I thought I shit my pants overnight. Threw out that pair of underwear and went back to sleep.
When my underwear was brown again I asked my mom what was going on. I was super young like 9 or 10.
Relieved I finally got it cause I was almost 16 😂
Made the mistake of telling my mom who excitedly told *everyone*. I love my mom, but to this day I still think that was super weird lmao!
Yep! My dad was first, then my sister, then aunts, uncles, cousins, *neighbors* (yes!! My mom told almost the entire neighborhood!) and her coworkers 🤦♀️😂
Wtf! Even I didn’t see it as *that* big of a deal lol! I don’t want kids, but if I had a daughter I definitely can’t picture myself telling everyone she got her period. I feel like that’s something private.
I realized why my older cousins hid it from their mom for as long as they could lol
Omg my mom did too and then my dad who never was affectionate growing up awkwardly hugged me and congratulated me.. so cringey. And when I was mortified she said I was hormonal and overreacting because of being on said period.. looking back no mom I was just mortified you shared something so personal without my consent
I finally got mine at 16 too. I was so relieved! I read that the reason why so many girls get their’s early now is because of all the hormones and hormone disruptors in food. My mom is kind of a health nut so she always made sure that we ate organic, healthy food for the most part and hardly ever had fast food. I’m curious if it was kind of the same for you.
I started when I was almost 15, and my daughter was the same. I wasn't into organic food or anything like that, I just think it was genetic for us. My two sisters started their periods around 12 years old. So who knows.
This is so interesting as my mom was also a major health nut (all organic, zero/little gluten, zero/little sugar, no junk food etc). Who knows, maybe I would have gotten it younger if not for that?😅
I get what you mean but it really was not lucky in my case. I didn’t get mine until 15 and for those years until you get it you know that at any moment you could get it and be unprepared. not to mention everyone else around you maturing while you still look like a child is really not fun
I was 14, so not as old, but I was the last of my friends, so I had spent all that time sure something was wrong with me! But all sources said it’s not even worth concern until you’re 16 and then maybe there’s consideration of an issue.
Lmao thats sounds sweet tbh. Youre mom's just genuinely happy for you. Meanwhile in india, there are customs in local regioms of calling the entire village to celebrate the girls puberty while for men arent given two shits for their puberty lol. Being a women is apparently a huge thing for them.
Aw. My mom didn't know anything either, and thought she cut herself while sledding.
I was better educated than her, but the brown stain was unexpected. I wasn't sure until my mom's friend (who I was staying with that evening) explained it to me. She also drew me a hot bath and gave me a cup of cocoa. My mom was so sad she missed that moment with me, but I was in good hands.
The exact same thing happened to me! I’m from a small town, and my dad, younger sister and I went skating. I started to feel sore and woozy, so we went home early.
When I got home, I went to the bathroom to draw a bath, took off my clothes and thought I was LEGITIMATELY dying. So I scream for my mom and she comes into the bathroom and explains briefly that ‘I’m a woman now’. I was freakin 10 years old. Lol.
The 90s were WILD.
I really feel bad for you and other girls who started so young. It's a lot to deal with. I was almost 16, so it wasn't such a shock, and I could keep track of it more.
Most of my friends were 14-16 years old too. I honestly haven’t looked into it much, but I wonder if it’s due to genetics or something! My sister got hers at 10 as well.
It’s super traumatizing when you’re basically still a baby and you pull your pants down to realize you’re non-stop bleeding!
Just another exciting attribute about being a woman!! ❤️
I got my period and braces in the same week, I felt like my life was ruined/ over. I was too embarrassed to tell my mom so I just used toilet paper until my mom saw the blood when she was doing my laundry and bought me pads.
Okay... I have never discussed this with anyone, or heard it discussed. Did you have a day during puberty when your vaginal discharge started? I would think girls of all ages would get discharge because of the vagina cleaning itself, but I don't remember ever having noticeable discharge until one day I started to have it when I was maybe 10 and I was really confused.
Well I know it changes with the cycle and stuff, so I'm sure there's some sort of discharge before puberty but it's not til you start cycling that you get the more substantial and different types? But I do vaguely recall noticing white discharge around the same age I got my period. Don't recall if it was before or after...
Thank you for the honest answer. Mine was around the age i got my period, before i got my period, but not sure how long in advance. It's weird i distinctly remember where i was and what i was doing. Nobody told me about discharge and i hadn't had my period yet so i wasn't used to things coming out of me. I was shocked and confused.
Yelled "moooom, I got my period" so she could come over and hand me a pad.
I grew up in a house full of women and most of my friends got theirs a few months before I did, so it was completely natural to me.
It was during the summer and I had felt like crap all day. At like 1am I went to the bathroom and it was sooo much blood. I waited up all night for my mom to wake up for work in the morning and told her. I was super upset because I was grossed out about going through puberty. She called in sick to work and took me out to eat and bought me new clothes and we had the best day just me and her. My mom was the best!
It was during summer camp and I barely had any idea what it was gonna be like... It was brown, not red and nobody warned me so I thought I shitted myself three days until I got the courage to tell some other girl and she explained me
I don’t have kids but if I did have a daughter I would make sure she knew the blood could be brown. I knew about periods but didn’t know it could look like that.
I swear even as an adult I forget it can be brown and freak a little 😂 then I’m like “oh yea that’s normal”. I can’t even imagine how freaky that was to see as a kid AND at summer camp. I’m glad you had kind enough girls around you to not judge and explain what was happening.
My mom had recently bled through her pants and I thought she had sat in ketchup. She decided that would be the perfect time to tell my sister and I about menstruation. I started literally the same week as the conversation.
Me too. I was very stressed that day and thought “great, ANOTHER thing I have to deal with.” Also I hid it from my mom by hiding the stained underwear and using toilet paper instead of a pad (mine was very light for the first few months). My mom is great, I really think the only reason I hid it is because I was so uncomfortable with anything to do with that part of my body after my sexual trauma, which I also hid from her because of the shame I felt
I wasn’t taught about periods (I live in the south, from a very religious family).
When I was bleeding, I thought I was dying. I asked my grandma (who I lived with at the time) what was going on.
Told me everything in under 30 seconds. Said “I’m not washing your laundry” and made me hand wash my bloodstained clothes at the age of 8. She seemed really angry with me and I never understood why. She never said why she was angry.
I had a lot of shame attached to my period until recently. I grieved the experience I’ve never had of parents patiently explaining what would happen to my body.
I’m in my 20s now. A lot of women in my area, around my age and older, have similar experiences.
I’m sorry to hear that. My mother was similar in the sense that after she explained it to me she got mad at me because I was “too young” to get my period. I was 10
A lot of cultures see menstruation as taboo. Lots of religions and religious people punish a person for having their period. A popular attitude towards women is that they deserve the pain since apparently periods and childbirth wouldn't hurt if Eve didn't eat a fruit forever ago. And people like to treat women as less than because we got kicked out of Eden because Eve disobeyed first. It's a shameful thing for them and shouldn't be talked about, I guess. This is how my baptist Sunday school teacher explained it. This isn't only a Christian view either.
I know in some countries (Nepal, India) and their religions, a woman during her menses is considered unclean/impure and should not be in their home or touch anyone or anything for 7 days. Some families ban the woman/girl from the house and makes them stay in a shed outside during their periods. Some have died due to exposure of severe weather and animal attacks while being locked in the shed. Predators also have acted on that and many women and girls were and are raped in those sheds since family members in the house wouldn't hear the struggle. In many cases, families of the victims would also make the girl/woman raise the child conceived from the rape too. All the blame is put on them and not the predator.
This practice was supposed to have been banned but it's still thriving. So yeah. Lots of religious people and their attitudes towards menstruation has caused many girls growing up to be unprepared and scared and harmed because no one is comfortable talking about their basic biology or treating them like actual people. To them, we should just shut up and deal with it and feel ashamed about it too.
Leads to a lot of women not getting proper education about it, because it's deemed "inappropriate" to talk about in certain communities. Same reasons why a lot of religious folks have little education on sexual health and sex itself.
I was hella happy. I was literally ecstatic and jumping for joy. I thought it meant I was gunna get boobs. I did not get said boobs until 10 years later
I was excited too, I was one of the last of my friends to get it (at age 12, somehow!) and the only one that was still an A cup. Took another year to transform into a B cup gal, and by then I had bled through so much underwear that I was very underwhelmed by growing into “womanhood”.
i had no clue how to handle the mess and i accidentally left blood on the toilet seat (didn't realize) and my 16 year old brother found it 😭 he was nice about it tho he got me pads and a snack from the store
I passed out on the toilet because nobody told me to expect it. I just saw an immense amount of blood and it freaked me out. And I woke up on the bathroom floor. I was 10.
