My First Period With a Menstrual Cup

Definitely not a blog post I ever thought I would be writing, but here we are, ready to deep dive into personal territory and discuss all things periods. Which means you probably never heard me talk about my experience with my actual first period, at the ripe age of 11. Actually, a few weeks shy of. Beautiful! Oh, and that my mother was nowhere to be found so it was actually my dad who explained everything… Yeah, it’s quite the scandal. For the 90s…

My First Period

It was a sunny August afternoon and I was enjoying my last few weeks of summer before middle school. I was playing at the neighbours, since they were the only ones on the entire road that had a beach. We had been swimming, so I wasn’t particularly bothered by my wet bathing suit, but when I needed to pee I went to our own cottage. In hindsight, I am sooooo grateful I did! As soon as I sat down to pee and I saw it: a dark brown muck in my bikini bottoms. Truth be told, I legit thought I shat my pants and didn’t realize it. Talk about traumatizing! Then logic started to set it and I figured it was seaweed or something from the swamp. But then I realized it was coming out of me. And some of it was red; it was blood! Of course, kid logic: I was dying. Cue the tears! And the screams for my mother. Turns out she was out by the dock, so Dad came to the rescue. Nope. Not happening. ‘GET MOM!’ Ugh, of course he made me explain why HE needed to be the one to go get her and why he couldn’t help. I told him I was bleeding from my butt, cause at that age you don’t really know there is another hole, and he laughed. Yup, legit laughter. Thanks Dad, thanks. Well, turns out it was the best scenario because guess who was the household “supplies” buyer? Yup, him. He was able to calmly explain the entire thing to me, including the crushing news that I probably won’t be able to swim for the rest of the week, and even more devistatingly that this was going to happen every month for the rest of my life. Fantastic! Fast forward to a few years later when I discovered tampons, and quickly discovered why my mother never bothered to show them to me. Nope. Never again was I sticking anything inside of me. Yuck, ew, more yuck, ow. Ahh, kid logic!

A New Era

This year marks the nineteen year anniversary of my period and I am happy to say that menstrual gear has come a long way. Along the way I was lucky enough to skip it, whether due to sudden weight fluctuations, birth control pills, or pregnancy, but that never stopped it from coming back. But gosh darnit I am sick of the damn adult diapers! Sorry, pads. Whatever! I did re-try tampons over the years when I really wanted to be able to swim or when it showed up unexpectedly when I wasn’t anywhere near home or my stash wasn’t with me (thanks for the tampon random toilet stall lady!–yup, that happened!), but never liked it. It was always weird. And yes, I was inserting it “properly”. Anyways, this year (rather than the big twenty) I discovered that there is underwear that doubles as a pad. Whaaaa??? And as if that isn’t a genius enough invention as it is, there is also the period cup which is literally a silicone ‘cup’ that you shove up there (gently) and it keeps it all from flowing out. Ugh, anyone else just absolutely hate that gush. Ew! And if your cup does fill up quicker than you thought, or it moves out of place and starts to leak, those magical underwear soak it up instead of your pants. Umm, yes please!

So here we have it, all of these new discoveries, but which to choose..? I’ve got a few pairs of leakproof underwear, a menstrual cup and steam cleaner, and I am putting them all to the test. I have got everything on-hand and ready to go, so now we just wait for my next cycle. Dare I say that I am actually looking forward to my period…!? Then you get the real tell-all post.

Chat soon!

stephanie de montigny SdeM handrawn initials ottawa blogger

Disclaimer: This post does NOT contain any affiliate links, nor am I being compensated for publishing this blog post (all opinions are my own and uncoached). However, in the interest of full-disclosure, I was gifted all of the items that are part of the behind-the-scenes of this adventure, at my request. All photos are copyrighted to Stephanie de Montigny and are not to be used without express written consent. Thank you.