on my stomach at all.  I truly wonder how much peeing I wake up for these days.  I notice that the padding does not extend as far up as some other products and I wonder if this has something to do with top down leaks.

When I sat up in bed, there was a very small press-out leak creating the tiniest damp spot on my turn-dark-and-tell-tales bamboo sheets.  It might have been a press out although it’s possible it might have just gotten past a leak guard.  The leak guards aren’t that tall either and I think I've felt a trickle or two occurring on the border during awake-dribbles in bed.

The simplest point of comparison would be for you to weigh a dead mermaid (assuming destructive testing) and see where you landed in terms of load carrying capacity.  It may be getting less work.  I hydrate a fair bit in the heat lately to try to help my arrhythmia (which is still a thing unfortunately).

7 hours ago, Little Sherri said:

I see eye to eye with what you said above, though; although the experiment was entertaining, I eventually grew weary of having absolutely soaked underpants on. My plan is not to move to 1 diaper per 24 hour period. I think 2 is reasonable, and, better for my skin.

Absolutely.  It was a "novelty experiment" and not really intended as some proof-of-concept.

I’m still in it for now but I don’t know for how long since I leaked a tiny bit already.  I expect I’ll be wetting my chair within an hour or two.  To add injury to insult, I suspect I’m cooking up a nappy rash.  There are some tingly bits down there.

It’s going to be another filthy-hot day (26C with a dew point of 20C although only 9am) and I’m home alone so I’m wearing a droopy wet Mermaid and, nothing else…  Hardly a vision of loveliness but least somewhat comfortable.

I’ll probably wear it to destruction as I’ve got to wash my chair cover anyway thanks to yesterday’s experiment.

I'm inclined to rate the Mermaid "B-"  I've got ten left.  They'll have to hide in the cupboard for a fair while as my beloved will be home all day for Christmas holidays and will go ape if she sees them.

[oznl]

Mermaids part 4:  FAIL AGAIN!!

I changed out of the second Mermaid after 17 hours.

It began leaking catastrophically out the sides of the front crotch area whilst seated at my desk the next morning (in addition to emerging press-out leaks at my rear thighs).  I was wearing nothing but the Mermaid when I realised I could feel droplets of pee sneaking down my outer thighs!  I was forced to shutdown the experiment.

Upon post mortem, it had 6 Okta of wet padding and a gross weight of 2199g suggesting a payload in the region of 1938ml only.

It’s possible they are too large (I’m a 43” and I bought XL) but on available evidence, I’m downgrading my score from B- to C  Perhaps if they spent more on engineering and less on marketing communications?

I’m changing into a cloth pull-up for the balance of the day with some extra sudocreme to head off the nappy rash that’s threatening my inner crotch.  That’s NOT what I want for Christmas…

[FretaBWet]

Thank you for such an entertaining experiment. I'm really enjoying your Mermaid adventures and I wish I was somewhere other than the USA because then I could actually understand all the metrics you are throwing around. I wear dry 24/7's pretty exclusively during the day because they are the best bang for my buck here. I wear them whether I'm home all day or out anywhere and unless I'm being stupid I don't have leaks. I really wouldn't want to wear one diaper for a day even if I could. One advantage to a high quality disposable is they don't feel wet or uncomfortable until they get ridiculously wet which is when I'm being stupid. I a medium and every once in a while I push the envelope and when I take it off I put it on our digital food scale before it goes into the trash. I've had them above 4 lbs. almost 4.5 pounds without even press out leaks. I may be in diapers but I like being in comfortable diapers.

Hugs,

Freta 

[oznl]

1 hour ago, FretaBWet said:

Thank you for such an entertaining experiment. I'm really enjoying your Mermaid adventures and I wish I was somewhere other than the USA because then I could actually understand all the metrics you are throwing around.

Thanks @FretaBWet!  It's tough to know which system to "think" in because it's a mixed market.  Canada also uses metric so I can claim some kind of North American comprehension.

I guess the headline is that I somehow peed 84 oz into a diaper that absorbed maybe 75 oz (sharing the rest with clothing and furniture) and ended up weighing 6lb.

1 hour ago, FretaBWet said:

 I really wouldn't want to wear one diaper for a day even if I could.

I only tried it because "it was there" so to speak.  I'm pretty sure I would have agreed with you BEFORE trying, after trying, I'm even more sure I agree with you on that one!

Because we are a tiny market at the far side of the planet, I haven't actually seen any Dry 24/7 for sale.  I'm lucky I can get BetterDry which is my daily-driver overnight product lately.

I bought the Mermaids on a whim as a half joke.

[oznl]

It’s Christmas eve in my time zone.  Tomorrow will only be my 3rd Christmas day in nappies as I did not go “24/7” full time until December 28th back in 2018.  Doubtless I will experience my 4th New Year’s Eve in nappies a few days later (in good company with the handful braving Times Square COVID-willing).

With my beloved having finished work with her employer shutdown until January 17th, I’m going to rest fully in her disapproving gaze with respect to nappies over the next few weeks.

The Mermaids are hiding at the back of the closet and I washed my last cloth nappies for 2021 only yesterday.  I doubt she would react well to me waddling about in pinned cloth terries within her sightline so it’s going to be a few weeks in disposables permanently.  I’d rather it were the other way around, (@Stroller sets the benchmark here) but there you have it.

I always find Christmas to be an anti-climactic experience: such a frenetic build-up (with the shopping centre carols starting in September) to finish in a 24 hour explosion of over-eating, wrapping paper and consumer durables.

As it turns out, I may have had my Christmas present early, having been able to secure a permanent part-time job as an employee (as opposed to dubious, gig-economy “contractor”) in a not-for-profit organisation.  The money is awful (as you might expect at a not-for-profit) but it is predictable and will probably be less awful than the uber-style gig economy work I’ve found myself stuck in for the past six months.  I start toward the end of January and there is still some gig-work to get out of the way. 

My nappies should pose no problem at all in this role and I do not anticipate changing my regime beyond making “Barry” my default workday garment (replacing tcomfortable-but-way-too-saggy Abena L4) and considering (reluctantly) the possible necessity for a black onesie to be worn under my outerwear to deal with the inevitability of lifting equipment in company.

For the trivial-pursuit-minded, I will awake tomorrow to my 1068th wet night nappy.

Merry Christmas, happy holidays, whatever works for you.  Thanks all for being with me for these strange days and I wish you all a nappy new year.

[WBxx]

And thanks for sharing your nappy and more adventures.  Your posts brighten my day.  Happy Holidays and the very best to you in the new year.

[BabyJilly_S]

I will echo WBxx your posts are always interesting and I always read them. 

So Merry Christmas back at you, I look forward to reading more in the future.