Less Easily Embarassed

One thing I hate about pregnancy is the resulting incontinence. It's common among women and all doctors recommend doing kegels, kegels, and more kegels to strengthen the pelvic floor and prevent leaks. Nobody tells you these things until after you get pregnant and it is too late to go back. It wasn't bad during the first pregnancy, but I don't think I did enough kegels between pregnancies (Bad Amanda!) so I'm paying for it now.

With so much pressure on my tiny bladder, each cough or sneeze could cause a little leak. It used to be that I'd laugh so hard I'd pee. I wish that was the case and someday I'll get back to that point. Until then, you might notice that I cross my legs and pray that I've remembered to go to the bathroom recently each time I cough or sneeze. Poor Rick tries his best not to laugh at me, and I try not to cry or yell at him because it is funny...but in a sad way, not a ha ha way.

Some days I change underwear three or four times a day. Most days I don't have any problems at all. But if my allergies are acting up or I catch a cold, watch out.

Two weeks ago, we were walking back from a nice dinner out as a family and I happened to sneeze on the walk home. A big sneeze on a full bladder. Thankfully I was wearing black pants and only four blocks from home. That was by far the worst of it.

That episode encouraged me to now carry a backup pair of underwear in my purse. It happened to coincide with my recent trip to Minneapolis and it is always wise to travel with a change of underwear handy in case you lose your luggage. I learned that the hard way in Germany and went underwear shopping for both Rick and I within a few hours of landing. Not how you want to start a trip.

So now I carry nude underwear in my purse. It's just part of my normal purse contents. I think nothing of it. Or I thought nothing of it until we were at Costco this past Monday and Ada was sitting in the cart as I strolled through the frozen foods section. La la la. "What do you have there Ada?" I notice that she's managed to get into my purse in the seat next to her and pull out a pen and, of course, my nude underwear. Pre-Ada, I might have been slightly embarrassed. Post-Ada, it didn't even phase me. I quietly chuckled under my breath and stuffed them back into my purse... and zipped it up this time.

Moral of the story: Things you once found embarrassing, just aren't as bad once you've been exposed to a dozen people during labor and delivery. One of the many perks of having a child.