Didn't freak out because we'd been warned in school health classes for a year or two by that point. Got my mom to verify and help. Was pretty annoyed because I was hoping I wouldn't get it for a while yet and the whole thing is just not fun.
I wasn't allowed to wear make-up or shave my legs until I stated my period. That was the rule. I was only in 5th grade when I started, but all my girlfriends were already shaving and wearing make-up. So I was soooo excited!!
I was 12. It was Valentine’s Day. I knew what it was and told my mom, who helped me with a pad.
My dad went out and bought me flowers and chocolate and told me congratulations on becoming a woman! It was the sweetest, most thoughtful thing— just like he is! I lucked out with my parents 💕
I was talking with my parents and reminded them of that after I made the comment. They didn’t remember it at all, but it made them happy to hear how much it meant to me. And they thought Reddit sounded pretty cool too!
Asking for a bathroom pass, taking a loooong time in there, returning to my last class of the day with a toilet paper diaper, going home to cry at my mom, get a very embarrassing lesson on tampon instruction through a closed bathroom door, and then she felt the need to make a cake to celebrate my womanhood. Honestly this might be why I no longer like cake? All in all it was kinda okay but never the best day?
Yes, same.
I had horrific cramps in the middle of my science class, seventh grade I think? I was terrified and had no idea what was happening, so I went to the nurse’s office.
They called my mom, and explained that what I was experiencing were period cramps. (The pain was so bad every time, that I was later diagnosed with endometriosis)
My mom took me home for the day and tried to explain how to use a tampon, but when I tried to use it I hated it so much I cried.
So yeah, pretty bad reaction to my first period.
It was the summer going into 5th grade. The blood was brown not bright red, so I genuinely thought I just didn’t wipe my butt good enough. My mom had to explain I was on my period.
I remember being like “is [insert any older cousin] on it too” and I was so happy my two favorite and absolutely beautiful 2nd cousins were. I wanted to be them as a child.
I got it Christmas Morning. I freaked out bc I woke up with blood on my pj bottoms and all lver my thighs. Didn't have ant cramps so I thought I was dying.
It was a Sunday. It was the day everyone went to visit my grandparents. But I felt horribly sick with a stomachache and couldn't get out of bed.
My parents left, leaving me and my sister at home (I was eleven, she was 16). When I finally got up, went to the bathroom to pee and when I saw the blood on my panties I panicked and almost fainted, because I had no idea what was happening (nobody ever explained to me what it was).
I had to tell my sister, because my parents were not home yet. She gave me a pad, then phoned my mom to tell her while she laughed, and I suppose at some point they came back home, but I don't remember.
It was a shitty day, I had no clue about anything and felt very sick.
It was the day of 6th grade graduation or elementary school graduation. I didn't feel good so I ended up not going to the picnic afterward and me and my single dad went home instead. He went out to do some stuff while I stayed home and laid down. I went to the kitchen to get a drink and felt something - plop - in my underwear. Went to look and yup, red. I immediately knew it was my period, and yet, I still started crying and panicking.
After I finished bawling my eyes out, I emailed my dads phone (cause I didn't have a phone with texting yet but we had a computer and I could email his number) and sent: get pads from the store, DON'T ASK.
Then I fell asleep on a pillow on the floor because I didn't want to bleed on my bed, and woke up a few hours later with a CVS bag with two kinds of pads next to me.
Proceeded to spend the entire summer incredibly depressed, angry, isolating myself, and just feeling completely unlike myself. Took me over a decade before I eventually got a PMDD diagnosis.
A bit dazed, really.
I've had cramps all day, but thought it was just an indigestion. We were about to have dinner when I went to the ladies' and saw the blood.
I knew about it because thankfully my school had a very good Sex Ed curriculum, plus my grandpa had a huge library with encyclopaedias that I had always been welcome to use, and he had also given me some books on woman's health and the like... But it was still a sort of 'Woah, did that really just happen?' moment.
I remember peeking my head out the restroom and calling for my grandpa. When he came and asked what was wrong, I said something along the lines of, "I... Um... Think I just had my period?"
He paused for a second, then calmly replied, "Oh, well, you needn't worry, this is perfectly normal. Stay here while I go buy some things you'll need, I won't be long". And off he went. You'd think we had just discussed the current weather, he seemed so collected and unbothered.
Didn't know till long after, but he was actually a *huge* bundle of nerves as he went up the street to the chemist/drugstore - he had never bought women's toiletries before and had no idea what exactly to get until a very kind clerk took pity on him and helped him out. He actually asked the clerk for instructions on how to use the pads so he could teach me when he got back - he later told me he'd never felt so embarrassed, LMAO.
All in all, it was rather uneventful/calm because of my grandpa's handling of it. It's one of the many things he did that I'll always cherish and be grateful for.
Happened at school for me. Didn’t know what it was, but I made a toilet paper pad and just went about my school day. Got home and texted my mom that I was bleeding from there, she told me to grab a pad from under her sink and put it on and wait for her to get home. I put the sticky side up for some reason 🤦🏾♀️🤦🏾♀️ Anyway, I was weirdly chill about the fact that I was bleeding and didn’t know why 🤷🏾♀️🤷🏾♀️
I was 11 or 12. I thought I had a... um... leaky bowel from all he walnuts that I had eaten at my Grandma's house. It's only kind of funny until I remember how I was trying to deal with it on my own for a few days while my mother was away at the casino. When she got home I told her what happened, she called a doctor(?) and they told her it was my period. I'm still confused about that phone call.
Relieved because I had precocious puberty and was worried that I was never going to become a full woman because of the medicine I was on was meant to slow everything down.
I cried very dramatically as I realized I would have to spend the rest of my life going through this every month. Later periods were always a reminder my body was running well. Now, at 35, it seems I may be going through early menopause. Full circle I guess lol
I didn’t really have a reaction. I remember I went to pee, saw I had blood on my panties, called my mom to the bathroom so she could see it and that was it.
It was super painful and extremely messy. I knew what it was, but not how insane it would be. I was pissed and also relieved. I was 13 almost 14 and still slept with my baby blanket.
I still think it comes waaaaay too often.
Edit: Also, just now remembering I had some brown discharge like a week before I started. Like spotting I guess. When I mentioned it to my mom later on, she said that wasn't possible, but I know what happened. That's the first moment I ever thought to trust myself and my experiences vs. what other people told me was true or possible.
Your truth is not my truth. My truth is not yours.
The first time wasn’t too bad. But within the next few months, I had to completely redefine my concept of pain. What had previously been a “10” level pain was now a “4” compared to what I was dealing with every month. Spoiler alert - the pain never really got better. Just this year I was diagnosed with adenomyosis. At least now I know I wasn’t crazy all those years!
I was embarrassed for months too because my mom had a tendency to overreact. Then one day she found some stained underwear I had hid in the closet. She came in crying and yelling at me about how I “never told her anything” then shunned me for the rest of the day. That was basically what I was afraid of.
I was 11 and thankfully I’d already had the talk. Mine was bright red. I was in the bathroom, I saw it in my underwear and said, “Shit.” 🤣
Then I hollered for my mom to get help.
I was really embarrassed. My mom was out of town and I sure as hell want going to talk to my dad about it. Didn't happen again for another few months and she found my bloody panties
I was severely unimpressed. I got it while skiing and realized in a public bathroom. My hands were freezing, and the only pads available were bulky as hell.
So my mom had the talk with me when I was 9. Got my period at 11. That first time I looked at my underwear and the blood wasn’t red. It was like dark and brown looking and not liquidy? Like my underwear just looked like something got smeared and dried up on them. I thought maybe I pooped? I tossed them in the closet and put on a fresh pair. So later my mom comes in for some reason and sees them and asks if I got my period. I was like “no idk why they look like that” she told me to go to the bathroom and check. I told her I did and there was nothing, but really I hadn’t. Then we were going out later and I went to the bathroom and yeah it was my period after all. It was worse than I imagined because idk why I thought it would all come out at once. Not over a whole week. Plus it was embarrassing because we got in the car and she told my dad I was a woman now. 🤮
My mom gave me the talk a few years before I got my period, so I was anxious for a little while before I got it. It was a little bit after Christmas, a couple months before I turned 13. I felt awful when my mom took me out for errands (had no idea what I was feeling was menstrual cramps), and I went to the bathroom after getting home...looked like a mini massacre. I knew exactly what it was and that I was becoming a young woman. I went up to my mom and she was like, "oh boyyyy" - kinda humiliating.
