What Once Was Wet...

I'm still really frustrated with our desktop (hence no photo), but I really needed to do this today.
For quite some time Laura's been struggling with having accidents.  It's probably been for the past year and a half.  She's almost 7 years old, so needless to say it's been incredibly frustrating for Aaron and I.  She'd pee her pants just about every time she needed to go.  There were some days where I don't think she even tried to go in the bathroom.
Initially we thought she was so busy playing that she didn't want to stop to use the bathroom.  So we tried a reward system.  When that didn't work we tried punishment via timeout.  That didn't work either.  As we felt the never ending flow of frustration that started to turn to anger, we decided to really observe how Laura was functioning. 
First of all, many of her accidents were tiny... maybe half dollar sized or slightly larger.  Next, she didn't seem to have any warning that she needed to pee.  She'd be playing happily then all of a sudden crouch down to try to hold it in.  If we were lucky to catch her at this moment we'd pick her up and rush her to the toilet.  Then we started asking her about it and she said that she always felt like she needed to go.  We decided to take her in to see our doctor.
At this point I have to say that I adore our doctor.  Dr. Katschke is such a wonderful man.
Anyway, we got her in and we explained everything we'd been going through the past year and Laura told him how she felt.  He checked to make sure everything was formed correctly (Laura did NOT like this one bit), did a urine sample (which was normal), then told us what he thought.  He said it could be one of several things.  The first was that her bladder wasn't emptying all the way and perhaps something was wrong with the valves.  The next was that perhaps her bladder was behind in development.  The last thing he thought it might be is a stricture.  What is that?  Well, sometimes when children are small and have a big fall on their bums they hit their urethra and damage it.  My understanding is that a stricture is kind of like scar tissue that prevents the urethra from functioning correctly.  Dr. Katschke ordered an ultrasound.
Laura did great at the ultrasound.  The tech was really friendly and great with her.  The results were normal.  We were referred to a pediatric urologist in St. George.
This past Monday I took Laura to see the urologist.  He drew a diagram of the bladder and showed me how it's supposed to function.  He then started to describe Overactive Bladder (OAB) and every symptom he described fit Laura perfectly.  He said that with children they like to try a medication for two to three months before they do the more invasive testing.  So he prescribed Detrol.  He said to limit her sugar and caffeine intake as these things make the problem worse.  If Laura does, in fact, have OAB the medication should correct it and she won't have to take it anymore. 
Laura started the medication Tuesday and I am pleased to report that she has not had a single accident since.  Aaron and I wonder if it's having real physical effects on her or if it's working as a placebo... since she knows it's supposed to help, "it is."  I think it may be both. 
Regardless, I am so thankful.  Laura has been so much happier.  Aaron and I are happier because we don't have to get on her and do her smelly laundry.  I don't have to worry about her getting embarrased at school.  I will have to report again once the end of the medication arrives. 
In other news, we've started potty-training Avery.  So far in three days she has used the potty once.  She has wet her underwear quite a bit and poo'd (?) in them four times.  (Luckily Aaron was home for three of them... bwahaha!) 
So, I guess we're not quite out of the stinky laundry phase.  Hopefully soon.

Technical Difficulties...

So my desktop (where I keep all of our photos) must have a virus.  I can go online but cannot log into anything that requires a username and password.  So no email, banking, and no blogging!  I may start putting some photos on my laptop so I don't fall too far behind, but in the meantime I suppose I won't be doing much.  I'm bummed... I have a lot to post.  So I'm still here everyone...