Andrew whimpered in embarrassment as she bent over him and said sarcastically, “Not quite finished wetting your diapers, Baby? Don’t worry, Aunt Krystyn will have you in a nice dry diaper before you know it. Then she’ll put you in your crib for a nap and it’s off to beddy-bye for little Andrew!”

 

Krystyn efficiently grasped his ankles in one hand and lifted his bottom so she could make a quick swipe with a baby wipe. She wasn’t concerned with him getting diaper rash on the first day; she knew his skin would get irritated soon enough. After some twenty odd years of being potty trained, his skin had gotten used to being dry. Once he spent a few nights in a wet diaper, he would get a rash no matter what she did. She had read somewhere that the skin hosted a number of what scientists called microflora, i.e., microbes that live on the surface of the skin. Yeast, or more properly fungi, (usually called a staff infection by physicians), existed in détente on its host with bacteria. If either colony became predominant, then the host suffered with a microfloral skin infection. When they were in balance, the colony of staff produced bacteria inhibiting chemicals that kept the bacteria in check. When the ecology of the skin changed, so did the population of the microflora on the host. In the event that someone was suddenly re-introduced to diapers after many years, the rapid expansion of the colony of bacteria that normally lived on the skin feasted on the uric acid contained within the urine soaked diaper and produced ammonia as a byproduct. The alkaline ammonia in the spoiled urine reacted with the amino acids of the skin and would produce a rash in short order.