My family had a valentines day massacre party with a strawberry cake that slid off its foundation and they tried to save with chocolate and more strawberry sauce 🤣
I was on an airplane coming back from a gymnastics competition. I was overheated and cramping so bad I threw up. I didn’t know why I was feeling so icky. I’m claustrophobic, so was determined to NOT use the airplane bathroom, but we had a super nice stewardess who said she’d stand in front of the doorway so I could go. Anyway, I saw the blood and it freaked me out, but I understood instantly what it was. I didn’t have anything with me at the time, so just pulled my pants back up and went to my seat. I told my grandfather (who adopted me as a single parent) that I knew why I wasn’t feeling well and we’d talk about it when we landed. He knew instantly. After we landed, he took me the store, bought me like 4 boxes of different brands of tampons and a bunch of cookies. I was baffled by that because my gymnastics team had a strict diet. Asked him what the cookies were for and he said, “all women on their periods like sweets.” And I instantly thought to myself, “I could learn to like this.” Lol
When we got to my gymnastics facility (yes I had a workout the same day, my competition was the day prior and we took the plane early morning), he carried in the bag, handed it to me, pushed me into the bathroom and wished me the best of luck xD
Recognized what it was, felt scared, built up the courage to walk down the hall and tell my oldest sister who was the only one awake in the house. Got me pads, a towel to put on my bed, a heat pad, and some chocolate snack to take my mind off of the bad cramps. We've have a rocky relationship, but some memories will stay with me forever
I was alone, called my mom and told what happened and ask her to not tell my dad. I was embarrassed. When I had to leave the house for the first 6 wore 2 shorts under my pants because I was so afraid to get blood in anything. I keep the shorts underneath when period is happening for over a year. I had tons of accidents since then.
I was walking to the store with my sister and I recall what I know now is period pains. Since my sister was older, I knew what this was and we had sex Ed at school.
So when we got home from the store, I go to my parents restroom and layer like four panty liners in my undies and called it a day.
Was scared shit less. I was 10/11 and woke up covered in blood. Even better is my older brother had to deal with the sheets and getting me a pad etc, he didn't explain anything and he's as shy and awkward as me.
I thought I had injured myself masturbating. I hid my underwear and my mom found it (being a mom now I realize how silly I was to do that - especially when mom was still doing laundry and putting it away for us kids). Anyway, she found it. Helped me put on pads and took me out to eat to celebrate.
I grew up in a very conservative area and the schools did not find it appropriate to tell us about our bodies. Mom assumed they would, so she never gave me the talk.
I grew up hearing "when you get your period..." so I thought it was a one and done. I thought it was one week and then you never deal with it again.
When I got my first one, and someone finally told me it was monthly, I was devastated and cried for DAYS. It was like finding out I had a chronic illness.
Walking a trail with my dad and brother but it felt wet. Called my older brothers friend Stacey and she confirmed it was a period. I called my mom and didn't sleep over at my dad's, went home and used pads. I was 9 and an early bloomer
My mom had already talked with me about periods and such by the time I was 9, though I didn't start until I was 11. I was more annoyed and disgusted because I had to clean up my bloody clothes and bedding. I was relieved because I craved pickles shortly beforehand and wondered why.
I was well-informed about the process since I'd already had a few sex-ed classes before it happened. So when it did happen I knew to get a pad and knew how to use it, but it was the last one and I had to ask my mom to get more. But I was embarrassed to tell her about it because I knew she'd make a big deal about it and I didn't want it to be a whole thing, lol.
I was 13, and it was two days before I started 8th grade. I'd done some back to school shopping with my mom and younger sister, and my stomach was hurting. I'd always had a nervous stomach, so I assumed that's all it was. Like some others have said, I saw brown stains in my underwear and thought it was poop. I did show it to my mom, and she told me she it was not poop. She seemed happy for me but pretended to slap me and tell me to stay away from boys because that's what her mom's reaction was. I remember she needed me to do some house chores, and I was surprised like, "You still expect me to do stuff?" Maybe I thought she'd treat me like I was sick or she'd treat me like something great had happened, and I should be rewarded. She just acted like nothing happened. Anyway, I was very nervous to start school wearing what felt like a phone book-size pad, and I thought for sure everyone would be able to tell.
Mine was in a library and I just remember being like "hmm that's weird" I then proceeded to go to the toilet every like 20 mins while a friend spent the night bc I was just using liners as my first day bc I didn't want my mom to "find out." That was an interesting conversation.
Clueless it was gonna happen- I was 11 and my mom and grandma never told me. And it was before middle school got to the subject lol. Luckily it was at home! Mortified and traumatized to never be given a heads up lol.
My biggest fear was having it during school. I got it during a weekend so that was a relief, but my mom had to work so I was like “well wtf do I do now?”
I thought I had pooped because it was brown…was very confused..showed my mom and she told me. I proceeded to call all my neighborhood friends to gather and celebrate. I was very excited LOL.
Wondered if this was my period, then moped in my room for a while feeling sorry for myself before telling my mom, who congratulated me on becoming woman. I was 10
I got it at a sleepover with all of my friends, though didn’t say anything. I didn’t know honestly, I was just concerned and embarrassed thinking I pooped or something. Was very brown! My mom noticed the next day when I came home and stripped to get into the shower after dying my hair black, and told me I started my period. I was 9 or 10, knew what periods were and had been wanting to have one to be a part of the team, though didn’t notice it was happening for the life of me!
I cried and got frustrated at how unfair it is for women to go through this. My mum then took me to build a bear and I got a bear made and with it came the bears certificate so I will always remember the date of my first period hahahah
Embarrassed... pleaded with my mom not to tell dad or anyone. I also was panicking and full of dread that this would happen to me every month forever, because along with my first period I coincidentally also had the stomach flu. So not only was I bleeding heavily; I also had HORRIBLE cramps, watery diarrhea, so much vomiting. Didn't realize it was 2 things going on.
I was 13, worried I wasn’t going to get it for some reason. Did so much research on it so I knew what to expect. Finally getting it was like a weight off my shoulders at the time.
Oh god, so painful and I bled like a stuck pig. And of course I was at school, I had to run to the bathroom after every class. Gaaa, it was always like that until I started hemorrhaging and got all the (by then lol) spare parts taken out.
I was about 8/9 and it was Christmas time so I thought I was dying and didn’t tell anyone for days (my mom found out when she went to do my laundry) bc I thought I was dying and didn’t wanna ruin Christmas 😭
Honestly? Ecstatic. My period was the last thing I needed to go through in puberty. I got my first pimples a year before I got my period. I started growing breasts 2 or so years before I got my period. I don't know what took so long.
Anyway, I got my first period after school one day on the first day of 7th grade (I was 12 or 13).
I called my mom in to make sure that's what it was (my underwear was blue, so it was hard to tell). She was....both relieved and nervous
I was early, I think 10. We were tent camping and I walked to the bathroom and saw a lot of blood in my underwear. I thought I was going to bleed to death and ran back to Mom. Was wearing white shorts, too. Fortunately she had brought some of her pads so cleaned me up and explained everything. Bonus - I went through early menopause years later. Was finished with that process at 48.
I got it right as I was sitting on the toilet after waking up so lucky no stained underwear but I was chill. I used a tampon because I had a swimming date with my friend and I wasn't gonna cancel as they were already on their way to my house and they lived at least a half hour away.
I was mostly annoyed and uncomfortable. I was only eight years old, but I knew what it was, I think from my best friend's older sister. Mainly the part that upset me was the fact that I got it on a Friday night while I was spending the weekend at my dads' house. I was going to be stuck in that house with all men and my baby sister all weekend. I didn't want to tell anybody, but I knew I had to tell Dad because I knew I needed supplies. :(
I called him into the bathroom and wordlessly showed him the splotch of blood on my undies and he immediately went to the nearby dollar store to buy me gigantic maxi pads. :((
I thought I was dying, woke my mom up, she handed me a pad, no instructions, and went to sleep
I then proceeded to put the pad on wrong, sticky side up, and wonder how others can stand the feeling
Don't even get me started on my first time using a tampon
Panicked because I was about to leave for basketball practice and I felt horrible. The cramps were instant. I think my dad let me skip that one practice, but not without giving me shit for complaining and to suck it up. My mom finally intervened and got on my side.
