24/7 startups, and unexpected pitfalls?

[Little Sherri]

Woke up this morning, did a quick "systems check" on the Rearz Lil' Monster I was (and am) wearing, realized that precipitation overnight was light, pulled on a pair of shorts, and once again felt generally thankful that I was going to navigate another day from within the confines of a nappy. I wanted to remark, again, that I thought when I started this full-time experiment that it might be at least somewhat in the service of "inoculating" me against diapers - that maybe I'd get bored and wear through this fascination, or deplete whatever reserve of unresolved developmental issues I was drawing on. But that doesn't seem to be the case. I'm now a few days into my 15th month, and my feeling is that I've solved more problems than I've created for myself. So far. So, onward and... upward? 

I'm going to copy this over, in the interest of "collating" all of my experiences and memories in one place... it's an answer I posted to someone's thread on the question of when one first discovered one's love of diapers. 

It would be hard to say exactly when I "discovered" my love of diapers. I wore diapers to bed consistently until I was about 10, so I wasn't ever really completely "out of diapers", although I was daytime potty-trained before I was 4. If I had to circle around to a couple of memories that suggest to me now that I had more than a "normal" interest in diapers, they would probably include these:  I had two girls as neighbours, one of whom wore diapers full time, one of whom wore them to bed; their mom babysat us, so we spent a fair bit of time at their place. I was absolutely riveted by the younger girl in particular - her name was Sherri, and that's where I adopted my "screen name" from. We were both maybe 4 or 5 when we started hanging out, and even thought there were occasional social consequences to being "besties" with the kid who still wore diapers (nobody knew, as far as I know, that I wore diapers to bed), if she was out, I was beside her. You could say it was my first crush, although whether I had a crush on her, or a crush on diapers, would be hard to separate out. 

Later, there were occasions when my parents tried to "graduate" me from wearing diapers to bed, generally unsuccessfully, and I recall being a bit excited when, after whatever experiment they tried didn't produce results over a few nights (no fluids after dinner, wake me up three times a night to pee, etc), my mom would say, somewhat apologetically, that maybe I should just wear a diaper tonight. Or I'd come out of the tub and my mom had a diaper on the counter in the bathroom. I realize now that a "normal" reaction to that would probably have been horror or opposition, but I always went with it pretty willingly, other than maybe on occasions when we were staying at someone else's place, and I didn't want to have a diaper on under my PJ's, or under my clothes in the car, because I thought someone would notice. 

When I REALLY figured out that I had an unusual fascination with diapers, though, was after I finally outgrew wearing them to bed, and, within about a year or so, (at maybe age 11 or 12 at the latest), I started making my own diapers out of towels and pillow cases, and wearing them to bed in secret, because I realized I still wanted to wear diapers, even though I no longer needed to. 

 

[Little Sherri]

Another quick note about that Lil' Monster from yesterday (and I have another one on now)... I don't know if it's particular to the plastic they use, which is a little heavier than the plastic on, say, a BetterDry, or if it's the reinforced landing panel or what, but in the very humid weather we had yesterday, prior to a storm, my nappy started "squeaking". There was the usual muted rustle you get from a plastic diaper, but while I was out for a walk with my spouse, and we ran into a neighbour and started walking in the direction of their house, I started hearing a "squeak squeak squeak" sound from down under that was distinct to me, although neither my spouse nor my neighbour seemed to notice it. Once I got into the house and the A/C, it went away. I need to prioritize getting hold of more compression shorts!

[BlakeJordan]

Good to know, thanks Sherri!

I know it’s been said countless times, but I’ll say it again. No one notices or attributes the sound of the plastic crinkle to you or a diaper. I had to work on this one. In the end it took realizing, and then paying attention to the fact that all clothes make sounds and rustling is high up in the common ones for both men and women’s clothing. If I might suggest and exercise, next time you’re around others try to hear the sound of their clothes as they move. You may find at first you can’t hear anything, and that’s fairly normal. You may need to wait until it’s dead silent with no background noise. Try this same thing on a walk, at a store, working out, doing chores, etc.

I came to realize yes, diapers make noise, but so do the vast majority of clothes. I also came to realize that I both tuned out the sound of my own clothes and everyone else’s, and that I could rarely hear clothes of others in dead silence at more than a two feet apart and basically never if further or literally any type of background noise was present.

[Newbee]

4 hours ago, BlakeJordan said:

Good to know, thanks Sherri!

I know it’s been said countless times, but I’ll say it again. No one notices or attributes the sound of the plastic crinkle to you or a diaper. I had to work on this one. In the end it took realizing, and then paying attention to the fact that all clothes make sounds and rustling is high up in the common ones for both men and women’s clothing. If I might suggest and exercise, next time you’re around others try to hear the sound of their clothes as they move. You may find at first you can’t hear anything, and that’s fairly normal. You may need to wait until it’s dead silent with no background noise. Try this same thing on a walk, at a store, working out, doing chores, etc.

