Memories of First Periods

Hey, my name is Holly, and i'm 12 y/o. I got my period about 4 months ago. Right now, i have a really bad cramp. I thought i'd share that. :o). Anywayz, for all you girls who think u might get it. My first time wasn't at all embarrassing or like scary. When i got home, i went to the bathroom. I saw like a little circle about 2 inches of a brownish spot. I knew it was my period coz i had been expecting it. Anyhow, when my mom came home, i kept trying to find the right time to tell her, but when i did, she was cool about it. Afterall, everyone(woman :) gets it! So the day after, i happened to have gym that day, so i just asked my mom to write a note to excuse me. So everything has been fine since! Have a nice day, and good luck!

Hi! I come from India and my first periods were celebrated in a very grand fashion. In India, particularly the southern India, a girl's first menstruation is a matter of great joy to the community. Initially for the first three days she is not allowed to touch anything in the household nor participate in any household chores. During these three days food is brought to her which is very rich in fat. After the three days all the women of the community are invited to a grand function exclusively for women. In the function the girl is dressed in a women's attire for the first time and songs of a women's life are sung. After a lunch for those women everyone give her gifts usually jewelry, and leave. From then on she is eligible to wear a women'sdress, which is the saree and should always put kumkum (the red spot) on the forehead, which basically signifies a womenhood.The only time the kumkum is removed is after she becomes a widow.

I will never forget my first period. I was 12 years old and I had just taken a shower. I had to go to the bathroom and noticed a dark red stain on the toilet paper. It was Thanksgiving Day, and of course none of the stores in our small town were open to go buy any pads. My mom was pregnant at the time so there weren't any pads in the house. We had to search every cupboard in the house before we finally found some pads that would last me the day.

When my daughter had her menarche last year, I bought her a bouquet of red roses and a necklace with a moon pendant. My husband and I invited her to invent her own ritual. She took us out into the back yard. She had a red glass goblet which she had filled with water. She sprinkled some fresh thyme into it, to represent the new time of her life, and talked about growing up. We also added a few words, and gave her a hug.

I was thirteen years old and I had been having a stomachache for a really long time. I was in the production Charlotte's Web and I was the lead, Fern. I had just come home from a Tech Week Practice(where you have practice every night from 5-10pm) and I was about to take a shower.I took off my clothes and saw IT. I continued with my life and took the shower felling exspecially giddy throughout the whole thing. I got outand put my P.J's on and ventured downstairs to tell my mom, a dreadful expierence. I told her by saying " I know why my stomach has been hurting.'' She was really excited. Throughout that week, she kept making wise cracks about it. It was really embarrasing.

I go to my father as a doctor (he is a gyno). At the age of 12, in school one day, I realized I had gotten the big "Red Spot." I was freaking, and then realized that my father would be there to help me through it. I came home and told him and he helped me out alot. He layed me down on the bed and inserted a tampon for me. He also suggested many products for me to use , such as sponges. For the first few months he was always there and would instuct me on insertion when I needed it It took me a while to learn , but he helped me through it. I will always love him for that.

I got my period on St. Patrick's Day 1976, when I was 11 years old. I remember the date because I was sarcastic to myself when I saw the brown stain on my panties, "Today is the wearing of the red, not the green." And I didn't get to keep it a secret at all, because it was after school and my mom was in the bathroom with me, putting on makeup I think. My eyes got all big and she said, "Oh, you have your period now!" I was so surprised. The worst part was going to the store with her and hearing her whisper to my father, "She's got her period now, we have to go to the Sunflower." I couldn't face my dad until the next day; I didn't want him to talk to me at all. He was sort of embarrassed, too. But I had already read up on the sex and menstruation articles in World Book and Judy Blume's novels so I was well informed, just didn't thinkit would be there for me so soon.

I was one of the unlucky ones who got their periods too early. I got my breasts at 9, and my mom made me wear a bra at 9 1/2. I even got my period before I was 10. All the boys liked to snap my bra, because they knew tha they would never get what was under there.