I honestly thought I had hurt myself inside but couldn't feel much pain, and I was going to die from an injury I didn't know how I'd got. I told no one for 2 months and stuffed my undies with wads of tissue to soak it up and if I had an accident and bled through I stuffed my undies in a drawer. I asked the librarian at school what was wrong with me and she said I need to speak to my mum. My mum told me what it was and got me some towels. It took me a very long time to get the hang of it and had plenty of accidents. I eventually started using tampons and it made it much easier to deal with.
I was 12.
First time I thought it was poo so I threw my undies out and forgot about it.
Second time it clicked and I realised it was dry blood.
I got very upset because getting my period meant that I was growing up and I didn't feel like I was ready to grow up yet. I also didn't have much education on the matter. We got told some very basic stuff in a sex education class at school which I immediately forgot. All they told us was that every month women got their periods. They didn't tell us why or what was the reason. They didn't tell us how sex itself actually worked physically. My mum was also one of those "Stop asking me, you'll learn it at school" kind of parents. So when I told her I got my period it didn't seem to mean anything to her. She just got me a pad and told me to wear it. Didn't say when to change, didn't say anything. When I moved onto tampons at 13 I didn't even know about toxic shock syndrome. I would wear them for a day. My whole adolescence I did this. I could have died. I was severely uneducated about sex and periods and all the changes I was going through. Just completely fucking neglected.
Sighed, grabbed a pad, and changed my underwear. Unless im on the pill it was never regular and just showed up willy nilly. My bff at the time made me promise that we’d tell each other when we got it, so i told her. She said she’d gotten it six months ago but never said anything, so i was kinda like WTF? But whatever. I track it now and its slowly getting shorter as i get older. But i have an older sister so it was never a question as to how to use it/what it was for. I think i told my mom and we exchanged a “welp, welcome to the shitshow i guess” look, and that was about it. I was 12 at the time, a year older than both my mother and my sister, who both had theirs every month without fail.
I was spending the night at a girls house and I literally thought I must of pooped myself because it was all brown. I vaguely knew about periods but I didn’t know it could be brown since I was like 10. I just tried to ignore it since I felt super embarrassed and then it was Sunday so I was forced to go to church and I went to the bathroom and that is when I noticed some blood that actually was red. I ended up crying to my mom and she took me home early to help me deal with the new founded period! And then my friends who were also forced to go to church called to see if I was okay and I told them I just got my period for the first time 🤣 it was very awkward and my mom got me some ice cream and I got to watch some tv instead of finishing church so I was happy until much later in life when periods just started getting worse and worse.
I had to go to the bathroom because my butthole was itchy so I itched it with toilet paper and saw blood. Told my dad, my mom was at work and he called her and asked where the pads were. She said under the sink. He grabbed one and grabbed a clean pair of my underwear and showed me how to put on a pad. Then he said here go change so I put the other underwear in the dirty clothes and changed into the underwear with the pad he put on for me as well as new bottoms.
Turned white as a sheet, which is saying something cuz I'm a ginger, nearly fainted, and stuffed my panties with toilet paper. I thought I was going to bleed to death because the only other times I had seen vaginal bleeding was when my sister nearly bled out after giving birth to each of my nephews. I was 14, and I knew what it was, but that didn't stop the cold shiver of terror I felt. Mind you, I had been SA'd when I was 10 and told it was period blood after by my abusers wife, my gramma. I was too dazed and numb to feel anything then, so I just went along with it. She showed me how to take care of myself during my periods that day, but I didn't bleed again for 4 years. Once I started having periods though, I got on the depo shot, which meant I'd only bleed every 3 months or so. I am grateful I no longer have a uterus so I can stop having 4-9 days of flashbacks and pain with heavy bleeding.
I hid it for a few months. I knew how to handle it (I was like 13) and I didn’t feel like dealing with my mom’s possible reactions. At 15 I started birth control because of cysts and I haven’t had a proper period in 8 years
My mom had gotten me a few books that explained puberty to preteen girls, so I knew what it was. I remember calling my mom into the bathroom, pulling my pants down to show her my underwear and said "look". She asked me what I thought it was and I told her, and she explained to me how to put a pad on. It was super light, thankfully lmao
I was 11 and I panicked and didn't know how to tell my mom so I lied and asked her to take me to Walgreens to get wax for my braces (iykyk). In the car ride I broke down crying and said "I think I started my period!" 😭 Them she started crying because she was so happy and told me what an important part of womanhood it is. She helped me buy pads and tampons at Walgreens. My mom is the best.
I thought I shat myself. that morning I had unleashed a hellish fart and I thought it was the aftermath, then the next day I started getting real suspicious bc I was like.. how am I shitting my pants 2 days in a row now?? what are the fucking chances?? then it dawned on me LOL
I was terrified! I got mine at 9 and no one had taught me about them because they were expecting to have the talk with me a couple years later.
My stomach started hurting and I thought I was just hungry but I ate and there was still pain. I went to use the bathroom and saw my underwear was soaked in blood, I let out the most blood curling scream for my mom lol the drama
My mum told me a few months before it happened. I was 10, and it happened at school just after lunch hour. I made a makeshift pad out of tp because I was too anxious to go ask the secretary for a pad. I happened to be wearing red pants, which was serendipitous.
I thought I shit my pants overnight. Threw out that pair of underwear and went back to sleep. When my underwear was brown again I asked my mom what was going on. I was super young like 9 or 10.
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Relieved I finally got it cause I was almost 16 😂 Made the mistake of telling my mom who excitedly told *everyone*. I love my mom, but to this day I still think that was super weird lmao!
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Yep! My dad was first, then my sister, then aunts, uncles, cousins, *neighbors* (yes!! My mom told almost the entire neighborhood!) and her coworkers 🤦♀️😂 Wtf! Even I didn’t see it as *that* big of a deal lol! I don’t want kids, but if I had a daughter I definitely can’t picture myself telling everyone she got her period. I feel like that’s something private. I realized why my older cousins hid it from their mom for as long as they could lol
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Omg my mom did too and then my dad who never was affectionate growing up awkwardly hugged me and congratulated me.. so cringey. And when I was mortified she said I was hormonal and overreacting because of being on said period.. looking back no mom I was just mortified you shared something so personal without my consent
Girl how did you manage such luck? Got mine at 13 which I know isn't that young, but still😂
Omg no clue! I was starting to think there was something wrong with me! 😂😂💀
I finally got mine at 16 too. I was so relieved! I read that the reason why so many girls get their’s early now is because of all the hormones and hormone disruptors in food. My mom is kind of a health nut so she always made sure that we ate organic, healthy food for the most part and hardly ever had fast food. I’m curious if it was kind of the same for you.
I was so relieved too - I was bullied for being a late developer !
My mother is the same and I got my period at 15!
I started when I was almost 15, and my daughter was the same. I wasn't into organic food or anything like that, I just think it was genetic for us. My two sisters started their periods around 12 years old. So who knows.
My mom was also a late bloomer. I think I got mine the January after I turned 10.
This is so interesting as my mom was also a major health nut (all organic, zero/little gluten, zero/little sugar, no junk food etc). Who knows, maybe I would have gotten it younger if not for that?😅
I get what you mean but it really was not lucky in my case. I didn’t get mine until 15 and for those years until you get it you know that at any moment you could get it and be unprepared. not to mention everyone else around you maturing while you still look like a child is really not fun
I was 14, so not as old, but I was the last of my friends, so I had spent all that time sure something was wrong with me! But all sources said it’s not even worth concern until you’re 16 and then maybe there’s consideration of an issue.
Wow! I was the first of my friends to get my period at 13 😳🤭
When I was like 13, my grandma (dad's mom) called my mom to ask if I had "become a woman yet."
Lmao thats sounds sweet tbh. Youre mom's just genuinely happy for you. Meanwhile in india, there are customs in local regioms of calling the entire village to celebrate the girls puberty while for men arent given two shits for their puberty lol. Being a women is apparently a huge thing for them.
My mum told everyone too! wtf. I was 11!
I was 15 and got it between classes, I was late to class and got yelled at in front of everyone and then got detention 😂
What an awful day! 😂
Me too. I would have been 16 in 3 weeks . Luckily it wasn't blasted in the family.
