- That sort of began my hate hate
relationship with my period.
(upbeat music)
- My mom had me prepped for my period
like I was gonna get it at the age of four.
She read me books, gave me so much information,
gave me books, we talked several times about it,
whether it was uncomfortable or not,
but she was like, oh you're gonna know.
But she's like you were showing symptoms of your period
since fifth grade, she was like I was making sure
that you were ready.
I think it was 6th or 7th grade-ish.
I was at home and one of my best friends was over
and we were playing or whatever
and then apparently I went to the bathroom,
started my period, I walked out to my mom
and I looked at her and said,
I started my period and I don't wanna talk about it.
And then I walked away.
Looking at my life now that's how I handle
a lot of my crises.
- My first period happened in 6th grade
I know nothing about periods at this point.
My period has started for the first time.
We were passing out papers and the papers come around to me
and I had to stand up a little bit to get to the papers
and as I stood up this kid in my class was like,
hey Stacey what's on your butt?
I was like what, what is on my pants?
I don't know what is on my pants.
So I look down and on my gray chair
there was this huge stain that was brownish red
and I was like, oh I don't know what that is.
And then he said, oh did you sit in mud
or chocolate or something?
And I was like, yes I definitely sat in mud or chocolate.
I went up to my teacher and I was like,
hey this is happening, I stained the chair,
I stained my pants, what should I do?
And she looks at me and she's like, oh, I don't know.
So I went to the nurses office to ask if they had
any things that could help me and no, they did not.
I ended up going to the bathroom
and I did the whole wrap toilet paper around your underwear
that didn't stop my stain, so I had to take off
my favorite blue fleece Gap sweater
and tie it around my waist and I had to
sit on the white letters of my sweater
and stain them permanently with my first period.
- I was 10, ugh.
I just remember one day feeling so bad.
I'm also lactose intolerant and so it felt like
I was having the worst gas of my life.
Then over the next couple days I started noticing
this brown stuff in my underwear.
I legitimately thought I was shitting myself
'cause it was brown.
I'd always thought that blood was red,
but I wasn't even thinking this was a period.
I remember just being so scared
that last piece of dairy I had or something
just like ruptured a hole in my intestines
and I was just shitting my pants.
And then I never told my parents, because how could I?
Their 10 year old was pooping her pants.
How shameful is that.
It was two or three days of that,
going to sleep every night and being surprised to wake up
'cause I just figured, oh this was my time.
There's something wrong with my body
I'm just going to die and no one will have to know
that I died because I was shitting myself.
Then I finally went to my mom.
I just broke down in hysterics
and she didn't even know what was happening
'cause I couldn't even get the words out,
I finally told her that I was pooping myself
and had been for the past five days.
So she was like, can you show me your underwear?
And I was just like, no you'll never see it!
Just leave me alone to die.
I finally showed it to her and was just like,
I've been pooping myself.
And she was finally like, oh I know what this is!
Claire you just got your period, I'm so proud of you.
And she hugged me, and I think I just kind of blacked out.
- So I got my period towards the end of eighth grade
which to me was a late bloomer age
because basically all my friends
had already gotten their periods and I could never join in
on their little period complaints.
Nobody ever said it was a good thing,
but I really wanted it 'cause I didn't want to feel
like a kid anymore.
Towards the end of eight grade I was just on the toilet
in the morning I looked down, I saw blood,
then after a minute I realized that it was my period
and I was super excited.
I went straight to my mom and was like,
mom I think I just had my period,
thinking it was going to be a really big deal
like in The Cosby Show 'cause in The Cosby Show
they make it a big deal, like it's called woman's day
and they go out, they go to a spa,
they take school off, they just give you all kinds
of girly womanly things and then the mom educates them
about their period.
And I thought that's what my mom was going to do.
Then my mom was just in the middle of doing her makeup
and kind of glanced at me and she just said,
okay and tossed me a pad, it was super boring.
- I got my period when I was exactly 10 years old
and I got it on my birthday.
I was having my birthday party in the park.
I wake up and I'm getting ready and I'm really excited to go
and I go to the bathroom and I do a little pee pee,
but it's not a little pee pee.
I look in the toilet and it's red,
I thought I was dying and I was dying on my birthday.
I cried, but I didn't cry because I thought I was dying
I cried 'cause I thought I was gonna miss my birthday party.
And I didn't want my mom to know I was dying
'cause I love my mom, I don't want to make her sad.
So I just stayed in the bathroom for like 30 minutes.
I guess my parents were like, what a weirdo.
And then eventually my mom came in and was like
we gotta go to your park birthday party child.
I was crying and she thought something was really wrong.
She was like, are you okay, are you sick?
And then I was like (speaking gibberish),
look at the toilet.
And she was like, oh it's just your period, here you go.
And I was like, is this a diaper?
This doesn't fix the dying problem.
And then she was like, oh no it's this thing that happens,
you just bleed out of your vagina once a month
until you die, she didn't even tell me it was called a pad!
She just gave me this thing, she was like,
put it on your underwear, and I was like, okay.
Then I went to the party and I was very uncomfortable
'cause it was my first time wearing a diaper.
(light jazzy music)