I came to realize yes, diapers make noise, but so do the vast majority of clothes. I also came to realize that I both tuned out the sound of my own clothes and everyone else’s, and that I could rarely hear clothes of others in dead silence at more than a two feet apart and basically never if further or literally any type of background noise was present.

That was one of the things I had trouble getting my head around was could people hear the crinkle of my diaper. I now now fine with it but it has taken me a while.

[oznl]

Yep, another one for the “it’s in our head” scenarios: it seems that rather than navigating purposefully through life towards our eventual demise, we stagger about blinded and deafened by our own preconceptions.

I certainly know that an evening BetterDry, unmuted by plastic pants (I generally put on my terry-lined plastic pants just before bed as they are quite bulky) makes me crinkle like I’m walking inside a giant potato crisp bag.  At least in my head.

My unsupportive partner has one useful attribute: if she can find something to complain about, she will.  She’s pointedly “adjusted” my t-shirt on a number of occasions but she’s NEVER picked up on that noise.  Not even in the relative peace and quiet of the family home, let alone a noisy street.

[Little Sherri]

I went back in time on this thread today because I thought the anniversary of my having told my wife about my wearing diapers was in June, but to my surprise, I skipped past it - it was actually in early May. I blame the pandemic; I've been thoroughly distracted. But I guess the timing makes sense, because I really kicked off wearing diapers pretty much all the time at the start of April, and while for some reason I had it in my head that I waited until June to tell her, really, it was probably about 5 weeks later. I had somehow, miraculously, kept the fact that I was wearing diapers to bed a secret from her for more than a year at that point, but trying to go everywhere and do everything while wearing baby pants, and simultaneously sharing a room and a life with someone who didn't know about it, was going to be a tall order. 

Going back and reading that original post, I was transported once again to that moment, and what an incredible risk it represented; I could be living in some depressing apartment right now, trying to live on half my income. I'd probably be better at wearing cloth diapers than I am. 

Instead, I have a drawer full of diapers in my dresser, I've migrated my few remaining pairs of boxer shorts down to the exercise room, and my wife picks up baby powder and diaper cream for me if I need it. 

One thing we haven't discussed is the "why" of my choosing to wear diapers all the time; when I broached the topic of wearing them to bed, I said it was related to bed wetting issues, which was sort of true - I had wet the bed a couple of times, but, over the course of a couple of years; it was hardly chronic. However, my wife knew about my wearing diapers to bed as a kid, and the incidents dovetailed with an emergent, non-critical health issue, which made the explanation at least somewhat plausible. From there, I just started pushing time boundaries for the acceptable wearing of pajamas, essentially - whenever I worked from home and the kids were in school, I stayed in pajama pants or shorts, over a diaper, sometimes into the early afternoon, before switching to a day diaper and daytime clothes to run errands etc. Then, in the evening, I'd "get dressed for bed" as soon as the kids were asleep, and hang around in a diaper openly again. Eventually the two ends of the circle started to meet up, and all pretense was dispensed with, as diaper changes mid-day or late in the afternoon were no longer performed covertly. The disappearance of all forms of my underpants from our bedroom has an attractive finality to it, although I do wonder what she'll make of it, if I eventually get my hands on some compression "panties", and carve out a space for them amidst my plastic pants or socks. 

[Little Sherri]

Quick note on the Rearz Elite diapers, and on larger diapers in general. First off, I'm very impressed with this diaper; I've had it on since last night at about 10 PM, and it's 2:15 PM right now, and while this thing is heavy, it seems to be coping very well. It actually feels like I'm sitting on a lumpy, damp cushion - most other diapers I've worn, at this point, would leak under pressure. I have worn these before but I've been belted into my office today more or less all day, attending to work issues, and I haven't really gotten up, so this has taken everything I've given it in essentially one position. 

Second, I mused about going to buy some more compression garments, and I will do that when I get a chance, but I also wanted to point out that maybe I've become more careless during the pandemic, but, over the last few days, I've worn some fairly big diapers under over-sized cargo shorts, without anything else on them, including this now-quite-swollen Elite, and I have operated around my house and in the yard seemingly without detection, relying on a large t-shirt to assist in blending the edges of my figure. I would still want some additional "support" for leaving the house in a big plastic diaper, but... I wonder if I overestimated how noticeable what I have on "down under" is. 

[Stroller]

33 minutes ago, Little Sherri said:

I've worn some fairly big diapers under over-sized cargo shorts, without anything else on them, including this now-quite-swollen Elite, and I have operated around my house and in the yard seemingly without detection, relying on a large t-shirt to assist in blending the edges of my figure. I would still want some additional "support" for leaving the house in a big plastic diaper, but... I wonder if I overestimated how noticeable what I have on "down under" is. 