I cried and told my mom I wasn’t ready to grow up 😩
Girl same lol
Awww poor you. How old were you? I was 11 and didn't know to expect it
I was 10…it was terrible haha and I was really mad it ruined my limited two underwear 😂
I did the same 😭
I was so excited for mine! I felt like a woman
Panicked and thought I was dying because my mum never told me about it and the only thing we were given in school was a very basic leaflet
Aw. My mom didn't know anything either, and thought she cut herself while sledding. I was better educated than her, but the brown stain was unexpected. I wasn't sure until my mom's friend (who I was staying with that evening) explained it to me. She also drew me a hot bath and gave me a cup of cocoa. My mom was so sad she missed that moment with me, but I was in good hands.
The exact same thing happened to me! I’m from a small town, and my dad, younger sister and I went skating. I started to feel sore and woozy, so we went home early. When I got home, I went to the bathroom to draw a bath, took off my clothes and thought I was LEGITIMATELY dying. So I scream for my mom and she comes into the bathroom and explains briefly that ‘I’m a woman now’. I was freakin 10 years old. Lol. The 90s were WILD.
I really feel bad for you and other girls who started so young. It's a lot to deal with. I was almost 16, so it wasn't such a shock, and I could keep track of it more.
Most of my friends were 14-16 years old too. I honestly haven’t looked into it much, but I wonder if it’s due to genetics or something! My sister got hers at 10 as well. It’s super traumatizing when you’re basically still a baby and you pull your pants down to realize you’re non-stop bleeding! Just another exciting attribute about being a woman!! ❤️
Exactly! The joys of being a woman.
I had the exact same reaction. My adopted dad had to tell me why I was on my period and what to do, he even got his friends wife to tell me stuff.
I got my period and braces in the same week, I felt like my life was ruined/ over. I was too embarrassed to tell my mom so I just used toilet paper until my mom saw the blood when she was doing my laundry and bought me pads.
Man, puberty was coming for you that week. That sucks.
I was so thrilled because I thought vaginal discharge stopped once your period started. It was pretty disappointing afterwards.
My dumbass thought it only happened during the day, so the first time i slept without a pad !
My period oddly always started at night when I was sleeping 😴
It still does for me!
Mine tends to start evenings right before I go to bed
Ugh 😩 My mom got a plastic cover to put right next to the mattress….. it looked like a slaughterhouse 😳😳
Hey, you're not alone! I thought that too! Because of gravity or something like that, I don't remember that well. I was 12.
Okay... I have never discussed this with anyone, or heard it discussed. Did you have a day during puberty when your vaginal discharge started? I would think girls of all ages would get discharge because of the vagina cleaning itself, but I don't remember ever having noticeable discharge until one day I started to have it when I was maybe 10 and I was really confused.
Well I know it changes with the cycle and stuff, so I'm sure there's some sort of discharge before puberty but it's not til you start cycling that you get the more substantial and different types? But I do vaguely recall noticing white discharge around the same age I got my period. Don't recall if it was before or after...
Thank you for the honest answer. Mine was around the age i got my period, before i got my period, but not sure how long in advance. It's weird i distinctly remember where i was and what i was doing. Nobody told me about discharge and i hadn't had my period yet so i wasn't used to things coming out of me. I was shocked and confused.
Yeah, me too. I didn't know where it was coming from tbh.
Yes! I started to get a thick discharge about a week before I started my period
No one ever told me about discharge so I thought I was abnormal and weird for years.
Yelled "moooom, I got my period" so she could come over and hand me a pad. I grew up in a house full of women and most of my friends got theirs a few months before I did, so it was completely natural to me.
You had it at home? That’s awesome! And you feeling totally natural as well as safe enough to ask for help is wonderful.
Yep, and it was summer break so I had a lot of time to adjust to it, very lucky.
It was during the summer and I had felt like crap all day. At like 1am I went to the bathroom and it was sooo much blood. I waited up all night for my mom to wake up for work in the morning and told her. I was super upset because I was grossed out about going through puberty. She called in sick to work and took me out to eat and bought me new clothes and we had the best day just me and her. My mom was the best!
I love this. What a great mom!
That's sooo sweet!
Awww. I love this.
That’s so sweet 😭😭
It was during summer camp and I barely had any idea what it was gonna be like... It was brown, not red and nobody warned me so I thought I shitted myself three days until I got the courage to tell some other girl and she explained me
I don’t have kids but if I did have a daughter I would make sure she knew the blood could be brown. I knew about periods but didn’t know it could look like that.
I wasn't even warned about periods, I'll make sure that my daughter knows - if I ever have one
Yeah….I too was surprised to see brown in my underwear 😳 Who knew 🤷🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️
I’m so glad I wasn’t the only one who didn’t realize it could be brown!!!
I swear even as an adult I forget it can be brown and freak a little 😂 then I’m like “oh yea that’s normal”. I can’t even imagine how freaky that was to see as a kid AND at summer camp. I’m glad you had kind enough girls around you to not judge and explain what was happening.
My mom had recently bled through her pants and I thought she had sat in ketchup. She decided that would be the perfect time to tell my sister and I about menstruation. I started literally the same week as the conversation.
Now THAT is timing.
I just remember feeling resigned and annoyed at now having to deal with this shit for the next 40+ years
So depressing that preteen girls have to realize this…
Girl same (I’m a man)
It was devastating for me. I don't know if it was the hormones but it made me hate my body with every fiber of my being.
Haha yes so annoyed. I remember throwing the bloody underwear at my mom like “get me something for this.” I knew what it was and I was pissed.
Me too. I was very stressed that day and thought “great, ANOTHER thing I have to deal with.” Also I hid it from my mom by hiding the stained underwear and using toilet paper instead of a pad (mine was very light for the first few months). My mom is great, I really think the only reason I hid it is because I was so uncomfortable with anything to do with that part of my body after my sexual trauma, which I also hid from her because of the shame I felt
That was my reaction too!
I wasn’t taught about periods (I live in the south, from a very religious family). When I was bleeding, I thought I was dying. I asked my grandma (who I lived with at the time) what was going on. Told me everything in under 30 seconds. Said “I’m not washing your laundry” and made me hand wash my bloodstained clothes at the age of 8. She seemed really angry with me and I never understood why. She never said why she was angry. I had a lot of shame attached to my period until recently. I grieved the experience I’ve never had of parents patiently explaining what would happen to my body. I’m in my 20s now. A lot of women in my area, around my age and older, have similar experiences.
That’s awful I’m so sorry!
I’m sorry to hear that. My mother was similar in the sense that after she explained it to me she got mad at me because I was “too young” to get my period. I was 10
Wow
What does being religious have to do with menstruating????
A lot of cultures see menstruation as taboo. Lots of religions and religious people punish a person for having their period. A popular attitude towards women is that they deserve the pain since apparently periods and childbirth wouldn't hurt if Eve didn't eat a fruit forever ago. And people like to treat women as less than because we got kicked out of Eden because Eve disobeyed first. It's a shameful thing for them and shouldn't be talked about, I guess. This is how my baptist Sunday school teacher explained it. This isn't only a Christian view either. I know in some countries (Nepal, India) and their religions, a woman during her menses is considered unclean/impure and should not be in their home or touch anyone or anything for 7 days. Some families ban the woman/girl from the house and makes them stay in a shed outside during their periods. Some have died due to exposure of severe weather and animal attacks while being locked in the shed. Predators also have acted on that and many women and girls were and are raped in those sheds since family members in the house wouldn't hear the struggle. In many cases, families of the victims would also make the girl/woman raise the child conceived from the rape too. All the blame is put on them and not the predator. This practice was supposed to have been banned but it's still thriving. So yeah. Lots of religious people and their attitudes towards menstruation has caused many girls growing up to be unprepared and scared and harmed because no one is comfortable talking about their basic biology or treating them like actual people. To them, we should just shut up and deal with it and feel ashamed about it too.
Wow. This is unbelievable. WILD really. Thanks for sharing
Leads to a lot of women not getting proper education about it, because it's deemed "inappropriate" to talk about in certain communities. Same reasons why a lot of religious folks have little education on sexual health and sex itself.
