The First Period

After giving birth, a woman always wonders when her period will return.  When will I start ovulating?  When are we at risk of getting pregnant again?  When will the post partum bleeding stop and my period come back?

Ugh, if only there was a rule here!  Something us girls could count on!  It's such a pain that every body is different and you never know when your body will get back into fertility mode.  Even after your cycle starts back up, you never know how regular it will be.  Take me for example...

I thought that since I exclusively breastfed Emmaline since the moment she was born that my period would take a while to come back.  A while meaning 6-12 months.  I've read about women not starting their period for 2 years after giving birth and breastfeeding, why couldn't I be like them, right?  Wrong.  I got my first post partum period when Emma was 4 months old!  WTF???  Since my post partum bleeding lasted 7 weeks, that wasn't much time away from that issue (and those products which we will discuss in another post). 

So, my period returned.  Fine, whatever.  I've been doing Natural Family Planning (read more about that here) and assumed I could start that right back up again.  Wait...  NFP means taking your temperature every morning after sleeping through the night...  Does Emma sleep through the night?  Not so much...  Since we're not ready for Baby #2, here came the condoms... 

The big reason I don't like being away from NFP is that I miss knowing exactly what my body is doing and when!  By taking my temperature everyday and following the other NFP symptom tracking, I knew when to expect a "down" day, when I might get a cramp, and when my period would start...  down to the hour sometimes!  Plus, and perhaps you don't know this but, the post partum cycle is pretty unpredictable.  Prior to pregnancy, I had a 27 day cycle.  I'm telling you that when my period didn't start on day 28 I KNEW I was pregnant!  I had half a beer on Saint Patty's Day knowing that the next day I'd take a test and our lives would change forever (STFU and don't judge me for drinking 1/2 a Guinness the day before peeing on a stick).  Anyway, since having Emma, my cycles have been anywhere from 41-45 days long!  Can you imagine being used to a 27 day cycle and then having this crazy long time between periods that is inconsistent???  It sucks...  so. bad.  It sucked so bad and had me so freaked out that I spent $5 on Amazon to buy 25 pregnancy test strips so that I could test every month till Emma is 2 if I wanted to!  I have tested...  twice...  don't worry, we're not pregnant!

So, for me, the post partum period itself isn't so bad (although it lasts 1 day longer than it did prior to pregnancy), it's the waiting for it to make its appearance that's so crazy!  Anyone else have an irregular cycle after giving birth?  I know you feel my pain!!  And, for the record, the box of 25 pregnancy test strips was one of the best purchases I've made since Emmaline was born!