I've got so much more relaxed about all this, & my other half has too.  Choose your clothes sensibly and nobody will notice, and I don't worry about it much any more.  I'm out walking Binky in a onesie and cargo shorts over a cloth nappy most days in this warm weather we're having here, and I've been collecting the week's shopping as well.  Go for it Sherri!

[oznl]

9 hours ago, Little Sherri said:

Second, I mused about going to buy some more compression garments, and I will do that when I get a chance, but I also wanted to point out that maybe I've become more careless during the pandemic, but, over the last few days, I've worn some fairly big diapers under over-sized cargo shorts, without anything else on them, including this now-quite-swollen Elite, and I have operated around my house and in the yard seemingly without detection, relying on a large t-shirt to assist in blending the edges of my figure. I would still want some additional "support" for leaving the house in a big plastic diaper, but... I wonder if I overestimated how noticeable what I have on "down under" is. 

One word: gravity ?   It's ok around the house but as somebody who took their car in for a service this morning in an overnight BetterDry that was at the end of its 12 hour shift, my compression pant was as much about keeping that nappy where it needed to be as it was about visual discretion.  I suppose a Onesie might have been the answer there too.

As for getting noticed, outside I seriously doubt it.  With immediate family members who may not be in the know, I'd tread with caution.

[Little Sherri]

20 hours ago, Stroller said:

I've got so much more relaxed about all this, & my other half has too.  Choose your clothes sensibly and nobody will notice, and I don't worry about it much any more.  I'm out walking Binky in a onesie and cargo shorts over a cloth nappy most days in this warm weather we're having here, and I've been collecting the week's shopping as well.  Go for it Sherri!

I'm looking forward to achieving this level of relaxation, Stroller. 

 

10 hours ago, oznl said:

With immediate family members who may not be in the know, I'd tread with caution.

This, I have to keep in mind. A lot of the time, my kids seem oblivious to what I'm wearing, doing, etc - they are in their own world, and I am support staff, akin to the lighting guy's relationship with the host of a chat show. But every once in a while they will ask me why I've paired "those" shorts with "that" shirt, or, these days, what the heck I did with my hair, or will opine that it's time to throw out those trusty "mowing-the-lawn" shoes that I have taken to wearing everywhere. So, they observe more than they let on. 

Speaking of observing, I was helping a buddy screw together a pergola over a deck, and I was on a ladder, which resulted in momentary unimpeded sight lines into neighbouring backyards, and right away I noted that a couple of houses over there was a kid who looked about 10 or 12, playing basketball on a deck, wearing only a pull-up. Why he was out there dressed like that, I have no idea, but it made me momentarily grateful that my parents never did that to me. As much as I might now find the idea of being outside in just a diaper as freeing, back then, it would probably have been terrifying. I used to experiment, as I've related previously, with wandering outside my house in a diaper in the middle of the night when I was a kid, something which now strikes me as a fantastically terrible idea. But this was an entirely different phenomenon; late afternoon, full sunlight, suburban backyard, surrounded by the upper story windows of probably 8 houses. I bid a silent "thank you" to my parents. The only time I can ever recall being outside in just a diaper were at the beach, when I was still at a common diaper-wearing age, so no big deal, and at our cottage from time to time, which was entirely private, the nearest neighbours being hundreds of feet away, screened by a dense canopy of trees. 

[BlakeJordan]

Quick note on the Rearz Elite diapers, and on larger diapers in general. First off, I'm very impressed with this diaper; I've had it on since last night at about 10 PM, and it's 2:15 PM right now, and while this thing is heavy, it seems to be coping very well. It actually feels like I'm sitting on a lumpy, damp cushion - most other diapers I've worn, at this point, would leak under pressure. I have worn these before but I've been belted into my office today more or less all day, attending to work issues, and I haven't really gotten up, so this has taken everything I've given it in essentially one position. 
Second, I mused about going to buy some more compression garments, and I will do that when I get a chance, but I also wanted to point out that maybe I've become more careless during the pandemic, but, over the last few days, I've worn some fairly big diapers under over-sized cargo shorts, without anything else on them, including this now-quite-swollen Elite, and I have operated around my house and in the yard seemingly without detection, relying on a large t-shirt to assist in blending the edges of my figure. I would still want some additional "support" for leaving the house in a big plastic diaper, but... I wonder if I overestimated how noticeable what I have on "down under" is. 

And also don’t forget that your default shape has also changed. By this I mean what people expect your body to look like in shorts etc. it’s one of the paradoxical benefits of wearing 24/7.

Now, yeah it might look a bit swollen down there but the comparison being made is not to you without a diaper but rather with a diaper.

I Honestly believe after extended 24/7 anyone risk of something “looking off” is just as present if one suddenly stopped wearing than with something more bulky.

The fact is that the bulk of the diaper has become the default body shape for those around you.