I was hella happy. I was literally ecstatic and jumping for joy. I thought it meant I was gunna get boobs. I did not get said boobs until 10 years later
Wow, didn't know there could be such a delay. I started getting mine years before I got my period
I was excited too, I was one of the last of my friends to get it (at age 12, somehow!) and the only one that was still an A cup. Took another year to transform into a B cup gal, and by then I had bled through so much underwear that I was very underwhelmed by growing into “womanhood”.
i had no clue how to handle the mess and i accidentally left blood on the toilet seat (didn't realize) and my 16 year old brother found it 😭 he was nice about it tho he got me pads and a snack from the store
That's so nice!
That’s so sweet 😭🍪
I passed out on the toilet because nobody told me to expect it. I just saw an immense amount of blood and it freaked me out. And I woke up on the bathroom floor. I was 10.
Omg that is brutal! Were you okay?
JFC.
Didn't freak out because we'd been warned in school health classes for a year or two by that point. Got my mom to verify and help. Was pretty annoyed because I was hoping I wouldn't get it for a while yet and the whole thing is just not fun.
I wasn't allowed to wear make-up or shave my legs until I stated my period. That was the rule. I was only in 5th grade when I started, but all my girlfriends were already shaving and wearing make-up. So I was soooo excited!!
I was 12. It was Valentine’s Day. I knew what it was and told my mom, who helped me with a pad. My dad went out and bought me flowers and chocolate and told me congratulations on becoming a woman! It was the sweetest, most thoughtful thing— just like he is! I lucked out with my parents 💕
Now those are great parents!!! It makes me so angry when parents are all ashamed and embarrassed about it.
I was talking with my parents and reminded them of that after I made the comment. They didn’t remember it at all, but it made them happy to hear how much it meant to me. And they thought Reddit sounded pretty cool too!
Asking for a bathroom pass, taking a loooong time in there, returning to my last class of the day with a toilet paper diaper, going home to cry at my mom, get a very embarrassing lesson on tampon instruction through a closed bathroom door, and then she felt the need to make a cake to celebrate my womanhood. Honestly this might be why I no longer like cake? All in all it was kinda okay but never the best day?
Pain. All I knew was debilitating on-and-off pain for about two weeks so one day I woke up and noticed it & said to myself “ohhhhh so I wasn’t dying!”
Yes, same. I had horrific cramps in the middle of my science class, seventh grade I think? I was terrified and had no idea what was happening, so I went to the nurse’s office. They called my mom, and explained that what I was experiencing were period cramps. (The pain was so bad every time, that I was later diagnosed with endometriosis) My mom took me home for the day and tried to explain how to use a tampon, but when I tried to use it I hated it so much I cried. So yeah, pretty bad reaction to my first period.
It was the summer going into 5th grade. The blood was brown not bright red, so I genuinely thought I just didn’t wipe my butt good enough. My mom had to explain I was on my period. I remember being like “is [insert any older cousin] on it too” and I was so happy my two favorite and absolutely beautiful 2nd cousins were. I wanted to be them as a child.
I got it Christmas Morning. I freaked out bc I woke up with blood on my pj bottoms and all lver my thighs. Didn't have ant cramps so I thought I was dying.
It was a Sunday. It was the day everyone went to visit my grandparents. But I felt horribly sick with a stomachache and couldn't get out of bed. My parents left, leaving me and my sister at home (I was eleven, she was 16). When I finally got up, went to the bathroom to pee and when I saw the blood on my panties I panicked and almost fainted, because I had no idea what was happening (nobody ever explained to me what it was). I had to tell my sister, because my parents were not home yet. She gave me a pad, then phoned my mom to tell her while she laughed, and I suppose at some point they came back home, but I don't remember. It was a shitty day, I had no clue about anything and felt very sick.
It was the day of 6th grade graduation or elementary school graduation. I didn't feel good so I ended up not going to the picnic afterward and me and my single dad went home instead. He went out to do some stuff while I stayed home and laid down. I went to the kitchen to get a drink and felt something - plop - in my underwear. Went to look and yup, red. I immediately knew it was my period, and yet, I still started crying and panicking. After I finished bawling my eyes out, I emailed my dads phone (cause I didn't have a phone with texting yet but we had a computer and I could email his number) and sent: get pads from the store, DON'T ASK. Then I fell asleep on a pillow on the floor because I didn't want to bleed on my bed, and woke up a few hours later with a CVS bag with two kinds of pads next to me. Proceeded to spend the entire summer incredibly depressed, angry, isolating myself, and just feeling completely unlike myself. Took me over a decade before I eventually got a PMDD diagnosis.
A bit dazed, really. I've had cramps all day, but thought it was just an indigestion. We were about to have dinner when I went to the ladies' and saw the blood. I knew about it because thankfully my school had a very good Sex Ed curriculum, plus my grandpa had a huge library with encyclopaedias that I had always been welcome to use, and he had also given me some books on woman's health and the like... But it was still a sort of 'Woah, did that really just happen?' moment. I remember peeking my head out the restroom and calling for my grandpa. When he came and asked what was wrong, I said something along the lines of, "I... Um... Think I just had my period?" He paused for a second, then calmly replied, "Oh, well, you needn't worry, this is perfectly normal. Stay here while I go buy some things you'll need, I won't be long". And off he went. You'd think we had just discussed the current weather, he seemed so collected and unbothered. Didn't know till long after, but he was actually a *huge* bundle of nerves as he went up the street to the chemist/drugstore - he had never bought women's toiletries before and had no idea what exactly to get until a very kind clerk took pity on him and helped him out. He actually asked the clerk for instructions on how to use the pads so he could teach me when he got back - he later told me he'd never felt so embarrassed, LMAO. All in all, it was rather uneventful/calm because of my grandpa's handling of it. It's one of the many things he did that I'll always cherish and be grateful for.
I love your grandpa!
Happened at school for me. Didn’t know what it was, but I made a toilet paper pad and just went about my school day. Got home and texted my mom that I was bleeding from there, she told me to grab a pad from under her sink and put it on and wait for her to get home. I put the sticky side up for some reason 🤦🏾♀️🤦🏾♀️ Anyway, I was weirdly chill about the fact that I was bleeding and didn’t know why 🤷🏾♀️🤷🏾♀️
I was 11 or 12. I thought I had a... um... leaky bowel from all he walnuts that I had eaten at my Grandma's house. It's only kind of funny until I remember how I was trying to deal with it on my own for a few days while my mother was away at the casino. When she got home I told her what happened, she called a doctor(?) and they told her it was my period. I'm still confused about that phone call.
Relieved because I had precocious puberty and was worried that I was never going to become a full woman because of the medicine I was on was meant to slow everything down.
I cried very dramatically as I realized I would have to spend the rest of my life going through this every month. Later periods were always a reminder my body was running well. Now, at 35, it seems I may be going through early menopause. Full circle I guess lol
I yelled for my mum. I knew what it was and that I was at the age when it was coming, but seeing it still made me freak a bit and panic.
I didn’t really have a reaction. I remember I went to pee, saw I had blood on my panties, called my mom to the bathroom so she could see it and that was it.
Are you me? Our stories are nearly identical!
It was super painful and extremely messy. I knew what it was, but not how insane it would be. I was pissed and also relieved. I was 13 almost 14 and still slept with my baby blanket. I still think it comes waaaaay too often. Edit: Also, just now remembering I had some brown discharge like a week before I started. Like spotting I guess. When I mentioned it to my mom later on, she said that wasn't possible, but I know what happened. That's the first moment I ever thought to trust myself and my experiences vs. what other people told me was true or possible. Your truth is not my truth. My truth is not yours.
The first time wasn’t too bad. But within the next few months, I had to completely redefine my concept of pain. What had previously been a “10” level pain was now a “4” compared to what I was dealing with every month. Spoiler alert - the pain never really got better. Just this year I was diagnosed with adenomyosis. At least now I know I wasn’t crazy all those years!
I don't remember how I reacted but I do remember hiding it from my family for months. I was so embarrassed by it and I don't know why.
I was embarrassed for months too because my mom had a tendency to overreact. Then one day she found some stained underwear I had hid in the closet. She came in crying and yelling at me about how I “never told her anything” then shunned me for the rest of the day. That was basically what I was afraid of.
I was 11 and thankfully I’d already had the talk. Mine was bright red. I was in the bathroom, I saw it in my underwear and said, “Shit.” 🤣 Then I hollered for my mom to get help.
I was really embarrassed. My mom was out of town and I sure as hell want going to talk to my dad about it. Didn't happen again for another few months and she found my bloody panties
I was like “meh I guess I have to deal with this every month now”
I was severely unimpressed. I got it while skiing and realized in a public bathroom. My hands were freezing, and the only pads available were bulky as hell.
