The She-wee

Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas! Mine was definitely like no other but before I cover Christmas I am keeping my promise to tell you about the she-wee.

So us girls know that having to pee with no access to a toilet is challenging and these are the moments where we wish we could pee standing up like the guys. Antarctica for me has already been a lot of firsts but successfully peeing standing up with a she-wee and a bottle is something to celebrate.

A picture says a thousand words so here is the she-wee and the bottle.  

So I’ve had the she-wee for a couple of months now and many woman who have gone before me advised to practice in the shower.  Unfortunately I left it till a few days before my survival training to give it a go and I was getting a little anxious as I didn’t really have a plan B. Holding on for 36 hours is simply not an option.

I spoke to some others and we agreed that the fear of wetting yourself is real and due to the set up there is not a lot of ‘feedback’ so you just have to trust that it’s all going where it should be.  I cannot tell you my delight when I discovered I nailed it!!!  I came out of the shower feeling very smug and thought I’ve got this, I can pee standing up whenever I like.  

I confidently headed out on survival training overnight with my pack, warm clothes, sleeping bag, bivvy bag (the yellow bag that is basically a tent without poles and is only big enough for you and your stuff) and importantly my she-wee and orange bottle.   I’m not much of a camper or a hiker but I survived and actually really enjoyed it.  The group was great and I learnt many new life skills that I may never require again. I’m pretty proud to say I can now use my ice axe in more than one way.

I discovered that navigating the she-wee and bottle with clothes on is a bit more challenging than in the shower and the degree of difficulty increased  further once in my sleeping bag and bivvy bag but I’m stoked to say I did it – yep in the bivvy bag.  Upon reflection though I would definitely recommend to plan ahead as holding on just adds to the anxiety.  

The only place you can empty the bottle is in a tide crack which was a good 20 metres away so I, like many others, slept next to my warm bottle until morning – another first.  By morning I was super confident to go again but sadly not enough room in the bottle so it was a case of empty and repeat.  It has definitely revolutionised my outdoors world and I am genuinely grateful to the designer who has made my adventures as comfortable and accessible as a man.   

I know you are all asking what if you need to do number 2…well there’s a bag for that (called a wag bag).  Once you are done hopefully its cold enough for it to freeze and you take it back to station in your backpack.  We all have a dry bag labelled ‘poo bag’ so there is no chance of getting it mixed up with others.  Lucky for me I get stage fright for at least 24 hours in new locations so managed to keep my bag in tact for this trip.  

But just to be clear I still prefer a normal toilet and preferably one that starts with the toilet seat down and the toilet roll hanging the correct way – over!