I have to go back to the 1950’s. When one needed an enema, mom didn’t do just the one that needed an enema, she did my brother, sister, an I together. She said, “if I have to do one, I might as well do all three and get it over with.” When she suspected one of us was constipated, that one was taken to the bathroom for a digital recital exam. Once confirmed constipated, she told us, “go to your bedroom and get ready, I need to give y’all a couple of enemas.” We were required to get the towels out, place them across one of our beds, get undressed, and be laying across the bed ready for an enema. Around age nine or ten mom moved the enemas from the bedroom to the bathroom. There were two main differences, the first was, she let our sister help give my brother an I enemas and she let my brother an I help give our sister enemas. The second difference was our position, she had us get in the knee chest position for our enemas.
At our grandmothers, it was different, it was one on one in her bathroom laying across her lap. We always got a digital recital exam first, then two enemas, one soapy and one rinse with salt and baking soda. Occasionally we’d get a second rinse enema if we didn’t take enough during the first rinse enema. As we got older she moved us from across her lap to the knee chest position. Another difference was, if she didn’t find us constipated during the digital recital exam, she’d say, “your not constipated. Would you like a warm rinse enema anyway?” Sometimes we accepted her offer for a warm rinse enema and other times we didn’t.