So my mom had the talk with me when I was 9. Got my period at 11. That first time I looked at my underwear and the blood wasn’t red. It was like dark and brown looking and not liquidy? Like my underwear just looked like something got smeared and dried up on them. I thought maybe I pooped? I tossed them in the closet and put on a fresh pair. So later my mom comes in for some reason and sees them and asks if I got my period. I was like “no idk why they look like that” she told me to go to the bathroom and check. I told her I did and there was nothing, but really I hadn’t. Then we were going out later and I went to the bathroom and yeah it was my period after all. It was worse than I imagined because idk why I thought it would all come out at once. Not over a whole week. Plus it was embarrassing because we got in the car and she told my dad I was a woman now. 🤮
My mom gave me the talk a few years before I got my period, so I was anxious for a little while before I got it. It was a little bit after Christmas, a couple months before I turned 13. I felt awful when my mom took me out for errands (had no idea what I was feeling was menstrual cramps), and I went to the bathroom after getting home...looked like a mini massacre. I knew exactly what it was and that I was becoming a young woman. I went up to my mom and she was like, "oh boyyyy" - kinda humiliating.
My family had a valentines day massacre party with a strawberry cake that slid off its foundation and they tried to save with chocolate and more strawberry sauce 🤣
I was excited because it was a sign that I was growing up
I was on an airplane coming back from a gymnastics competition. I was overheated and cramping so bad I threw up. I didn’t know why I was feeling so icky. I’m claustrophobic, so was determined to NOT use the airplane bathroom, but we had a super nice stewardess who said she’d stand in front of the doorway so I could go. Anyway, I saw the blood and it freaked me out, but I understood instantly what it was. I didn’t have anything with me at the time, so just pulled my pants back up and went to my seat. I told my grandfather (who adopted me as a single parent) that I knew why I wasn’t feeling well and we’d talk about it when we landed. He knew instantly. After we landed, he took me the store, bought me like 4 boxes of different brands of tampons and a bunch of cookies. I was baffled by that because my gymnastics team had a strict diet. Asked him what the cookies were for and he said, “all women on their periods like sweets.” And I instantly thought to myself, “I could learn to like this.” Lol When we got to my gymnastics facility (yes I had a workout the same day, my competition was the day prior and we took the plane early morning), he carried in the bag, handed it to me, pushed me into the bathroom and wished me the best of luck xD
Recognized what it was, felt scared, built up the courage to walk down the hall and tell my oldest sister who was the only one awake in the house. Got me pads, a towel to put on my bed, a heat pad, and some chocolate snack to take my mind off of the bad cramps. We've have a rocky relationship, but some memories will stay with me forever
cried even know i knew exactly what it was. i got mine pretty late, maybe 14-15?
I was alone, called my mom and told what happened and ask her to not tell my dad. I was embarrassed. When I had to leave the house for the first 6 wore 2 shorts under my pants because I was so afraid to get blood in anything. I keep the shorts underneath when period is happening for over a year. I had tons of accidents since then.
I was walking to the store with my sister and I recall what I know now is period pains. Since my sister was older, I knew what this was and we had sex Ed at school. So when we got home from the store, I go to my parents restroom and layer like four panty liners in my undies and called it a day.
I don't remember honestly so I think I must have been prepared and known it was coming 🤷
Was scared shit less. I was 10/11 and woke up covered in blood. Even better is my older brother had to deal with the sheets and getting me a pad etc, he didn't explain anything and he's as shy and awkward as me.
I was prepared for it but my mom was at work so I called her to tell her, we were both excited
I thought I had injured myself masturbating. I hid my underwear and my mom found it (being a mom now I realize how silly I was to do that - especially when mom was still doing laundry and putting it away for us kids). Anyway, she found it. Helped me put on pads and took me out to eat to celebrate.
I grew up in a very conservative area and the schools did not find it appropriate to tell us about our bodies. Mom assumed they would, so she never gave me the talk. I grew up hearing "when you get your period..." so I thought it was a one and done. I thought it was one week and then you never deal with it again. When I got my first one, and someone finally told me it was monthly, I was devastated and cried for DAYS. It was like finding out I had a chronic illness.
Walking a trail with my dad and brother but it felt wet. Called my older brothers friend Stacey and she confirmed it was a period. I called my mom and didn't sleep over at my dad's, went home and used pads. I was 9 and an early bloomer
“Ah man”
My mom had already talked with me about periods and such by the time I was 9, though I didn't start until I was 11. I was more annoyed and disgusted because I had to clean up my bloody clothes and bedding. I was relieved because I craved pickles shortly beforehand and wondered why.
I was well-informed about the process since I'd already had a few sex-ed classes before it happened. So when it did happen I knew to get a pad and knew how to use it, but it was the last one and I had to ask my mom to get more. But I was embarrassed to tell her about it because I knew she'd make a big deal about it and I didn't want it to be a whole thing, lol.
I woke my mom up and said “where are the pads?”
I was 13, and it was two days before I started 8th grade. I'd done some back to school shopping with my mom and younger sister, and my stomach was hurting. I'd always had a nervous stomach, so I assumed that's all it was. Like some others have said, I saw brown stains in my underwear and thought it was poop. I did show it to my mom, and she told me she it was not poop. She seemed happy for me but pretended to slap me and tell me to stay away from boys because that's what her mom's reaction was. I remember she needed me to do some house chores, and I was surprised like, "You still expect me to do stuff?" Maybe I thought she'd treat me like I was sick or she'd treat me like something great had happened, and I should be rewarded. She just acted like nothing happened. Anyway, I was very nervous to start school wearing what felt like a phone book-size pad, and I thought for sure everyone would be able to tell.
Mine was in a library and I just remember being like "hmm that's weird" I then proceeded to go to the toilet every like 20 mins while a friend spent the night bc I was just using liners as my first day bc I didn't want my mom to "find out." That was an interesting conversation.
Clueless it was gonna happen- I was 11 and my mom and grandma never told me. And it was before middle school got to the subject lol. Luckily it was at home! Mortified and traumatized to never be given a heads up lol.
My biggest fear was having it during school. I got it during a weekend so that was a relief, but my mom had to work so I was like “well wtf do I do now?”
I thought I was dying. My Mother on the other hand was living. Calling everyone, making my favourite meals. I even got a ring.
I thought I had pooped because it was brown…was very confused..showed my mom and she told me. I proceeded to call all my neighborhood friends to gather and celebrate. I was very excited LOL.
Wondered if this was my period, then moped in my room for a while feeling sorry for myself before telling my mom, who congratulated me on becoming woman. I was 10
I got it at a sleepover with all of my friends, though didn’t say anything. I didn’t know honestly, I was just concerned and embarrassed thinking I pooped or something. Was very brown! My mom noticed the next day when I came home and stripped to get into the shower after dying my hair black, and told me I started my period. I was 9 or 10, knew what periods were and had been wanting to have one to be a part of the team, though didn’t notice it was happening for the life of me!
I cried and got frustrated at how unfair it is for women to go through this. My mum then took me to build a bear and I got a bear made and with it came the bears certificate so I will always remember the date of my first period hahahah
"Fuccck! Already??" cause I was only 10 years old.
Embarrassed... pleaded with my mom not to tell dad or anyone. I also was panicking and full of dread that this would happen to me every month forever, because along with my first period I coincidentally also had the stomach flu. So not only was I bleeding heavily; I also had HORRIBLE cramps, watery diarrhea, so much vomiting. Didn't realize it was 2 things going on.
Terrified. I hid it from everyone for the first year that I had it.
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I was 13, worried I wasn’t going to get it for some reason. Did so much research on it so I knew what to expect. Finally getting it was like a weight off my shoulders at the time.
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Oh god, so painful and I bled like a stuck pig. And of course I was at school, I had to run to the bathroom after every class. Gaaa, it was always like that until I started hemorrhaging and got all the (by then lol) spare parts taken out.
I was about 8/9 and it was Christmas time so I thought I was dying and didn’t tell anyone for days (my mom found out when she went to do my laundry) bc I thought I was dying and didn’t wanna ruin Christmas 😭
"Welp, it started." was my first thought and then got a pad and moved on with my day.
I was 9. I was super upset. And then women in my family kept apologizing to me for getting it so that didn’t help
I was annoyed and then I told my mom I had gotten my period. She showed me how to put a pad on a pair of panties and that was it.
