A post for my female readers
A little background information on me first. I am a stay at home mom with my beautiful little girl who is 20 months. I have changed a lot since becoming a mom. I have learned what is important when putting things into our bodies, plus doing it on a budget!
As a woman in my 20’s, tampons were a pretty monthly thing, without thinking twice. Why think twice, everyone uses them…right? WRONG! Who would have thought that there were other healthy alternatives? First off I would like to share a video HERE about tampons…short YouTube and how they…well I will let you watch.
Okay, welcome back. Gross right? Okay ever read the pamphlet that comes with tampons? TSS, death, and the chemicals involved? Am I overreacting? I guess you could say that but it just depends how clean and healthy you want your body, inside and out. Directly and intentionally putting toxic chemicals in my body is something I try to avoid. On this note Pads also have chemicals, and these chemicals in all these products cause harm to our body, altering our natural balance. Ill come back to this.. keep this on your mind
Okay so alternative options? Well 1, “mama cloth” which is a pad that is made out of cloth and you wash it. Not harsh chemicals, just like a pad but without out all the additives. Now, like I said being in my 20’s pads really are not on my hot list. (Granted I’m married, something about the smell doesn’t sit well with me) Anyhow…option B….Menstrual cups! What the heck is that? Amazing is what it is!
I showed my sister in law THIS video, and she thought it was a joke. I think there is some good humor and some good information (though cleaning your cup, I would go with what is suggested via the company for longevity reasons)
After I had my daughter I had not had my period for well over a year. My last period was Jan 2010, and it is now July 2012…in saying that I had not thought too much about my period. (my period was absent for so long due to A nursing so much) So my period comes around, and I have herd of Cups…seems like a good idea but well, we will see. Let me tell you going through Pads and Tampons I
- felt so wasteful! So much cotton, plastic, and extra t.p.
- it smelts, the cotton in the pads and the tampons smelt gross and felt uncomfortable
- I was cramping, but cramps like something was wrong
Okay so day 3 comes along and to the local “crunchy” store we go to pick up my Diva cup! I was so excited and telling everyone…Twitter you were excited, at home friends said “oh cool” and had little to no idea what I was talking about! (I think Im the crazy one.)
PICTURE OF CUP

My Experience:
Day 3 I brought home my Diva cup and was so excited. Period so far hadn’t been awful and hadn’t been great. Okay so I’m a direction reader, I read the pamphlet like 4 times. I was ready. Okay Washed hands, cleaned cup…ready. Okay…how do I do this again? Crap. Skim, skim, skim…okay got it.
What I did: Folded in the, what I call, smooch it and go method…one side pushed in and then pinched to make it slimmer. I wont lie this size I wasn’t sure would fit! Okay fits good, feels good but, NOW I take it out. Why? Had to test out the “C” fold. Not as easy…not for me at least. It was to wide and did not pop open like the smooch it fold.
PICTURE OF 2 FOLDS
“SMOOCH” FOLD

C Fold

Day 3 NIGHT
went good. At night was light flow…I did not push the cup up far enough so I had an ity bity dot of blood on my undies. No biggie. Was easy to remove. Though, I was told to just pull it out…not the way to do this, ouch. When you remove I recommend when you have it half way out to bend the top rim in half to help slide it out so you don’t hurt yourself.
Day 4:
I am cramp-less! I feel free. I feel like I have no worries. I didn’t feel dirty, I didn’t feel crampy, but I did feel like I was doing something right for my body. Okay this is what I was referring to earlier. Mind over matter or truth, but not filling my body with unknown toxic chemicals I contribute to my feeling better, or at least my vagina feeling better. What are the true affects of additives to our body? How do the chemicals in our tampons and pads that our bodies absorb affect our menstrual cycle, symptoms, hormones, and fertility? Something to think about.
Okay, so when I took it out this night I actually had a bit of fluid in it. But, much less than I expected! With all the tampons I’ve gone though you’d think I was dying or bleeding to death. Being able to see how much there actually is really puts it into perspective…heavy really wasn’t as heavy as I thought.
Okay so my period was 6 days long, and the second half was amazing. It was easy, it was clean, and I felt good about it. I paid $40 and it should last me years to come. All in all I am completely amazed and in research have noticed most women are. Yes it is a bit more invasive, but you only have to “deal with it” every 12 hours. No worrying about bring tampons where ever you go, or forgetting a tampon…or TSS, did I stick 2 in…did I forget one up there…
All in all I am 100% behind this and I don’t think I will ever use anything else. I was so excited to see a couple of my twitter friends buy a cup or already have a cup! I like it, I love it…What don’t I like…nothing yet!
This is just a photo that I took. I filled my cup with water after my first full day (day 4 of 6) with about how full it was!

Please leave feedback! Would you use a cup? What is important to you in a cup? Has anyone else noticed less cramping?!