[Little Sherri]

I'm in a thin diaper today, because I really have to get back to running with some regularity; you'd think that working pretty much exclusively from home would be good for my fitness routine, but I've been running around helping friends with projects and such. Everyone is adding something to their backyard in anticipation of a summer of not doing as much away from the house, and a lot more at the house. Which ironically is taking me away from my house. That's fine, though - I'd lose my mind if all I did was sit behind my desk and look at blueprints and spreadsheets. Anyway, my theory is that wearing a diaper that won't last me all day will incentivize (spell checker didn't like that word) me to hit the treadmill when it's time for a nappy change. 

The one upside to not keeping up with running is that, these days, the treadmill is the only place, other than the shower, where I don't wear a diaper. My long-suffering wife alluded to that the other day when we were sorting laundry; I was wearing some cargo shorts without a belt, and I was stooping over, plucking things from the giant pile we had created by dumping out four baskets of clean laundry. My shorts were riding low - I had just thrown them on as an afterthought in case one of my daughters came in to scavenge from the pile; I had intended to operate in just a diaper and a shirt, but it was still relatively early for that. So I'm bending over and my shorts slide down almost to the point of falling off, handily displaying the top quarter or so of the diaper I had on (a Rearz Elite), and my wife pipes up and asks "Doesn't that get uncomfortable?"

It took me a sec to realize what she was talking about. I tugged my pants up and at the same time clued in to what she was asking. She raised an interesting question. Emotionally and psychologically, being in a diaper is obviously very comfortable, or else why would any of us be doing it? Although, I have also always known that there is a side to me that somewhat enjoys the paradoxical discomfort - psychic discomfort - of being in a diaper, which goes hand in hand with the comfort... the 'discomfort' almost spawns the 'comfort', because as a kid, in some situations I was very uncomfortable wearing a diaper... and replicating a facsimile of that sensation brings me comfort now. Sometimes. A lot of the time it's just great to be in a diaper when there's nobody around and no reason to feel remotely self-conscious.

All of this is a conversation about mental comfort, however, and I don't think that's what my wife was talking about; the Elite I was wearing was a good 70% saturated, and it hung a bit low at the back. I think she was asking about if it ever got uncomfortable, physically, to wear a diaper. And the answer to that is, not really. A good diaper, assuming that I've been diligent with diaper cream, and there are no "hot spots", is wonderfully comfortable starting out, like wearing a soft blanket, and as the day progresses, the sensations change a bit, but they aren't ever uncomfortable. The only qualifier I would offer is that, as I've discussed before, I don't generally use my diaper to all its potential, reserving #2 for the loo, so I suspect that there are some of you out there right now reading this (if anyone is reading this), who are thinking "You've got it wrong, friend" - those of you who choose, or are obligated by circumstance or by caregivers, your 'bigs' preferences, etc, to ride out a diaper for a while after a seismic 'event". I imagine that THAT could get uncomfortable. In the rare occasion where that has happened to me, a diaper swap invariably occurs pretty soon afterwards. As a side note, I think 'that' is not part of my routine chiefly because as a kid I never had issues in that department, and I can't recall ever having defiled an overnight or just-in-case daytime diaper; my parents would have been cross, I'd imagine. And my sister would have been merciless in her mockery. 

[Little Sherri]

I'm trying another experiment today - wearing a Rearz Elite size medium as a single-tape diaper. I've explained before that I fall between a medium and a large in most diapers - solidly in the medium camp by waist size, but with tree-trunk legs that need an allowance of material only found in a large typically, with the exception of diapers that have stretchy wings. I have this elite on taped well forward at the front, with the second tape tucked up under the wing on each side. So far, so good, and there's a bit less constriction on the back of my legs. I have it on under a onesie and some cargo shorts and it's very comfortable. 

Medium sizes of larger diapers appeal to me, because they for the most part still display all of the appealing characteristic of their larger brethren, but in a more compact package that I find conceals better under daytime clothing, but the curse for me has been those bottom tapes that are either really tight, or don't make it to the landing zone. There is also something nostalgically appealing about single-tape diapers,  because that was all I wore as a kid; my parents never investigated "medical-grade" diapers for me, preferring to probe the limits of toddler diapers, with cloth as an infrequent fallback option. 

Some large diapers are also huge on me, other than around the legs; I got a package of Rearz's new Alpaca diapers, and they are very cute and quite comfortable, but the back of them rises half way to my shoulders when they're pulled up snug, and the front crests at my navel - perfect for sleeping, but maybe a bit too much of me is plastic-wrapped for daytime wear. I think I may test-drive some of them in medium, and possibly wear them as single tape diapers under daytime clothes. So this Elite I have on right now is the test subject for that proposition, because neglecting to use the lower tapes on some diapers seems to have no effect on their containment abilities, but on others, it makes the leg gathers less effective. My theory is that the cut of these is very similar to the cut of the Alpaca's - how many different "architectures" could Rearz possible be manufacturing? I think a lot of their diapers use the same approach to the shell but contain more or less polymer and stuffing, depending on the price and the target market.

