First Period in First Period

Ashley E •  New York  •  28

I can remember it like it happened yesterday. I think it’s mainly because I always thought I would be empowered by entering womanhood, and not leaving school crying waiting anxiously to go home and curl up into the fetal position.

I was 14, it was January 2004 and I was sitting in Algebra 1 during first period. Ironic I got my first period during first period now that I think about it. My outfit was so cute that day too, a pink long sleeve shirt, a skirt (yes, I’m from Buffalo we wear skirts in the winter) and black boots. Throughout the entire math lesson I was experiencing nagging stabbing pain in the lower abdomen.

---

---

None of my other friends who had already gotten their periods ever told me they thought they were going to die, so what was happening? It continued all throughout algebra and then it happened. My underwear didn’t stand a chance, I was wearing a skirt, the hormones pumping through my little 14 year old body had all but tipped me over and I found myself sobbing in the nurses office.

I called my mom to bring me clothes and I was such a blubbering mess on the phone my dad thought I had gotten beaten up when he answered the phone. Luckily I was able to go home and swallow my first of many doses of Midol in my life time. And I learned to never wear a skirt when it was that close to that time of the month. Womenhood came in like a wrecking ball for me and it makes the best story of my first period.

Grandma's Cookies

Katherine •  Connecticut  •  13

It was the day of my thirteenth birthday party. I went to the bathroom and noticed blood in my underwear and I knew what it was so I told my grandma who I'm very close to. I told her what happened and I said, "don't tell mom."

Her face turned white and she ran down the stairs and started yelling, "Caroline, Caroline" (my mom's name) and my mom ran into the house and gave me a pad.

---

---

She gave me a demo of how to use it even though I already knew everything about periods. Then my grandma came back up the stairs and gave me a cookie so I'd feel better and the party was a success.

The Sound of a Period

Sara T  •  Manitoba, Canada  •  31

I was the last one out of my friends who got my period. I felt like I was missing out on something. I prayed to the bloody period gods and low and behold, just a few weeks before my 15th birthday, there it was!

The thing is, I was sooooo shy. My mom and I didn't talk about stuff like this, there was no open dialogue so there was no way in hell I was asking her for a tampon or pad so I just started rummaging through her cupboards.

There they were, tucked in the bottom of the closet, a half gone package of pads! Success! Thinking back now, these were probably used when she gave birth to me by the worn look to the packaging. But I ran to the bathroom, opened it up, fumbled around the sticky backing and plopped it in my underwear.

---

---

As many of you may know, pads used after childbirth, they big. Really big. So on my almost 15 year old body, this thing went from the top of my butt crack, basically to my belly button! But regardless, it was all I had, so I marched on like the woman I now was. An uncomfortable woman, but a woman nonetheless.

Fast forward to the next night, when I was clearly a seasoned professional in this period pad game, I'm at a friend's house. A friend who was a boy. A boy that I liked.

We were sitting on the couch watching a movie, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. At one point I got up to use the washroom and this gigantic pad circa 1988 was not quiet. This boy turns to me and says, "what is that sound?"

"I don't know," and I quickly made my way for the toilet.

When I returned, I adjusted my walk but it didn't work. He says "there it is again! Sounds like a plastic bag!"

"Must be these pants" I say like Ron Burgundy trying to cover his erection in the pleats of his. Why jeans would make such a sound is beyond me but this was a believable statement to him and I vowed to never get up to go pee again for the rest of the night.

Haha!

The end.