WHEN IS STARTED MY PERIOD, I DIDNT EVEN KNOW WHAT A PERIOD WAS. I WAS TWO MONTHS AWAY FROM BEING 11 YEARS OLD. I WAS RUNNING AROUND THE HOUSE IN WHITE SHORTS PLAYING AND MY MAMA TOLD ME TO COME HERE AND SHE GRABBED THE CROTCH OF MY SHORTS AND SAID "IS THAT YOUR PERIOD?" THEN SHE TOLD ME TO GO IN THE BACK BATHROOM AND CAME AND SHOWED ME HOW TO ROLL SOME TOILET PAPER UP UNTIL SHE COULD GO TO THE STORE TO GET ME SOME PADS.

Love the website! How can I resist telling you my "My First Time" story?

It came exactly one week after my twelfth birthday. I was home alone that night and discovered the red stain when I went to the bathroom. I knew where my mother kept the Kotex, but I hadn't realized that boxes of Kotex didn't come with sanitary belts. (Is that what they're called? It's been a long time since I bothered with napkins.) Since I couldn't find a belt, I wadded up toilet paper and taped a note for my mother to the bathroom mirror. I hadn't been looking forward to it. I went to sleep, in part because it was that time of night and in part to avoid thinking about it. Of course, when my mom got home, she woke me up and went into the "You're a woman now" act. I wasn't at all interested in being a woman. I felt like my bra was nothing but a harness, and all I wanted was to stay a kid.

The next morning, I couldn't believe that my mother wouldn't let me stay home from school. Not only that, but she was on the last Kotex, and she insisted I learn to deal with it by going to the store and getting more---on my first time! I was utterly mortified. So first I had to go to the store, and then on to school.

I was a few hours late to school, arriving in the middle of music class. All I wanted to do was crawl to my seat and quietly die. I was so sure everyone must know. The guy I had a crush on sat near me in that class. As I reached my seat, he called over to me. God! The last thing I wanted was for him to know! I could barely bring myself to look back at him and see what he wanted. I figured he was going to ask why I'd been late, and what could I say? I'd lie, of course, but I was sure it would show in my face. But he didn't ask that. Instead he said, "Hey, why do you look especially nice today?"

The best part of getting my period (besides that comment from the guy in music class) was that I didn't have to deal with having it too early or too late. I was right in the middle time-wise, getting it when most of the girls in school got it. Friends of mine who started early were teased hellishly; those who started late went through a lot of terror wondering if something was wrong with them.

I totally hated my period until I was in college, when friends convinced me to try tampons. What a difference! I still had cramps, it was still inconvenient, but at least I stopped feeling like a total freak.

It was lunch time in the 6th grade, a month before school ended, and a month before my 12th birthday. I went to the toilet, pulled my pants down, and for a "brief" moment (sorry, it made me chuckle) I hovered half-seated, half-standing, my jaw gulping up and down, but no sound. When my brain started working again, I knew what was going on (70s feminist mom, enlightened school sex-ed curriculum), and must admit that I was rather dismayed. I had not welcomed signs of my approach to womanhood; breasts could be hidden under t-shirts and ignored, but there was no going back with THIS one. It was a Friday, and mom and I went to grandma and grandpa's for dinner. I probably made 5 trips to the bathroom during dinner alone. After the first trip made it apparent that this was in fact what I thought it was, I tried to think of a way to tell my mom. The evening wore on, I went through half a roll of toilet paper, and still no entree. Finally, we're leaving. We're in the car, backing out of the driveway, and I say, with a melancholy tone, "Mom, guess what..." I SWEAR THAT'S ALL I SAID! She slammed on the brakes, turned a beaming grin on me and said "You got your period!" How do they do that, those moms?

That was that. Like I said, not something I was all that excited about. I had thought that the girls in "Are You There, God, etc." were insane for wanting their periods so badly! same goes for bras! In any event, I've actually become quite fond of my period, cramps, tears, and maddening backaches notwithstanding (and I get 'em all).

I always wanted to share my menstrual "celebration" story, since no one I know had a similar experience I got my first period the day after Christmas, when I was 13. I immediately told my mom, who is a nurse and had always been very open about menstruation. She was very excited and hugged me, showed me where the "stuff" was and that was it. Or so I thought. I spent most of the morning in my room, calling my friends, and my mom called me downstairs. She had made me a beautiful white cake to celebrate. Then, she took me shopping and we both bought "girl stuff." Bras, panties, makeup and nightgowns. I think this experience had a lot to with my health, attitude about menstruation and sexuality, and is a tradition I will continue with my own daughter.

