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It happened last Saturday. So it’s been a couple of weeks since I last spent time with my mom and I decided we needed a girl’s day out. Woke up early, picked her up, and we hit the town. Between our excursions to Pier 1, Ulta, and Old Navy there was no time to really stop anywhere to, you know, go. It’s okay, though, I didn’t feel anything. In fact, I was having so much fun that I didn’t even feel the urge. Until I did. You know? I really thought I would pee myself less as an adult…
I Really Thought I Would Pee Myself Less As An Adult…
It didn’t happen right away. I wasn’t still shopping or anything. No, in fact, I went back to my mom’s house, ate dinner with her and my dad, hung out, played with their dog, had a great day.
When I left there I remembered I was out of dog food and ducked into the grocery store to pick some up before I headed home. For anyone keeping tabs, at this point I’d gone approximately, oh, ten or so hours without going. I don’t know if I was so busy that I didn’t feel the urge, or if maybe I felt it and suppressed it, but it just wasn’t there. I pick up the dog food, get to the checkout line, and BOOM: it hits.
Ohmygod I have to pee Right Now.
But it’s Wal-Mart.
And I’m NOT going to pee in Wal-Mart.
A bead of sweat starts down my brow as the woman in front of me takes her sweet ditty time checking out, putting one single item on the counter at a time. Does she not realize this is a conveyer belt? She can stack those puppies like Tetris tiles, and they’ll just go on down the line.
No. One item at a time.
And then something doesn’t scan. “Well I’m sure it was two dollars,” the lady says.
My pelvis is actually about to split open from the pressure being exerted on it.
Forget about the pee-pee dance, if I move even an inch I’m gonna blow.
I focus all of my energy on trying to convince my body to hold out until I get home…
“I’ll have to call the department to make sure,” the checkout lady says.
It’s a nothing item. Like probably something she just picked up on a whim. One of those things no one really needs and she could certainly put back if she had any decency.
I eye my dog food, trying to decide if I should abandon ship to save myself. If I don’t bring dog food home there’s a good chance my dogs will actually eat ME when I walk in the door.
Which might be a good thing, because at least then I won’t have to pee anymore.
They can’t reach anyone in the department (what department even sells little nothing trinket dodads, anyway?), and FINALLY the woman decides she doesn’t need it.
Time to pay. She swipes her card. Nothing happens.
My urethra is actually hurting from squeezing.
She swipes again.
The checkout lady tells her, “I think that’s one of those chip cards.”
Of course it’s one of those chip cards. We all hate them. We’re just stuck with them.
FINALLY she’s done and wanders away.
I check out as quickly as humanly possible and rush, somewhat cross-legged, to my car.
Luckily, I only live a few blocks from the store and it took less than five minutes to get home.
Unluckily, my bladder seemed to realize we reached our destination and my pants were pretty much completely soaked before I made it all the way to the bathroom.
*hanging head*
I wish I could say this is the first time this has happened, but I can’t. It isn’t. I just forget to pee. Who forgets to pee!?!?
Honestly, I really thought I’d pee myself less as an adult, but with the way things are going at this point I’m just really looking forward to my golden years… At least then it’ll be socially acceptable for me to wear diapers again.
Just go ahead and get some protection. I’ve had an issue here or there, and then after spinal surgery had even worse issues. Forget the golden years and go ahead taping up. On the plus side you’ll have an easy Halloween costume each year… I myself have come to enjoy it so much, I no longer favor simple depends, but play on the end of those weird adult baby print ones
Well,I’m a guy and I have peed my pants on several occasions. Usually from drinking too much coffee,and being stuck in my car. But it has happened on multiple occasions! Fortunately I’ve been able to avoid being seen by anyone when I have been wet! I just kind of laugh it off,because theres nothing else I can do once I’ve wet my pants.
One time I was bursting to go,and got held up bya train,that literally stopped ,so I ended up peeing my pants. Sigh!
LOL
I’m 21 and still go in my pants way too often. I compare it to a coin toss whether I’ll get to the toilet with dry pants. Sometimes I forget, sometimes I don’t think I have to go THAT bad and then I get busy and then…the all too familiar dribble in my panties that tells me…too late as it starts running down my legs. I know I’m way too old for this but sometimes I even have what I call an “oops” moment. I honestly didn’t feel a need to go until I start going. This usually happens when my anxiety is high. I.e. usually in social situations. Of course. The worst. I’ve always struggled with accidents. I wear diapers for my bedwetting which still happens most nights but I can’t afford even more for daytime use so I limit that to occasions where the likelihood of an accident is extra high. The other day at work we had a staff meeting that ran a little late as they often do. The stress of talking and collaborating in a large group ended up being too much for my anxiety and my bladder. I was so glad I’d planned ahead and wore a pullup cuz I almost made it to the bathroom after the meeting but…not quite. I ended up standing in the stall finishing flooding my diaper. So glad it was my diaper and not the floor. Its a struggle and I have self esteem issues from not having mastered such an elementary skill but I keep trying. My therapist encourages me to give myself some praise when I stay dry but be matter of fact instead of hateful and punitive towards myself when accidents happen. I just keep trying.