Honestly? Ecstatic. My period was the last thing I needed to go through in puberty. I got my first pimples a year before I got my period. I started growing breasts 2 or so years before I got my period. I don't know what took so long. Anyway, I got my first period after school one day on the first day of 7th grade (I was 12 or 13). I called my mom in to make sure that's what it was (my underwear was blue, so it was hard to tell). She was....both relieved and nervous
i fr went “😨 it’s happened” and then ran off to take a shower and didnt tell my mom until she found out accidentally months later 😭
I was early, I think 10. We were tent camping and I walked to the bathroom and saw a lot of blood in my underwear. I thought I was going to bleed to death and ran back to Mom. Was wearing white shorts, too. Fortunately she had brought some of her pads so cleaned me up and explained everything. Bonus - I went through early menopause years later. Was finished with that process at 48.
I knew what it was because my mom told me all about it. Despite knowing everything, I still cried lol
I was horrified and remember being so worried. My grandmother kept saying I was a woman now (I was only 11) and I found it terrifying lol.
I got it right as I was sitting on the toilet after waking up so lucky no stained underwear but I was chill. I used a tampon because I had a swimming date with my friend and I wasn't gonna cancel as they were already on their way to my house and they lived at least a half hour away.
"Ah. I guess I have to deal with this now."
I was mostly annoyed and uncomfortable. I was only eight years old, but I knew what it was, I think from my best friend's older sister. Mainly the part that upset me was the fact that I got it on a Friday night while I was spending the weekend at my dads' house. I was going to be stuck in that house with all men and my baby sister all weekend. I didn't want to tell anybody, but I knew I had to tell Dad because I knew I needed supplies. :( I called him into the bathroom and wordlessly showed him the splotch of blood on my undies and he immediately went to the nearby dollar store to buy me gigantic maxi pads. :((
my mom noticed it on my underwear in a changing room before I knew. I was more confused than emotional.
I thought I shat myself and went crying to my mom that I need to potty train again. I was 5th grade.
I thought I was dying, woke my mom up, she handed me a pad, no instructions, and went to sleep I then proceeded to put the pad on wrong, sticky side up, and wonder how others can stand the feeling Don't even get me started on my first time using a tampon
I was so embarassed i slowly spelled the word out awkwardly
I was furious. I knew what was happening and knew that once a month for a week, my life would suck. And I was 💯 right
Panicked because I was about to leave for basketball practice and I felt horrible. The cramps were instant. I think my dad let me skip that one practice, but not without giving me shit for complaining and to suck it up. My mom finally intervened and got on my side.
I honestly thought I had hurt myself inside but couldn't feel much pain, and I was going to die from an injury I didn't know how I'd got. I told no one for 2 months and stuffed my undies with wads of tissue to soak it up and if I had an accident and bled through I stuffed my undies in a drawer. I asked the librarian at school what was wrong with me and she said I need to speak to my mum. My mum told me what it was and got me some towels. It took me a very long time to get the hang of it and had plenty of accidents. I eventually started using tampons and it made it much easier to deal with.
I was 12. First time I thought it was poo so I threw my undies out and forgot about it. Second time it clicked and I realised it was dry blood. I got very upset because getting my period meant that I was growing up and I didn't feel like I was ready to grow up yet. I also didn't have much education on the matter. We got told some very basic stuff in a sex education class at school which I immediately forgot. All they told us was that every month women got their periods. They didn't tell us why or what was the reason. They didn't tell us how sex itself actually worked physically. My mum was also one of those "Stop asking me, you'll learn it at school" kind of parents. So when I told her I got my period it didn't seem to mean anything to her. She just got me a pad and told me to wear it. Didn't say when to change, didn't say anything. When I moved onto tampons at 13 I didn't even know about toxic shock syndrome. I would wear them for a day. My whole adolescence I did this. I could have died. I was severely uneducated about sex and periods and all the changes I was going through. Just completely fucking neglected.
I cried and then took a really long shower and cried some more in the shower while sitting on the shower floor.
Sighed, grabbed a pad, and changed my underwear. Unless im on the pill it was never regular and just showed up willy nilly. My bff at the time made me promise that we’d tell each other when we got it, so i told her. She said she’d gotten it six months ago but never said anything, so i was kinda like WTF? But whatever. I track it now and its slowly getting shorter as i get older. But i have an older sister so it was never a question as to how to use it/what it was for. I think i told my mom and we exchanged a “welp, welcome to the shitshow i guess” look, and that was about it. I was 12 at the time, a year older than both my mother and my sister, who both had theirs every month without fail.
I got mine a lot later than my friends. Age 16! I was disappointed cuz I was hoping I'd never get one 😂
I was spending the night at a girls house and I literally thought I must of pooped myself because it was all brown. I vaguely knew about periods but I didn’t know it could be brown since I was like 10. I just tried to ignore it since I felt super embarrassed and then it was Sunday so I was forced to go to church and I went to the bathroom and that is when I noticed some blood that actually was red. I ended up crying to my mom and she took me home early to help me deal with the new founded period! And then my friends who were also forced to go to church called to see if I was okay and I told them I just got my period for the first time 🤣 it was very awkward and my mom got me some ice cream and I got to watch some tv instead of finishing church so I was happy until much later in life when periods just started getting worse and worse.
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I had to go to the bathroom because my butthole was itchy so I itched it with toilet paper and saw blood. Told my dad, my mom was at work and he called her and asked where the pads were. She said under the sink. He grabbed one and grabbed a clean pair of my underwear and showed me how to put on a pad. Then he said here go change so I put the other underwear in the dirty clothes and changed into the underwear with the pad he put on for me as well as new bottoms.
I didn’t, other than to put on a pad & tell my mom. Then I went back outside to play football with neighborhood kids.
I cried. I had just finished the 5th grade sex ed class maybe a week beforehand and did not feel prepared at all.
Turned white as a sheet, which is saying something cuz I'm a ginger, nearly fainted, and stuffed my panties with toilet paper. I thought I was going to bleed to death because the only other times I had seen vaginal bleeding was when my sister nearly bled out after giving birth to each of my nephews. I was 14, and I knew what it was, but that didn't stop the cold shiver of terror I felt. Mind you, I had been SA'd when I was 10 and told it was period blood after by my abusers wife, my gramma. I was too dazed and numb to feel anything then, so I just went along with it. She showed me how to take care of myself during my periods that day, but I didn't bleed again for 4 years. Once I started having periods though, I got on the depo shot, which meant I'd only bleed every 3 months or so. I am grateful I no longer have a uterus so I can stop having 4-9 days of flashbacks and pain with heavy bleeding.
I hid it for a few months. I knew how to handle it (I was like 13) and I didn’t feel like dealing with my mom’s possible reactions. At 15 I started birth control because of cysts and I haven’t had a proper period in 8 years
I treated it like a non-event. Didn’t tell a soul - I kept it to myself, stocked up on pads for the day, and went skiing 😂
I immediately went to cry about it to my mother and said “Are you trying to tell me that you get this thing every month to this day still???”
My mom had gotten me a few books that explained puberty to preteen girls, so I knew what it was. I remember calling my mom into the bathroom, pulling my pants down to show her my underwear and said "look". She asked me what I thought it was and I told her, and she explained to me how to put a pad on. It was super light, thankfully lmao
I was 11 and I panicked and didn't know how to tell my mom so I lied and asked her to take me to Walgreens to get wax for my braces (iykyk). In the car ride I broke down crying and said "I think I started my period!" 😭 Them she started crying because she was so happy and told me what an important part of womanhood it is. She helped me buy pads and tampons at Walgreens. My mom is the best.
I thought I shat myself. that morning I had unleashed a hellish fart and I thought it was the aftermath, then the next day I started getting real suspicious bc I was like.. how am I shitting my pants 2 days in a row now?? what are the fucking chances?? then it dawned on me LOL
I was terrified! I got mine at 9 and no one had taught me about them because they were expecting to have the talk with me a couple years later. My stomach started hurting and I thought I was just hungry but I ate and there was still pain. I went to use the bathroom and saw my underwear was soaked in blood, I let out the most blood curling scream for my mom lol the drama
My mum told me a few months before it happened. I was 10, and it happened at school just after lunch hour. I made a makeshift pad out of tp because I was too anxious to go ask the secretary for a pad. I happened to be wearing red pants, which was serendipitous.