In other news, they announced at work that they were planning on making staffing cuts, then did nothing for a few weeks, then swung the hatchet this week, and basically culled the two layers above me. So far, I still have my head, but this definitely makes things a bit stressful, so I am very happy to be able to sit here in a comfy diaper while I try to do three people's jobs now...

[oznl]

17 hours ago, Little Sherri said:

 I fall between a medium and a large in most diapers - solidly in the medium camp by waist size, but with tree-trunk legs

I have the opposite problem on my evolutionary path toward a lower body resembling a potato supported by two knitting needles...

17 hours ago, Little Sherri said:

In other news, they announced at work that they were planning on making staffing cuts, then did nothing for a few weeks, then swung the hatchet this week, and basically culled the two layers above me. So far, I still have my head, but this definitely makes things a bit stressful, so I am very happy to be able to sit here in a comfy diaper while I try to do three people's jobs now...

As long as that’s the end of it.

It was Machiavelli in his seminal work “The Prince” who said “If you’ve got to do something rotten, FFS do it quick and do it once…”

Obviously I’m paraphrasing a little here but I *have* read Machiavelli and that *was* the gist of his advice on this matter.

My dear employer has developed a program of culling in “waves”.  I believe the current wave should crash to shore next week and I will know if my job re-application has been successful.  Of course if it has, there will be another “wave” to cross in another 90 days and so on and so on until the extravagant numbers of heads-on-plates some shiraz-stunned executive promised to Wall St after falling out of his private jet are delivered.

This is of course a stunning recipe for maximising employee stress offering the enticing possibility of lower cost attrition through strokes and heart attacks.

[dribblez]

On 6/25/2020 at 3:22 PM, Little Sherri said:

I'm trying another experiment today - wearing a Rearz Elite size medium as a single-tape diaper. 

Some large diapers are also huge on me, other than around the legs; I got a package of Rearz's new Alpaca diapers, and they are very cute and quite comfortable, but the back of them rises half way to my shoulders when they're pulled up snug, and the front crests at my navel - perfect for sleeping, but maybe a bit too much of me is plastic-wrapped for daytime wear. I think I may test-drive some of them in medium, and possibly wear them as single tape diapers under daytime clothes. So this Elite I have on right now is the test subject for that proposition, because neglecting to use the lower tapes on some diapers seems to have no effect on their containment abilities, but on others, it makes the leg gathers less effective. My theory is that the cut of these is very similar to the cut of the Alpaca's - how many different "architectures" could Rearz possible be manufacturing? I think a lot of their diapers use the same approach to the shell but contain more or less polymer and stuffing, depending on the price and the target market.

 

I'd be interested to hear how you get on with the single tape experiment. I just took delivery of a case of Drylife in medium. According to the sizing given on the website, I should have plenty of room to spare in a medium, but perhaps I have tree trunk legs as well, because while the waist is fine, the bottom tapes are very tight. Fortunately, the tapes are very robust, and I have not so far had any wardrobe failures.

Overall a good daytime nappy, and I seem to be able to get around 12 hours out of one. Not too crinkly either under a pair of shorts.

[Little Sherri]

It's a lovely holiday Wednesday here, very hot out, and my family has gone for a drive to see my in-laws, and I was granted a reprieve from that grim duty because I've been working like a dog these past two weeks and needed a morning to myself to just unwind. It's a quarter to noon here now, and while I haven't started drinking yet, it's in the cards. We are headed over to a friend's for a barbecue shortly, which will be lovely - they have a pool - but my only regret is that I will have to say goodbye to this lovely Rearz Alpaca that I've had on since about 9 PM yesterday. I'm in cargo shorts and sitting on our patio and just enjoying the weather, and the fact that my diaper is heroically capacious, and I don't have to give it any thought at all right now. I think I could probably have stayed in this until much later this afternoon, but a giant, flooded "nighttime diaper" (as Rearz calls it) is not social barbecue wear, so I am wrestling over what to put on. I am probably going to end up in the pool, but also will be drinking beer, possibly into the wee hours. A larger diaper is called for, but with pandemic etiquette, I may not be able to avail myself of the indoors of their house, so I might end up changing in their pool shed, and I don't want to leave a big, colourful diaper sitting in a bag hanging next to the goggles and splash toys, where any curious or errant child could unearth it and emerge with urgent questions. SO, I'll probably go with a slim, daytime diaper, one that can be tied into a bag and tucked into a pocket where only a customs-level search would disinter it, BUT, that will necessitate bringing two diapers, and also, factoring in a diaper change at some point, wherein I will have to discretely retrieve my bag from the pool shed, and head for the washroom, or, worse, if they're using the gravel patch behind their pool shed as the outdoor facilities for the males of the species, as sometimes happens, in order to keep from having everyone tramp through their house, then I will have to 1) get my bag, and 2) carry it around the shed with me for a starlight diaper change. The logistics of all this may make it difficult to appear casual. 

