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jennyaxeIf you're a person who gets grossed out by talk about menstruation, now would be a good time to skip this post.
I am on vacation in Italy. It is very hot. Fortunately the place where we're staying has a pool. Unfortunately I got my period yesterday.
Normally I'd use an uncomfortable tampon and I'd keep worrying about leakage - I've usually worn a tampon together with a pad, except specifically when bathing, and the thread of the tampon almost always looks like it's been leaking through. Also, tampons are painful on the heavy days. So this time I thought I'd finally get around to trying a moon cup. I bought one about a month ago and used it once, and brought it on the trip with me.
Usually the bleeding doesn't get very heavy until after the first 24 hours, so I thought I'd wait until today to put the cup in. But I woke up around 5 am and realized the pad was getting soaked, so I got up, put the cup in, cleaned myself, cleaned the panties that were now an interesting pattern of red on white, got new panties, took a pain killer, checked that the bed was clean and there weren't any stains large enough to see in the faint dawn light, and got back to bed. (It's not unusal for the bed to be clean even though the panties aren't; while I'm lying down, the blood remains inside me and it's not until I get up that the panties get stained and the occasional spatter on the floor happens.)
I woke up again around eight, pleased to not have to worry about reaching the bathroom without spillage. When I got there, I thought it might be best to clean the cup out at once. So I started reaching for the little nub at the bottom.
First I couldn't find it; it'd sort of hidden against the back, just inside the opening. And when I did find it, I couldn't get a grip on it. I kept trying more and more desperately, worrying whether it'd get stuck there and I'd have to ask for help. It felt like the problem was that I couldn't get my fingers in at the right angle, due to my arm not being long or bendable enough. I finally gave up and decided to have breakfast and, more important, coffee, before trying again.
When I got back up to the room about an hour later, there was no problem at all getting a grip on the little nub. It took a few tries to pull it out, but only a few, and I managed not to spill anything outside of the bidet I was using. (Bidets are a great idea for mooncup users, if you didn't know!) I'm thinking that probably it's easier once I've been up for a while, so next morning I won't even try getting it out until after breakfast.
And once the latest pain killer kicks in, I might even go swimming.
I am on vacation in Italy. It is very hot. Fortunately the place where we're staying has a pool. Unfortunately I got my period yesterday.
Normally I'd use an uncomfortable tampon and I'd keep worrying about leakage - I've usually worn a tampon together with a pad, except specifically when bathing, and the thread of the tampon almost always looks like it's been leaking through. Also, tampons are painful on the heavy days. So this time I thought I'd finally get around to trying a moon cup. I bought one about a month ago and used it once, and brought it on the trip with me.
Usually the bleeding doesn't get very heavy until after the first 24 hours, so I thought I'd wait until today to put the cup in. But I woke up around 5 am and realized the pad was getting soaked, so I got up, put the cup in, cleaned myself, cleaned the panties that were now an interesting pattern of red on white, got new panties, took a pain killer, checked that the bed was clean and there weren't any stains large enough to see in the faint dawn light, and got back to bed. (It's not unusal for the bed to be clean even though the panties aren't; while I'm lying down, the blood remains inside me and it's not until I get up that the panties get stained and the occasional spatter on the floor happens.)
I woke up again around eight, pleased to not have to worry about reaching the bathroom without spillage. When I got there, I thought it might be best to clean the cup out at once. So I started reaching for the little nub at the bottom.
First I couldn't find it; it'd sort of hidden against the back, just inside the opening. And when I did find it, I couldn't get a grip on it. I kept trying more and more desperately, worrying whether it'd get stuck there and I'd have to ask for help. It felt like the problem was that I couldn't get my fingers in at the right angle, due to my arm not being long or bendable enough. I finally gave up and decided to have breakfast and, more important, coffee, before trying again.
When I got back up to the room about an hour later, there was no problem at all getting a grip on the little nub. It took a few tries to pull it out, but only a few, and I managed not to spill anything outside of the bidet I was using. (Bidets are a great idea for mooncup users, if you didn't know!) I'm thinking that probably it's easier once I've been up for a while, so next morning I won't even try getting it out until after breakfast.
And once the latest pain killer kicks in, I might even go swimming.
