Holding It and Holding It

So...I have never posted on here about the hard time my baby girl has had with potty training.  To attempt to make a long story short, our little miss has a bladder of steel!  She will hold it and hold it and hold it, upwards of 24-26 hours.  Yes, you read correctly...that's ALL day and ALL night long without going pee-pee.  This first started about three months ago when we officially tried potty training.  She would progressively hold it for longer and longer amounts of time. It started around 18 hours then she got to 24 hours and I about freaked out.  We took her in to the doctor to make sure she didn't have a UTI or anything else going on and our doctor just felt like she wasn't ready for potty training and requested we stop.  He said some children, especially little girls, will master the back end of potty training in regards to holding it; however, don't understand that when they get the feeling it's ok to let it go and go pee-pee.  At this point, I didn't care where she was going- diaper or potty, I just wanted my poor baby to just go!  

So several months later and after only the one week of official potty training, Lucy had built back up to maybe 3-4 wet diapers a day.  Honestly, we were thrilled with that.  She might only be going a few times a day, but her diapers are enormous.  Probably equivalent to at least 6 diapers a day.  So fast forward to the past few weeks.  We were starting to think Lucy might be getting ready to maybe start back up on semi potty training again. Nothing major like last time when we officially put her in panties and the whole shebang. We were simply encouraging on occasion and keeping it really low key.  Her teachers would occasionally have her sit on the potty and sometimes Lucy would even ask to sit on it.  She's really only gone in it once or twice, but we just thought she'd just ease into it.  

Well, then we noticed she was progressively starting to hold it longer and longer again and was only having two wet diapers a day.  Then it officially cut off again and she held it for 26 hours.  Carlos and I felt so terrible for her! She would do a pee-pee dance and we could tell she needed to go, it was almost like she was just too nervous to go....anywhere.  Through all of this, we decided to switch pediatricians.  I won't really go into all of that, but we just weren't really happy with the lack of response from calls, etc.   We went to Lucy's new doctor, Dr. Jackson, and they said she simply isn't ready and to not mention anything about going in the potty and that she's having a hard time just relaxing to go potty. We got a urine sample (don't ask me how we got her to go pee-pee in a cup, but it was a miracle) and everything came back normal.  No UTI and her kidney's are working properly.  We were so relieved.  So....we are 100% not mentioning anything to do with that stinkin' potty!  I know she'll want to go in it soon and we are so not worried about it happening anytime soon.  Just whenever she's ready! Everyone has always told us how smart she is and how fast she's going to get it, so we've thought- yeah let's do it! She has mastered everything so incredibly quickly and is such a smart little cookie.  But, it not about how smart your child is...for Lucy I think it's something decently private and we need to just not put so much emphasis on it and just let it happen when it's time.  I think she's just too aware of what's going on around here and it just thinking about it too much and not just letting it happen.

She is now going 1-2 times a day and today she actually went three times!!! We were so excited.  Dr. Jackson said it could take her anywhere between 2-3 months before she is going more consistently.  I'm just so glad she is going.  Dr. Jackson also said that once children like this are able to just relax and start going even a few times in the potty consistently, we will never have to worry about any accidents or any other issues.  It will just click one day.  We'll get it!

Lucy at her new doctor's office. They gave her stickers and candy, so she loved it!

We headed home after leaving Dr. Jackson's trying to get a urine sample.  Lucy tried so hard, but just couldn't do it.  Then, out of nowhere- she told me she would go in her diaper.  Almost like she knew we just really needed her to go.  I put her diaper on and she locked eyes on me and I knew she was going...I casually opened the side of her diaper as she was going, stuck the cup down there as she was still going and waaalaaa!  A urine sample!  Couldn't believe we actually got one!  After we changed clothes and dropped it off at the lab, we headed to McDonalds to get an ice cream cone!

Such a mess.

Love you sooooo much baby girl!