Also, I will be in a bathing suit for at least part of the afternoon, and I am putting it out to you diaper pros that are reading this, to let me know how you handle these situations: drinking beer on a poolside deck with friends and kids running around, while wearing a bathing suit, possibly for hours, when I haven't been out of a diaper in a week, and that was only for an hour, to have a run. Oh, and running into the house to use the washroom won't be an option. I'm disinclined to pee in my friends' pool... I guess I'll be visiting the back of the shed with some regularity, unless I bring my own chair, and rely on the continued dampness of my bathing suit to camouflage any seepage that might occur. But that sounds grim and possibly smelly, and diving into a pool in a wee-ed in bathing suit is tantamount to peeing in the pool, anyway. 

Not that they would be of any use to me in this situation anyway, but just out of curiosity, do any of you ever wear swim diapers? 

[oznl]

I am the owner and maintainer of a 55,000 liter (15,000 gallon)  in-ground pool.  Pool ownership isn’t that unusual in Queensland where the swimming season runs 6 months of the year (adults) and 8 months of the year for kids (who care little about cold water). 

My own use of the pool is intermittent and ceremonial, usually at the insistence of my partner who would like me to marinate with her (the pool is solar heated to 30C for 6 months of the year) with a drink in the late afternoon.  Otherwise I only exist to maintain the damned thing.

It’s my house and so changing was easy. I’d just synchronise my swim (ooh, synchronised swimming!) with my afternoon nappy change: day nappy off, swim, shower, evening nappy on.  By making sure I was as empty as I could be before the swim, I could deal with 45m or so in the water without consequence.

Of course, dependency seems to be proceeding apace now and last swimming season’s strategies may not be viable against next season’s level of continence but if leakage should occur, I would imagine it would be minimal.  I’ve no plans of intentionally peeing in my pool but it’s an open secret that this happens and that it is chemically and biologically of little consequence.

My understanding of “swim diapers” is that they are only designed for faecal containment and will otherwise exchange fluids with the water column in which they are immersed in accordance with the rules of osmosis.  I think the rationale behind this design is along the lines that in a healthy person, urine is clean, harmless and thusly diluted, risk free whereas E.Coli certainly is NOT…  I’m a little skeptical about how well even that works really and I wasn’t super-impressed about baby-besotted mothers dunking their diapered toddlers in my pool to be honest.  I wound up the salt-cell chlorinator and disregarded their mutterings about chlorine irritating their precious bundle's skin.

Operationally, I would regard it as poor form to knowingly pee in another’s pool.  Placed in a similar position I’d be looking at a single swim and for out-of-water, tactical pull-ups and possibly booster pads that I could change to allow the pull up to remain in-situ (outside of the pool of course).

[Little Sherri]

16 hours ago, oznl said:

Otherwise I only exist to maintain the damned thing.

I laughed out loud at this. I have also heard this from other of my friends, who say that pools are for kids and hot tubs are for adults. My wife and I have spoken about buying, and even gone to look at, houses with pools a couple of times in the past year. The swimming season here is considerably shorter; even kids won't put up with swimming before May or much after September. The sweet spot, even with a heater (which almost everyone has), is June-July-August. So, it's generally a bad "investment" to put $60 K into installing a pool, when houses with pools generally feature the pool as a "free" add-on, because 80+ % of prospective buyers either don't want it, or would only put up with it if it didn't make the house more expensive to purchase, since it will definitely cost more to maintain. There is a saying here - "It's a house with a pool" - which is used to describe something (say, a purple car) that most people don't want and a select few would seek out. But water is a solid here for half the year - I'd imagine where you are that a house without a pool might be an outlier. I have a friend who lives in Florida, and ALL the houses on his street have pools. They were integrated into the architecture by the builder. He lives in a nice area, but even ramshackle dumps have pools at least half the time down there, where "winter" is a blustery 18 - 26 degrees C during the day, and a cruel 12 or 15 C overnight. 

I agree that swim diapers couldn't possibly contain much other than large solids, and even then, for solids that are highly water-soluble, they offer only the illusion of containment. I'd have to really be dedicated to maintaining fealty to my cause, to justify the effort and the risk of trying to keep one hidden under bathing conditions. If I had my own hot tub (another questionable "investment" that we have been discussing), it might be fun to sit in it in a water-approved diaper I guess, just for the sensation, although I would never use it for anything. It would be entirely decorative - I might as well cut a bathing suit up the sides and then pin it on. It would be strictly for irritating my wife. 

[dribblez]

We have just managed to sell our hot tub. Apparently the lockdown has created a huge demand for them, and there are long waiting lists. 

