Jeanette R. • California • 27
My first period happened a week after my 11th birthday. My mom was always trying to avoid topics like periods and sex because I wasn't "old enough." A little too overprotective. She really should have opened up, because I had no idea what to expect and I wasn't ready. It was a school night and I was getting ready for bed. I went to the restroom and I noticed brown/red-ish residue on my underwear. I panicked! I knew what it was because a friend of mine had mentioned what a period was like back in the 4th grade, but I didn't know what to do next. I came out of the restroom with a worried face and let my mom know. My sister and aunt happened to be around and they overheard. I got the "awe, you're a woman now!" I started crying because I didn't quite feel ready for that part of my life.
My mom taught me how to put a pad on that night, and I hated every bit of it. I had to wear a big puffy pad?! Ugh, I was not a fan at all. I felt weird walking in it. My mom let me skip school the next day because I certainly was not in the mood to face reality with my period.
Coming back to school felt weird. It sounds so silly, but I felt like a different person. The most embarrassing moment came by at lunchtime. I felt my period seep into the back of my pants. I rushed to the bathroom- I missed the entire pad! I remember wondering if I had a broken vagina!. One of my classmates, James, asked what that stain in the back of my pants was. I said I had sat on ketchup or something. Years later in freshman year, he admitted to knowing that stain on my pants was, in fact, my period. He said he had an older sister, and he had seen that happen to her. Sheesh, talk about an embarrassing first period.