My period started about seven days before my twelfth birthday. I remember that I was just about to take a bath, and when I pulled down my underwear, there was this light red spotting. I thought it was my period, but I wasn't sure, so I went to my mother and asked her what it was. She said yes, it's your period and that was that.

I was 13 when it finally happened. I was in a rest room in a restaurant when I noticed a very, very faint pink color on the toilet paper. I probably wouldn't have seen it if I hadn't gotten into the habit of searching for it. My first thought, which I recorded in my "journal of special events" along with date, was "Oh my god, I've got my period." I was excited. I told my mother and my best friend.

I couldn't forget that my period was coming. In Mexico it is called desarollar : to unroll yourself. Older women would always ask me "have you unrolled yet?" My mother told me I would be a woman when I got my period.

I got my period when I was 11. I was in the bathroom, it was a slow red trickle, no pain. It was no big deal, even though I thought it would be. I still felt very rolled up. I remember thinking "now I am a woman."

I was in the 8th grade. I kept it to myself and didn't tell my mother. She figure it out though, when she noticed her pads being missing.

I was in 8th grade, 13 years old, when I first got my period. My mother and I had just returned from my oldest cousin's wedding shower (the first wedding of my generation), I remember feeling particularly "adult" because I could attend this adult female party. I was embarrassed and nervous when I realized that I gotten my period - I didn't know how to tell my mom. We weren't very close and never talked about women's issues. So, I figured out for myself what I as supposed to do and I didn't tell her until the next day when I started getting nervous about school on Monday. She hugged me when I whispered it to her and said something about how now I wasn't a baby any longer!

I forget where I was, maybe at home. I don't have a clear picture of the event. I probably felt relief: yes, I would change from being a kid to being an adult. I think that I was 14 (but I could have been 15), but I didn't get regular periods until I was 15. I told my mother, and I forget who else, probably friends. I basically forget the details of the whole thing.

It finally started when I was 14 and a half, or somewhere around there. It was the summer after 8th grade. I was at home. I wanted to keep it an absolute secret. I think that was because I was so "old". But I had to tell my sister in order to get advice, and of course a tampon, and she had to advise me on insertion. Boy, was I scared of that! I though I might lose my virginity or something. My sister of course went running to my mom and told her and my mom in turn told my dad and he came home that night and pampered me (YUK!) and told me how it was a "passage" (YUK!) and that I was no longer a little girl, which of course I already KNEW and didn't really like having my father tell me.

When I first got my period I was at Girl Scout camp. I wasn't sure if I had gotten it or not because it was really light, and it was brown and not red. It smelled like the bathrooms at the camp, which always smelled intensely of women - women's sweat, women's blood, women's pheromones, maybe. I was 10 years old, and I think I was the first one I know to get it so I kept it a secret. I didn't do anything about it, but it was so light it didn't matter.

When I got it again it was several months later, back at home. Somehow I didn't want to tell anyone, even my mother, so I used her pads and tried to hide the used ones under other bathroom garbage. Also, I would sit on the toilet a lot and try to look at what was going on. It was exactly that same week that I discovered my father's collection of dirty novels. I would sit on the toilet and bleed and try to figure out what sex was by using information from Judy Blume's grown-up book, Wifey.

Soon my mother became aware of my period from noticing the hidden bathroom garbage and she talked with me and told me about tampons, which made me very happy. But she said I should not use them for a while. So I used pads, which were OK, but I always feared I was overflowing, and I would be distracted a lot when I could actually feel the blood flow out of me. I didn't want to embarrass myself at school. I would worry about that constantly as I felt myself bleed.

I was in my bathroom at home when I first started. I was excited and walked into the living room with my pants around my ankles yelling something to the effect of "I got it!". Both of my brothers and my mother were home. I was 12, and it was the summer between 7th and 8th grade. After the original thrill had passed, I had to deal with the reality of what had happened to my body. My mother insisted that I use tampons, her mother had made her use napkins and she thought they were messy and un-hygienic.

