Does having my first period mean that I can get pregnant now?
Girls start their periods when they are anywhere between nine and sixteen years old, but between eleven and thirteen is probably the most common time.
Generally your first few periods are pretty light. I was very disappointed that my first period consisted of a few splotches of sticky brown stuff. Apparently, this is common, and this blotchy stuff is not so much your first period, but an announcement that your periods are about to start.
Within a couple of years your periods will become more regular, and more heavy. How much you bleed can change from month to month, and some women bleed more than others. The books I have read say different things, but between 2 tablespoons and one cup of fluid is my best guess.
I call menstrual fluid "blood" even though I know its not really blood. It is the broken down lining of the womb, the endometrium, so it is partially blood, but it also includes womb bits and vaginal secretions. The blood colors everything red and brown.
Maybe. The bleeding is not painful in itself, but cramps that sometimes come with your period can be painful.
A girl's first several periods are often what are called anovular - this means you are menstruating but not ovulating, there is no egg being produced. These periods tend to be light, irregular and often painless. Sometimes they are not, though. Periods are very individual. You might get cramps your first time.
It definitely has an odor. Menstrual fluid starts to smell when it is in contact with air. So a pad you have been wearing all day at school can get pretty strong smelling. Also, you might find that the fluid that comes at the end of your period has a stronger smell than the more liquid flow at the beginning.
You may be able to smell your menstrual fluid, but don't worry, other people will not. Think about it, have you ever smelled a woman's menstrual blood when standing near her? Probably not, even though there are menstruating women everywhere you go.
Wash with mild soap and water every day of your period if you are worried about it.
Everyone is caught by surprise the first time, there is no way around it unless you wear a pad every day for a year or two. Don't panic! For most girls, her first period is more like a stain than a flood, so you should have some time to figure out what you are going to do.
(here are some suggestions for what to do if you're taken by surprise)
You could bleed anywhere from two to seven days. Each day is a little different, though, and the last few days are generally very light. For instance, my period is five days long, which is pretty average. The first two days I bleed a lot and have cramps. On the third day it just stops, every time. When it starts up again on the fourth day it is heavy for a couple of hours, then it is very light for the next day and a half.
If you have just started your period, expect it to be irregular. Sometimes a girl will have her first period, and then not bleed again for a few months. This is normal. Your periods should become more or less regular within a year or so. Regular does not mean you start your period on the same day of every month, it means each of your cycles is roughly the same length.
Any cycle length is normal as long as it is always about that long. Books often say a menstrual cycle is 28 days long, but that is just a convenient average. A cycle may be 19 days long or 40 days long. What is regular for you is normal. The only thing to be concerned about is if your period never becomes regular.
The first day you bleed, even the tiniest bit, is day 1 of your cycle, and you count each day until day1 of your next period. That is the length of that month's cycle. If you start keeping track on a calendar, you will find that you can see a pattern. If your last cycle was 25 days long, you can look at the date you started this month, say it was the 15th, and you can predict that next month you will start around the 10th of the month
No, when you are about 50 you go through menopause, the end of menstruation. . Also, you don't have your period when you are pregnant, and breast feeding can stop it for a while longer. If you become very sick or if you are not eating enough your period might stop as well.
Yes, no and maybe. Certainly one of the things your first period means is that your body is becoming sexually mature, but that's not all it means.
The best bet, whatever the situation, is to always assume that you can become pregnant. Girls have become pregnant before they have their first period. This is possible because ovulation, the release of the egg, comes two weeks before your period. A girl could ovulate, have sex and become pregnant without ever having her first period.
On the other hand, a girl's first year or so of periods are often anovular - without ovulation. If you are not producing eggs, you cannot become pregnant. But it is difficult to tell if you are ovulating or not, especially when you first start your period. This is not something to guess about!!!!
Also, there is a myth that you cannot get pregnant if you have sex when you are menstruating. This is not true. Always assume that you will get pregnant if you have sex without using birth control.
There are many little clues that you are ovulating, but none of them are very reliable. You start to recognize your own personal clues by paying attention to your cycle. Some women feel tiny twinges on one side of their belly or the other. Your sense of smell and sight may be more sharp than usual. Your vagina gives off slick, stretchy discharge when you are most fertitle.
Another way to tell is to take your body temperature every morning before you get out of bed, and keep a record of it. It rises a little around ovulation and stays high until your period begins. This is a method that women who are trying to get pregnant use to figure out when they are most fertile.
The best way to tell is after the fact: count backward 14 days from when your period starts, and that day was the day you ovulated.
A healthy woman gives off a variety of different secretions (gunk) throughout the month. Menstruation is only the most obvious. Your vaginal secretions vary depending on where you are in your cycle. You probably give off the most around ovulation, and this is slick and stretchy, like egg white. At other times it is thicker and less clear
You should only be worried about a secretion, also know as discharge, if it smells really bad, if there seems to be too much of it, or if it makes you itchy or burns. In these cases, you probably have a vaginal infection, and need to see a gynecologist
Only humans, apes and some monkeys menstruate. Other mammals like dogs and cats sometimes will bleed a little when they are in heat, which is when they ovulate and mate, but they do not have menstrual cycles. Having a menstrual cycle means you do not go into heat. Because of this, humans can mate whenever they want, and have babies at any time of the year.
Yes, research has proven what women have always known: that women who live together often get their periods within a few days of each other. What's interesting is that it seems that friendship matters more than how near they are to each other. In college dorms where they did the experiments, all of the women lived close to each other, but it was friends whose periods synchronized (matched up). This is called menstrual synchronization.
It doesn't necessarily. One of the symptoms of PMS is mood swings or irritability. But PMS might just make your face break out, or make you cry at Hallmark commercials.