your first period

Polesmoker69 · Joined: 03 May 2004 Posts: 7 Location: Ontario, Canada

i was in the 5th grade, and it was may, i was at church with my grandma when i first got it, and all i had was a bunch of toilet paper in my undies!
then i got home and got one of my moms pads, it must have been a couple days later when i got up from the couch in my pjs when my moms boyfriend said something to her and she got up and followed me, and asked if i got my period, because mark had notice a red circle on my butt!
so i told her yes, and she ask if i needed to know anything and i said no, and it was left at that!
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cyan · Joined: 13 Apr 2004 Posts: 54 Location: BC

My first period was really traumatic.

I got it when I was 10, and at SUMMER CAMP! Ugh. I was at the camp with 4 other friends. It was quite a small "outdoorsman" camp where we slept under huge, canvas tents. Anyways, My 4 friends were split into 2 tents, and me, the shyest one, was put in a tent with strangers. That was bad enough for me, but on the second day of camp, I got my period. I was mortified, and didn't tell anyone. I just stuffed my undies with toilet paper. To make it even worse, one of my friends who was at the camp got her first period the day after me, but she was all proud of it, and told her tent counsillor, who gave her pads to wear.

So when the camp was over and my mom came to pick me up, I was too embarassed to tell her. But we were staying in a hotel that night, and I didn't want to ruin the bedsheets, so I told her. And she got all teary, saying "my baby's all grown up!" which mortified me even more! She took me into the bathroom, and tried to show me how to put on a pad. I told her I already knew how, and pushed her out of the bathroom so I could put it on. Really, I was clueless, and I bet I was in the bathroom for 45 minutes, trying to place it *perfectly* in my undies.

Yeah, it was pretty traumatic!
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hodge · Joined: 27 Apr 2004 Posts: 81 Location: toronto

my experiece was pretty weird, so i remember it really well.
it was during the first gulf war and a bunch of girls were at at my friend's place for lunch during junior high lunch hour. we had been scaring each other by pretending that scud missles were attacking the house, and we were chasing each other around making explosion noises and jumping out at each other. i went to the bathroom and realized that i had gotten it, and knew that i needed some pads. i called to my friend but she refused to come because she thought it was a trick, and that i was going to scare her. i kept calling and pleading, and finally i had to yell that i got my period. all of my friends came into the bathroom and cheered. they joked that they would bake me a cake with tampons as candles. i was given like a super extra mega large pad to wear, and waddled around the rest of the day being pretty cranky that that i was going to have to wear a diaper once a month.

that night i told my mom. she was sweeping the front entrance to our house and i walked up and blurted it out. she put her arm around me and said, 'well jen, welcome to womanhood. it ain't always pretty'.

not period related, but sorta funny: when i was twelve my mom bought me a sassy and some other teen mags. i was embarrased for some reason and acted like i didn't want them- i guess i was resisting that awkward transition from kid to teen. i was lying on my bed and my dad came in and picked up the sassy. he said, 'hmm...this looks like interesting stuff' and preceeded to read aloud an advice column question about being embarrassed to ask your parents for a bra when you need one (which was a situation i was in at that time). i was completely mortified.

sewing stars · Joined: 27 Apr 2004 Posts: 112 Location: Little Rhody

I was 9 years old, at the end of my forth grade year. I had known it was going to happen since I was one of only two girls in my grade that had to wear a bra, my mother had warned me in advance.

Fortunatly it was before school and I got up from the kitchen table chair (which was fabric padded) after eating my cereal and noticed a big dark red spot. I suddenly realized it was mine. My mom was in the kitchen and my younger brother, 6, who was there too and he acting all grossed out. I didn't feel too embarrased or anything, I just felt bad I ruined the chair, my mom assured me that it was fine, and she could get the spot out and sent me to the bathroom armed with a pad.

That day when I came home from school she showed me how she had bought three brands of pads and said I should try them out and pick which kind I liked. I thought it was kinda cool that I got to pick what kind, I went with Kotex.

I was more embarrassed at school because I was still in elementary, so they held a pack of pads at the nurses office and I had to go up each month at each recess to get one. My friends made fun of me for having to go get my 'diaper'.

Sometimes I wish I hadn't been so young. I was always jealous of the girls who didn't have to wear bras or visit the nurses office.
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deborahthecraft · Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Posts: 364 Location: California

I was 10 or 11 and I screamed from the bathroom for my Mom.She came in handed me a pad from the linen closet,was laughing and crying and then walked out.She never told me anything about it.

soapandwater · Joined: 13 Apr 2004 Posts: 945

I want to meet the mother who sits her daughter down and explains, beginning with uterus and then going right down to "So, you may call it 'Blood.' but it's more than just blood. It's also TISSUE from your uterus. The lining, really..."

