Menstrual mishaps: 'I wish I would have laughed about it at the time'
Menstrual mishaps happen to the best of us.
Some are worse than others, yet all are seemingly horrifying and life-ending in the moment. Luckily, looking back on them today, they are just blips on the radar, little “oopses” that, in the grand scheme of things, are now just things to laugh about when said moments arise in conversation.
Whatever the reason, whether it is the first or 100th time, prepared or not, in school, at home or out on the town, students at Central Michigan University have been there, and they have lived to talk about it.
A few CMU women have taken it upon themselves to share some of their embarrassing moments, which, while looking back, prove not to be so embarrassing.
St. Clair Shores sophomore Victoria Schick described the first time she had her period in middle school. She recalled going to the office to try to call her mom.
“It was the first time I had ever had a period; I was in middle school. It was my first day of seventh grade, and I had to go into the office to tell the lady that was working at the front desk that I needed to call my mom,” Schick said.
Schick explained the office attendant wouldn’t allow her to call her mom without a reason. So, Shick said, she had to muster up the courage to tell an office that was full of both students and faculty at the time what was going on.
“She wouldn’t let me call my mom without a reason. So, I had to tell her in front of an office full of students and teachers that I had just started my period,” Schick said. “Everyone in the office went silent and just looked at me.”
“I did cry at the time,” Schick said. “A lot of my friends were in (the office) at the time, and I didn't go to a big school, so people found out about it. It was just mortifying.”
Looking back on that moment, though, Schick said it wasn’t as big of a deal as she had originally made it out to be. Despite going to a smaller school and having her classmates hear about her dilemma, Schick said that looking back at it, it's a moment she can laugh about.
“It wasn’t a big deal. I mean, no one remembers it, obviously. It happened in seventh grade,” Schick said. “Now, I can definitely laugh about it. It’s not a big deal anymore.”
Another CMU student, Lapeer sophomore Rachel Spradlin, said she had started her first period while she was in class and was caught off guard and unprepared.
“Well, it was when I was in seventh grade; after I had just started my first period, and I wasn’t prepared at all," Spradlin said.
Spradlin recalled feeling an uncomfortable sensation in her seat. She said she then looked down to find that an unpleasant surprise had been given to her right in the middle of class.
"I had sat down in the class, and I could feel that the seat was wet. I looked down, and, all of a sudden, I saw that there was blood on the seat, and I started freaking out because I didn’t have anything; I was not prepared,” Spradlin said.
Luckily for her, Spradlin’s male teacher was absent from class that day and the class was taught by a female substitute who helped Spradlin by offering her a sweatshirt to wrap around her waist so she could go to the bathroom.
“Usually, the class was taught by a male teacher, but I lucked out and we had a female substitute teacher that day,” Spradlin said. “She offered me her sweatshirt to put around my waist so I could get up and go get something."
The substitute went above and beyond for Spradlin; she even cleaned up the mess Spradlin left behind on her chair.
"She was the one who cleaned up my chair, which I felt really badly about. My pants were completely soaked in blood, so I had to wrap the sweatshirt around my waist,” Spradlin said.
At the time, Spradlin said she experienced a flood of emotion because she was so surprised and caught off guard.
“At the time, I felt confused and scared, because I wasn’t prepared at all,” Spradlin said.
Spradlin said that looking back on the moment today, although embarrassing, she just laughs about her mishap. She said she wishes at the time she wouldn’t have gotten so worked up over the ordeal. Spradlin also said she was grateful for the substitute teacher that helped her out that day.
“Looking back, it was a funny mistake. I was just glad I had a nice teacher that was so helpful,” Spradlin said.