The hot tub was my wife's idea, but after two years of scrubbing the filters with a toothbrush, cleaning, monitoring water quality, administering chemicals and a soaring electricity bill, she was relieved when I mothballed it "temporarily". Another two years passed with several failed attempts to offload it onto unsuspecting new hosts, and along came Corona virus. Halleluia. My wife was as happy as I was to wave it off as the truck carried it away..

Just saying.

[Little Sherri]

This was my concern, @dribblez - that once the novelty wore off, it would just be a giant box on the patio that consumes energy, chemicals and time. I have some friends who love their hot tubs and claim to use them daily, and other friends who have said that they sit there burning power for weeks between visits. 

[dribblez]

If you have young children, you'll likely get more use out of them. Teenagers probably only when parents are not around, having raided available supplies of wine, beer and spirits. For bill paying adults who have to do all the work, the love affair is likely to be short-lived.

[Little Sherri]

I've commenced the next part of my single-tape experiment, having bought some Rearz Lil' Monsters in size medium. I could actually use both tapes on them, but barely, and the legs get really snug. But pulling the top tape far into the front actually snugs up the legs decently, and these diapers in medium have a lower rise at the back and are less bulky than the large size, so that, coupled with the one-size-up shorts I started buying around this time last year, does a pretty decent job of disguising the fact that I'm wearing a diaper. My theory is that this will allow me to operate in a plastic diaper under circumstances where I used to rely on my slim, cloth-backed daytime diapers. We are going for a socially-responsible walk down by the lake this evening with friends, so that will be my first "live fire" test, although I have one on now and am operating around the house without, as far as I can tell, attracting any attention. These diapers are somewhat crinkly, but the sound fades a lot under clothes, and I believe the last few months have confirmed for me in any case that, unless in a silent elevator or walking through the hushed stacks of a library, the only person who notices the sound of my diaper seems to be me. 

They probably won't work all that well for bedtime wear, because the height of the waistband at the front is a bit lower (though... checking.. still not that far below my navel). But angling the tapes downward to pull the leg gathers in leaves the waist less snug up front, something which will only be an issue if I'm lying on my front. That's fine with me, because I have lots of larger nighttime diapers that I can continue, with care, wearing well into the day, and then I can swap over to one of these mediums, worn as a single-tape, for the later part of the day when I'm more likely to be out running errands or going for a walk or whatever. 

Single-tape diapers have always appealed to me in any case, because that's pretty much entirely what I wore, outside of cloth, when I was a kid; my parents never looked into any "medical-grade" solutions, relying instead on heroically over-matched large sized toddler diapers to keep my bedding from being besmirched. 

[Newbee]

I love the lil monsters but I find them no good for nighttime.

[Little Sherri]

The single tape experiment proceeds apace; I spent yesterday very comfortably in one of the medium Lil' Monsters, including on a 5 km hike, and I'm in one again today. I slept in a Magnifico, but those are too large for surreptitious daytime operations. The capacity of the medium Monsters is pretty decent; if, say, a Barnyard, BetterDry or Magnifico are 9's, and an Elite is a 10, then a Lil' Monster in medium is maybe a 7.5. My 360 Breezers are a 5, and Depends are maybe a 3. I think that between larger overnight diapers that I can be in from, say, 9 or 10 PM, until early afternoon the following day, I can wear a Monster from 1 or 2 PM until 9 or 10, thus facilitating two-diaper days. I'll have to go over to three diapers on days I want to run, unless I can get over my reluctance to put a partially-dampened diaper back on after a shower, and ride it out. 

Speaking of riding it out, I'm going mountain biking with a buddy this afternoon in a conservation area near his house; that's one thing I have not done since I went 24/7, 15 or so months ago. I'm thinking that the padding of a diaper will at least help with the saddle pain that eventually sets in on long bike rides. I do wonder whether I should go with a plastic diaper, or wear one of the cloth-backed Breezers; it's a hot day out there. I will wear a onesie for sure. Actually, I think I've made my decision - the rise of a colourful diaper at my waistline might be noticeable, even under a white onesie, and I don't want to wear one of my black onesies crashing about in the bush, because they're my "nice" ones that I wore to work, back when one went to work. So it's gotta be a white diaper. 

Let me know if any of you have much experience biking while padded - there must be a Dutch contingent here, and some of you live in the best places in the world for trail riding. 

Rearz had their annual warehouse sale this weekend, this time online rather than in the warehouse, and for the first time, I rushed home from the curbside pickup and excitedly reviewed the great deals I got on some provisions with my wife. She didn't share my excitement regarding the details of what I bought, but, she did seem impressed with what I paid; honestly, if I had more space, I would probably try to arrange buying a year's worth of diapers during their sale - some of the deals are that good. It looks like I'll be on this path for a while longer - it will probably take me a few months to burn through my inventory, even if I never bought another nappy. I have no choice but to continue. 

