Her First Period

 

Every female worldwide experience menstruation but not every experience is the same depending on your family, environment, and education. I interviewed a woman who was the first-born girl out of 10 children. Her parents divorced when she was a little girl and later, they both remarried. Her menarche story is one she will never forget and if one day she has a daughter she said she will share with her in hopes she finds relief in knowing that it isn’t always the prettiest, but it can get easier.

She spent every weekend at her dad’s house growing up due to her parent’s divorce. It was a time she got to spend with her dad and her other siblings. She remembers one weekend in 2009 she was 13 years old, a seventh grader in junior high. Saturday night she remembers her stomach was hurting so bad that she could barely move, and she had no idea why. Her dad thought it was maybe something that she had eaten and gave her some stomach medicine. The medicine did nothing for her so she laid in bed all night long hoping that if she went to sleep the pain would go away. Little did she know that when she woke that morning, she would start her first menstrual cycle, in a house full of boys and a younger sister that had no idea what she was going through, and a stepmom that she wasn’t close to.

She was very lucky that she did not bleed all over the place. She didn’t realize that she had started her period until she woke up to use the restroom and saw blood in the toilet. She remembers she used the restroom and went to her dad’s room to let him know that she had started her period. He told her stepmom to help her, and she helped teach her how to use a pad and asked if she was okay or needed any medicine for the pain. In a time, she needed her mom the most she couldn’t be there for her, and she remembers all she could feel was embarrassment. She didn’t want her brothers to know that she started her period, and she wanted her mom to come pick her up right away. Her brothers eventually found out and were so in shock their little sister was becoming a woman.

Later that day her mom and her stepbrother picked her up and took her to Walgreens to get everything she would need to have a successful period. Going to Walgreens she thought would be a normal trip, but little did she know her stepbrother would embarrass her. He went all around the store screaming how his little sister was becoming a woman. Every customer inside the store knew that she was experiencing her first menstrual cycle and she had never been more embarrassed in her life. Once in the car her stepbrother let her know that she shouldn’t be embarrassed about being on her period that every girl experiences it and now she was blossoming into a woman. She knew from then on that she shouldn’t be embarrassed or judged, and she should embrace every change that is happening to her body.

Once her family got home her mom sat her down and asked her how she felt the day before starting my period. She also asked her if her breasts were sore, if she had a headache or if anything else felt off about her leading up to the day, she started her period. She told her mom all her symptoms and she let her know that she needs to remember how she felt so that the next time she was going to get a period she would know because her body was telling her. She then taught her the difference between a liner and a pad, and a regular pad and an overnight pad. She also taught her how to properly place it on underwear and how it needed to be disposed of it once it was used.

She is grateful that she had the support of her family during her first menstrual cycle and that she was able to ask the questions that she needed. Though she felt embarrassed and didn’t want her brothers to know they were a huge support to her and helped her understand that even men know that every woman experience menstruation. If there is one thing, she wants younger women to know it is to never feel embarrassed about what happens to your body. Someone has probably experienced the same similar story as you and menstruation is a natural part of a woman’s body. Embrace the change, love your body, and never feel embarrassed to be you.