Okay, if you’re a guy and anything about the female menstrual cycle eeks you out, don’t read the post. This is all about my new “Green” Period.
So, at the beginning of the month, I decided I wanted to get a Diva Cup. It’s this silicon cup shaped like a bell that is inserted to catch menstrual flow. Of course, I talked to the husband about it. The look on his face was priceless as I told him everything. You gotta love him, thought, because that night he was looking it up on the internet. I think mostly he was doing research because he takes a personal interest in anything inserted up there, but I’ll let that go because he was doing it for me. He decided it was something worth a try. I have a heavy, seven day, flow and the cost of pads and tampons can get high. We also have two girls and he’s thinking ahead, since, with proper care, a menstrual cup can last for something crazy like ten years (though the Diva Cup site recommends replacing it yearly to cover their asses and for a larger profit.)
The husband and I talked about it for a week and last Sunday, on the way up to my parent’s house for dinner, he pulled into the Whole Foods Store, and handed me fifty dollars and said, “Go get your cup.”
I was so excited, it was funny.
I get in the store and I can’t find them. I’ve seen them there before, but for the life of me, I couldn’t find it. So I asked the girl restocking shelves where it was. Her face totally lit up and she goes, “OH! The Diva Cup! I LOVE my Diva Cup!” And she practically pulls me through the aisles to get to where they are. A woman was standing in front of them for like ten minutes looking at who knows what, anyway, I get my size 2 Diva Cup because I am over 30 and have given birth. I stare down at the Diva Wash and decide I should get that too.
The Cup was only 32.99 and the wash was another 9.99. I know my husband. He’d get pissy if I told him about the wash and hadn’t actually bought it. I grabbed a bottle and handed to the check out. Once again, the woman working the cash register gets the look of total awe and amazement on her face. “Ooo, the Diva Cup. I keep meaning to get one of those.”
And so, I left the store with my new bag of treasures, with a new, slightly disturbing awareness that I was looking forward to getting that horribly retched thing called my period. I go through the rest of my day and when we get home from my mother’s that night, I had to pack everything needed for the next day’s big amusement park outing to Idlewild park and Soak Zone. While getting everything ready (And after everyone had gone to bed) I noticed I was spotting. Yes, my big chance to use my new cup!
I get it out and make sure it’s thoroughly sanitized and washed before rereading the instructions for the eighteenth time. It goes in without a hitch and everything seems to be working as it should. I finish my packing, and then get a chapter I was working on finished up before going to bed. I didn’t even notice I had anything in there. It was fantastic.
The next morning I get up and clean everything out and put it back in because the last thing I wanted was for the huge gush of my flow to happen while at a water park. I was so happy all day. It was in, and I didn’t even notice it through roller coasters and water rides and things that spun around and all the other fun things at an amusement park. I didn’t have to empty it until I got home that night. How great is that? No worries for an entire day at an amusement park? I was seriously in love. But when I got home, some of the awesomeness wore off when I realized, it was no big deal; I was spotting most of the day because there was hardly anything in it. I washed it out, and put it back in. When I spot like that, I know Aunt Flow is almost here, and I was starting to get rather bitchy. She was coming, it was just a matter of when, and I so did not what to have to use pads or tampons. Pads cause a rash and tampons make my cramps worse. I know, that’s probably too much information, but I really hate suffering one week every month just because I happen to be female.
Anyway, flow decided to show up for real on Thursday. I am a convert. I will NEVER go back to disposable pads and tampons. My period isn’t even close to being over yet, and I have to say, my cramping is much less (though I do still need my new best friend, the Midol bottle, close to my side for other issues I have during this time), and I just feel better in general. I slept with it in last night, and I didn’t have any leaks.
I’ve heard insertion and getting a proper seal can be a huge learning curve, but I haven’t had any issues with it so far, but then my female parts and all the naturally occurring processes of the body have never really grossed me out. I just wish I’d have found this sooner. I love the menstrual cup. I have no idea if I will switch brands or anything like that. Right now, my plan is to get another cup so I have a back up one and one to make having to change things in a public restroom easier, and since the Diva Cup is working for me, I don’t think I am going fix what isn’t broken.
My new kick is cloth pads. Homemade, probably. There are just times when something inserted won’t work, and since my girls are still little, I’m not sure how something like a Diva Cup will work for them when they start their menstrual cycle. My plan (and this is an ambitious plan, but I have a few years to get it all done and have enough money for it all) is to make myself and for each girl, a period survival pack. It will include two cups, pouches for the cups, the wash with a travel size, 30 homemade cloth pads, something called a Wet Bag to carry everything needed for a day away from home, a large storage bag to hold everything when not in use, and a soaking bucket for the pads. I have all the patterns I need, and have my supplies lined up for the fabrics I want to make the pads. I just have to have the money and the time to do it. I figured I’ll start with mine that way I can design the most awesome Wet Bag and Storage Bag ever, and have everything in order for when my girls get their periods.
It’s strange, but since I got onto the “Green” period kick, that dreaded time of the month doesn’t seem so dreaded anymore. I can’t wait for my girls to learn how to take care of themselves in an all natural, eco friendly and sensitive bits friendly way. Suddenly, being a girl isn’t such a burden. Yes, I know, I am going to end up making about 90 pads to cover all three of us, but my girls are 7 and 5, I have plenty of time to make them, and with proper care, everything should last until the girls are old enough to make their own.
Anyway, that’s my experience right now with the Diva Cup and making that time of the month a “green” time of the month.