Gross her out! That's my motto!
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jean · Posted: Wed May 05, 2004 7:36 pm Post subject:

stprcsm · Joined: 18 May 2004 Posts: 117 Location: NoVa

I was 11. I never told my mother, but I think she knows.

soapandwater · Joined: 13 Apr 2004 Posts: 945

"I never told my mother, but I think she knows."

Maybe I'm just terribly giddy from just having graduated five hours ago, but that cracked me up!
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Jenny · Joined: 20 Apr 2004 Posts: 15 Location: Peg City

I can't remember the exact circumstances of my "first" period because I had some spotting in grade 6 and then didn't really start until grade 8 or so. I was embarassed, though, and my mom wanted to celebrate it and I was all "leave me alooone!" Nowadays the tables have turned and I gross my mom out with my homemade cloth pads.

cyan's story reminds me of the most traumatic menarche story I ever heard. A friend of mine got hers in grade 4, too, at the age of 10. And she was at her grandma's house for the weekend. And she didn't know what it was. Can you imagine how traumatic? To be bleeding profusely from one's private parts at the age of 10 and not have your mom around to even ask? I still think of that and feel awful for her.

amygdala · Joined: 18 May 2004 Posts: 134 Location: Philadelphia

My mom had given me a box with all different kinds of pads in it when I was 11, which was a good thing because I wound up getting my first period when I was 13 and she was out of town. I didn't even bother telling her, but she figured it out by the next month and was very sad that I'd gotten it when she was away and that I hadn't called to tell her. She was a lot more emotional about it than I was, she wanted to talk about womanhood and stuff and I was not interested in discussing the details of my period with my mother, thankyouverymuch. But she had a positive attitude about the whole thing. I can't imagine getting your period and not knowing what it was, I'd probably have convinced myself that I was dying.

Mathias · Joined: 17 May 2004 Posts: 102 Location: Virginia

Such a fun topic!

I was 11 when mine started, and it was actually pretty anti-climactic. It was the summer between 5th and 6th grade, so I hadn't seen the film that explains the whole repro sitch yet. However, I was one of those kids that read every book in the living room bookcase. I had stumbled onto this little booklet called "Becoming a Woman" that was tucked between two books on the shelf. (Years later it hit me that my mother probably put it there intentionally, though I've never directly asked her about it.)

So, when I noticed something in my panties one afternoon that summer, I coolly got up, found my mom, and said, "I think I've started my period." Mom said, "You think so?" and then showed me where she kept the pads in the bathroom. She explained how a pad worked and told me how to dispose of it (the old wrap-and-roll bit). And that was that. I asked her not to tell my dad yet, and she said, "Do you mind if I call your Aunt Debbie?"
And I just knew that everyone in my family knew within the hour that I had become intimately acquianted with the Flow.

I have two younger sisters, so you can imagine what our house was like during period time. My poor dad! By the time my sisters started their periods, though, we had become the kind of family that could discuss bodily functions over dinner without batting an eye. My dad had no issues with asking, "I'm picking up some stuff from the store, do any of you need pads?"

mishapville · Joined: 13 Apr 2004 Posts: 46 Location: Providence, RI

I was actually 15 when I got my period - odd, because I was a b cup by age 11. I never figured out why I was so late. Hopefully that means I won't go through menopause until I'm 72!

Brenda · Joined: 18 May 2004 Posts: 14 Location: Florida

I was 12, and I remember feeling kind of strange all day. I couldn't figure out what it was until I got to the bathroom. When I told my mom she barely batted an eye. She just smiled and gave me some maxi pads.

Miss E · Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Posts: 152 Location: LBC

I was 11 years old and in the 6th grade.

I was so happy and sad. My mom had told me about it, and warned me to expect it because she got it around that age. My mom was totally excited, and we did a little chinese ritual for your first period. I have 4 sisters and we all had little celebrations on our firsts! Now, I'm wishing I had written down the exact date, but I remember it was in March.

When my youngest sister got her's this year, we were so exicted becase she was the last girl in our family. My mom called and wanted to get a cake or something, it was so cute. I wanted to buy her a card that announced she became a woman, but alas Hallmark doesn't make anything to celebrate that occasion.

Sorry to hear about your other traumatic incidents. I am shocked that your mothers/parents didn't tell you more about what would happen to your bodies. My little bro is 10, and had known for a while what happens to people's bodies when they go through puberty. He delights in telling my partner what a "period" is.