I did too! But here I am, 23 and I consistently pee my pants. For no good reason. I know I have to go and I wait too long and I pee in my pants. It sounds like it would be such an easy problem to fix but I just don’t think about going until I REALLY have to go. And if I can’t get to a bathroom fast enough, I have an accident.
It happened today when I was with my mom. Mortifying. I was just at her house, waited too long watching a movie and peed my pants as I ran to the bathroom. She’s seen it so many times that she just shrugged her shoulders and grabbed some spare pants and panties from my bag (I always travel prepared) and handed them to me to change.
Oh, and I’m a preschool teacher. Can’t even tell you how many full-fledged accidents I’ve had at work. Fortunately, the kids are too young to really notice.
Anyway, at 23 I feel like I can still get away with accidents a bit; but sooner or later, I may need to consider Depends or something. Ugh!
Tricia – you are lucky! I’m a first grade teacher and kids can definitely notice. How do I know? Because I totally had an accident in front of them, day 2 last year. First year for me as a teacher out of college. Day 2 and I pee my pants. Like, a complete accident, my whole bladder emptied. The kids laughed a bit since it was obvious (tan pants! Why would I wear tan pants!) but then just got quiet. The principal had a conversation with me to make sure this wouldn’t be an ‘issue’. No, I promised him. But in my mind, I knew I still had a problem with accidents. The same problems I had when I was in first grade myself.
Wetting my bed? Check. Oh, not every night, but 2-4 nights a week. Enough where I have to wear a diaper to bed still. I’ve never NOT worn a diaper to bed. Sigh.
Peeing my pants? Yup. I wish I could say that having a complete accident like this isn’t normal for me….but it is. Probably once a week. And that’s not counting the many more where I pee a little in my pants, or even half in my pants and still need to change.
And (do I dare share) pooping my pants? Yeah, I occasionally do that too. I’m not counting sharts or even being sick with diarrhea. I’m talking, oops, I waited too long, and here comes my solid poop out into my pants. I’m promising the principal this whole thing won’t be an issue, but in my mind, I’m remembering two weeks ago when I was at the grocery store with my mom and I suddenly squat and poop my pants by accident.
And so my teaching career continues. All the way until day 6 I think. And I completely pee my pants again. But win – black pants! And I was in my desk chair! The kids didn’t find out about this one (I don’t think) but that was was enough for me. Ever since, I’ve been very ‘dependent’ on Depends at work. Which means between nighttime and work, I spend a good 16 hours a day during the work week in a diaper. Lovely.
More power to you. It seems like such a struggle, but giving in to diapers just makes life so less complicated
Gosh I know the feeling! I’ve been trying all my life to become consistently dry . . . You know, like an adult. I’m 25 years old and I still have accidents in my pants. It’s too frequent for someone my age but it’s definitely an improvement from when I was a kid/teen. I swear I had to have been the only 17 year old girl not in Spec Ed with spare pants, panties and socks in her locker at all times. I would forget to go, I’d get too busy, it would hit me out of nowhere HARD and then I just wouldn’t make it in time. So many reasons. I had no friends. I was the loser who needed diapers like a baby. Sometimes I would have an accident pretty much every day, other times, a few weeks would go by without incident. My body was a rebel and pretty much did it’s own thing despite my efforts. I am a lifelong bed wetter and at 25, I honestly don’t know what it’s like to wake up with my panties and pajamas dry. But what’s cool is I don’t have as many accidents in my pants during the day as I did when I was younger, now maybe only 2-3 a week.
Lots of lifelong bedwetters out there. I’m one too. I’m 37, and i wear diapers to bed every night.
There are multiple adult bedwetting groups online. The best one I’ve found is on Reddit.
I really appreciated the raw honesty in your article. Isn’t it amzing how often we forget to pee? Even though, if your parent(s) were anything like mine, they ALWAYS told us to “go use the bathroom” before leaving the house – even if we insisted that we didn’t need to go – because “you’ll end up having to go while we’re on the road if you don’t go now!”
I have been blessed with a “teacher’s bladder” as I call it, and don’t really have issues with getting to a bathroom in time, once I do start to feel the urge. My problem is that sometimes I wet myself while laughing really hard. I usually wear panty liners because I don’t like to feel any wetness down there, so when I wet myself, it rarely soaks through to my pants. but the knowledge that I pee when I laugh is still so humiliating! And since I’m usually around friends when this happens, I can’t exactly duck out to use the bathroom right away without it being obvious what just happened. So I sit there wondering, “Did they notice anything? Can they smell it? Gosh, I feel like I’m 2. I still need a diaper.”