In other news - and I'm knocking on wood here, because I am risking the ire of the Diaper Gods by saying this, particularly when I'm about to go biking in a diaper for the first time - but, I am very happy with the state of my skin down-under these days. I haven't had a touch of diaper rash, or even any chaffing, in months. I think that interspersing diaper brands and models agrees with me, and also, religiously using diaper cream. The cream itself is no miracle - it's just store brand diaper rash cream - but it seems to help a lot. After a stubborn bout of recurrent diaper rash in the winter, I decided to actually follow the package directions fully for perhaps the first time in my life, and I used an over-the-counter anti-fungal cream for about a week after all signs of the rash had gone, and voila, no rash since then. Maybe I was being haunted by the slow return of ghosts not fully exorcised, and now they are gone. Victory is mine. 

[Little Sherri]

I'm copying this over from another thread... the question was about going to a doctor's appointment wearing a diaper. 

This is something that I've wrestled with as well. I have been 24/7, 98% of the time, for the last 15 months or so. I have worn a diaper the last couple of times that I've been to the doctor, but I knew that the appointments were not going to involve getting undressed, so it was essentially the same as wearing one to the dentist. I am entirely able to go without a diaper on for the length of a doctor's appointment - I don't wear diapers when I run, for example, typically for about an hour, a couple of days a week (not by choice but because I haven't found a diaper yet that doesn't either damage my skin, fall apart, or both, during a hard hour-long run). But, to your point, @Tusk626, I have also tried to remain dedicated to wearing, to the point of even going out and buying diapers when I was in Europe last year, because I couldn't possibly pack enough of them.

A stepping off point for me may be a follow-up MRI that I have scheduled for later this year; you have to strip down to a hospital gown and undies, and getting into and out of the machine is impossible to do with complete discretion. If I wear a diaper, and if someone sees it, everyone I'll be dealing with there are people I likely will never see again, so it could be a test of how I feel about it, without jumping out in front of my doctor of 25 years and saying, "Hey, I know I never brought this up with you, but I wear diapers now. No particular reason. Also I'm taking vitamin D, don't smoke, and I exercise a couple of times a week."

***

Speaking of exercise, I went mountain biking with my buddy, and I did wear a diaper, and it did help a bit with the butt pain that generally results from a long stretch in the saddle. My buddy was actually wearing bicycle shorts with a padded butt, and this had me thinking... the perfect camouflage! I could wear bicycle shorts over a diaper, and anyone that noticed would assume that the general puffiness below was the result of the padding... except that I would look awful in bicycle shorts. Someone might go to court and seek an injunction to prevent me from wearing them.

My family has been invited to a cottage this week, so I am going to be solo for a couple of days before I head up and join them. I'll have to get my fill of walking around my house in big diapers, because at the cottage, I'll probably have to go back to my slim daytime diapers from back when I left the house for entire days occasionally, in pursuit of making a living. Everyone pretty much hangs out in shorts or swim trunks the entire day there. One wrinkle is that the beach, which is about a 10 minute walk from the cottage, will not have any facilities open, because of the pandemic, so, I will have to decide to either, A) forgo a diaper for hours at a time (and maybe make use of the lake... it's hundreds of miles long and probably 60 miles across, so I'm not going to change the quality of the water by much...), or, b) commit to wearing a diaper the entire time, and never go into the lake. Maybe I'll do a bit of both - go for a swim, dry off, beg off to go back to the house for a few minutes, come back with a diaper on, and then refuse the kids' entreaties to come back into the water. Although what will probably happen then is, someone's toy will start floating away, and I'll be looked upon to gallantly swim out and retrieve it... leaving me in a sodden nappy that I'll have to strip off in the lake, and then I'll pretend I found it floating, and dutifully disposed of it in a trash can on the beach. 

It's interesting how much my perspective has changed on having the house to myself; I used to plan for weeks for an opportunity to pad around openly in a diaper, with only the dog as a witness. This entire string had as its genesis a nearly 6 week trip to Europe last year that my family was taking, where I joined them for the last couple of weeks, and I was looking for advice on my plan to go 24/7 for the 25 days or so while they were away. Now, 450 or so later, having "come out" to my wife, and adjusted my wardrobe, and with the lessons I've learned from all of you, and from operating in diapers under a variety of circumstances, I no longer get that excited at having the house to myself, at least from a diaper perspective. I still really look forward to rooms I've cleaned staying clean, to things I put somewhere remaining where I've put them, to having whatever I want on the TV, whenever I want, to reading a book for a couple of consecutive hours without being asked to troubleshoot the router, or the ice maker, or the coffee machine, or where someone's shoes have been moved to, or where the dog's leash is... yeah, okay, I'm still looking forward to it. One thing I may indulge in is wearing a cloth diaper for a night, which I haven't done essentially since this pandemic started, because it wouldn't be wet enough to make retiring it first thing in the morning worth the effort, but I can't wear one during the day, with everyone around; they're too bulky. So maybe the next time I'm "here", I'll be in a cloth diaper.