I had my first period just after I turned 13. That was a really bad year. My family had moved to a different state, and I was having a hard time adjusting. My parents were having marriage problems, and I had only made one friend, and she had just gone to the hospital because she had cancer. I remember that day - I had lunch alone at the table where all the other rejects sat, and I stopped at the girl's room to pee, and sort of hide out, and I found this brown slime in my underwear. I was surprised, because I was the classic "late- bloomer" type, so I really didn't think it would come so soon. I didn't even wear a bra yet. I was also disappointed that it didn't look like blood. I remember being really calm about it, actually sort of annoyed, like it was just one more thing to deal with. I folded up a bunch of toilet paper and used that as a pad until I got home. Thankfully, Mom had put a box of pads underneath the bathroom sink for me a few months before, because she was out of town that day. When she got back, I said to her in my best teenage sarcastic voice "Well, guess what happened when you were gone?" Somehow she knew what I was talking about -"You got your period!?" She asked me if I had told Dad, and I said "No, why should I?" and she said it might be nice, but didn't press the issue. We didn't talk about it anymore.

I didn't tell anyone about it until I got it again. I had to tell my mother because I had a 6th grade class graduation swimming party to go to, and she helped me put in a tampon for it.

I got my first period at my aunt's house. Not knowing what to do, I used a wad of toilet paper to avoid a mess. The worst thing about the experience was that my sister had not yet gotten hers - I was in the 6th grade and she was in the 8th grade - so I could not turn to her for advice. What I did instead was to pilfer her supplies from her "period starter kit" that all moms in our neighborhood bought for their daughters at the end of 6th grade. I was careful to leave the empty boxes in the kit so my sister wouldn't know.

Eventually the supplies were depleted, so I had to tell my mom. She had a hysterectomy so she had no supplies I could borrow. Unfortunately, my mom had stopped having her period before they invented pads with sticky strips, so she set me up with one of those garter contraptions. I used that until my sister got her period and figured out how to use tampons. Somehow I couldn't figure out how to insert them, so I suffered with the garter for over a year and a half!

I was twelve. I remember my parents just built a bathroom onto my bedroom. I liked to be alone a lot in my room and the bathroom addition helped to sequester me even more. It was the summer. I remember taking off my shorts to put on my bathing suit and being overcomed by the red in the crotch of my shorts. I was embarrassed. I wondered if anyone had seen. I immediately took the shorts, crumpled them up, and threw them in the back of my closet. I did not want anyone to know. Luckily my period wasn't that strong so I could hide it pretty easily. I still went swimming and did the normal things with my friends, except I did not tell them about my blood. I knew what it was. I knew other people had it, but for some reason I was embarrassed. A few days later my mother found my shorts. We talked, it was awkward. I think her feelings were hurt because I did not tell her right away. I remember almost wanting to die when we were standing in the grocery store line with the big box of Kotex in our cart. I knew that everyone knew at that point. They were all staring at me.

The first time I got my period I had recently turned thirteen and was riding the mini-bus to the Hebrew Academy. It's a private school, and the bus picked us up at home, and because we lived so far south, it took almost two hours to get there. I remember that for most of that ride I had the most incredible stomach ache, an ache that is very familiar to me now, low and throbbing, as if in waves, but at the time seemed to occur suddenly and progressively worsen, and it seemed strange that it didn't make me want to throw up or go to the bathroom. It had subsided by the time I got to school, but I stopped in the bathroom to pee, and I'll never forget that moment when I pulled down my underwear and my vision was pulled to a brown stain in the middle of them. At first I was scared, thinking, what the hell is that? Am I dying? It didn't look like blood so I didn't make the connection with all the hype from Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret ( a book I had practically memorized a few years earlier.) As I walked to class, my heart started pounding and I started getting this faint idea that this might be IT. To be sure, I asked my friend Liz Handel, who was a grade below me but was widely reported to have "developed early." She confirmed my suspicion and congratulated me, and soon I had told all of my peers in the eight grade (before you think this is outrageous, it was only girls, and there were only about ten of us) all of whom were really excited and kind of jealous. I remember that I was kind of a hero all day because I was the first girl in the eight grade to get it, and when we played soccer that afternoon my friends kept saying, " You all right? You need to sit out for a while?" And I bravely replied, "No, I'll be all right. I think I can make it," when truth be told, I felt just fine by then (in fact, I was surprised that "it" didn't feel like more, since I knew it was still happening.)

I was in bed. Just woke up with it one morning. I was twelve years old. I was chicken to tell my mom, but I did, I had to.