00:00It's period time!
00:03Kids, when you get your period, it's going to be a little freaky at first,
00:07but I promise it's just going to be every month for basically the rest of your life.
00:12Oh, the joy of being a woman.
00:14So when I first got my period, I was feeling kind of off, like damp.
00:19I don't remember thinking, oh, someday, someday I'm going to find blood in my underpants.
00:25It was just uncomfortable, and I was really embarrassed.
00:29I definitely felt a sense of womanhood, as corny and dumb as that sounds.
00:37More than anything, I thought it was funny, I think.
00:39Hey guys, my name is Claire, and when I got my first period,
00:43I did the most Claire Fishman thing possible.
00:46I aggressively ignored it.
00:49I was maybe like in fifth or sixth grade, so I got my period overnight.
00:54I woke up to blood on my underwear.
00:57You know, thick red blood.
00:59Just saw it and said, not dealing with this today.
01:02Nope, going right in the hamper.
01:04Put a new pair of underwear on and went on with my day.
01:08I was 18 years old, and I got it on Mother's Day,
01:12which feels fitting because I could become a mom.
01:15So I think I was the very last person ever in my high school,
01:19and my group of friends, maybe in the entire world, to get their period.
01:23I was wearing a pair of light gray Heather shorts.
01:28So I go to the bathroom, and sure enough, I've bled through my shorts.
01:32I immediately told my mom, because we both had been waiting for this moment now for years.
01:38She immediately was like, you're using a tampon, we're doing this right now.
01:43Shoves me into the bathroom, closes the door, and it's just me and this cardboard tampon.
01:50If anyone has ever used a cardboard tampon, they know that it is the worst thing in the world.
01:56So I think I was about, like, maybe 12 years old, and I thought that I just had a really
02:02bad stomach ache,
02:03but this was unlike any stomach ache that I was used to having.
02:07So I went to the bathroom, and when I looked in the toilet, because I kind of do that when
02:13I poop,
02:13I don't know why, but I do, and then I see red.
02:16So at first I think I'm dying, but then I remember I'm a woman. I have a period.
02:20Oh my God, I'm like 12. I'm going through puberty. It's a period.
02:24So once everything starts to process, then it hits me.
02:28My mom isn't here. My mom is out of town.
02:31There's no way she can assist me in this period-having mess.
02:36So I call my dad. Daddy!
02:39He comes running to the bathroom. He's like, what's going on?
02:42I'm like, she came. And as soon as I said she came, he knew what I was talking about.
02:48So he's just like, and I'm sitting on the toilet like, he literally leaves.
02:55He comes back maybe about two minutes later with my mom on the phone,
02:58puts her on speakerphone, hands me the phone, and then leaves again.
03:02So he grabs a pad, throws it at me, leaves again.
03:05Oh, but first, my underwear, no good no more.
03:09So my dad has to come back, get new underwear for me, throws them at me, leaves again.
03:14So I have the new panties. My mom walks me through the steps as to how to put a pad
03:18on.
03:19I put the pad on. Everything's lit.
03:21Hi, I'm Annabelle, and I got my period for the first time on the day of my bat mitzvah.
03:26So essentially, I became a woman in one day.
03:29I was one of the last of my friends to get it, so I was just very excited to get
03:34it.
03:34It was the morning of my bat mitzvah. I woke up, put on my Betsy Johnson dress,
03:38like went, like peed, and then saw that I had gotten my period.
03:43So my mom just handed me a big pad, you know.
03:46I think it was pretty intuitive. I figured out how to use it.
03:50And I remember feeling so uncomfortable during my party when I was on the dance floor,
03:53like with my big pad in my tights.
03:57And I remember going to the bathroom with some friends and telling them my news.
04:02Hi, my name's Katie, and when I first got my period, I thought it was poop.
04:06And apparently, I'm not the only one.
04:08I was 12. I was in sixth grade.
04:12I had just learned what a period was the year before,
04:16but I don't think I paid much attention to that.
04:19I came home after school and noticed that my underwear was brown.
04:24And I just thought, oh my God, I pooped myself today.
04:27I must have lost control of my bowels.
04:30I guess that happens sometimes. I'll never tell anyone.
04:33But then the next day, the same thing happened.
04:35I pooped myself again.
04:37I finally was like, Mom, I pooped myself twice, two days in a row.
04:44And my mom was like, oh, was the poop in the middle?
04:49Like not in the back where your butt is?
04:51And I was like, yeah, how did you know?
04:55And she was like, that's not poop. That's your period.
04:58And then I had to like put a pad in my underwear and wear that for the next, I think,
05:03two more days.
05:04And it just, you know, felt like wearing a diaper.
05:07The beauty of wearing a pad is that actually no one can tell except for you.
05:11Hi, I'm Ali, and the first time that I got my period and tried to use a tampon, I ended
05:18up in the ER.
05:19I must have been 13 years old.
05:23This was the first time I had started using tampons.
05:26When I was going to take it out, I pulled on the string and it was not coming out.
05:31I was tugging and it hurt.
05:34So I was, of course, freaking out.
05:36And I'm like, oh my gosh, I did it wrong.
05:38What did I do?
05:40So I went to my mom.
05:42She's like, okay, let's take a look at this.
05:45There was skin like around it.
05:47It was really gross.
05:49And so my mom took me to the ER.
05:51A piece of my hymen had been wrapped around this tampon.
05:57And the doctor had to cut it out.
05:59The reason that it was so urgent was that I didn't want to get toxic shock syndrome.
06:09After this experience, I could not wear a tampon for quite some time, I will say.
06:16But I got over my fear and I've never had a problem since.
06:21So don't be afraid of my experience because it is a very unique experience.
06:26Thank you guys so much for watching.
06:27And remember, try to stay as well-versed and prepared for your period.
06:31So when it does finally come, even though it's completely different than what you may think,
06:36you'll at least have a bit of information.
06:38And you'll be well and right on your journey to womanhood.
06:41You may not be well-versed and getting off it.
06:42Why won't you decide to be easily accessible?
06:42So we'll get a new spreadsheet.
06:43What made you love to want to do soon?
06:43Oh, oh.
06:44Oh, oh.
