Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Not a period

Everyone has a story about a friend of a friend who was eight months along before she found out she was pregnant. Or maybe she went to the bathroom and had a baby instead. Or more commonly, she didn't find out she was pregnant until the fourth or fifth month.

These women are obviously among the lucky half of pregnant women who do not battle morning sickness.

They are also obviously among the lucky few who put on little weight and show nothing.

And yet, how can you not KNOW you are pregnant? The breast tenderness alone! The incessant tiredness! Also: the missing period.

I've heard too many women say, "I got my period all while I was pregnant," or "I got two periods before I found out."

Um. These are not periods. These are implantation bleeding, spotting, placenta previa, or worse. They can be mistaken for a period, but THEY ARE NOT YOUR PERIODS!

Too many women don't understand their own bodies, or have only a rudimentary understanding of what a period is, ie: blood in your undies.

A period is your uterus shedding it's fertile lining because whoops - no egg got fertilized this month. The bleeding throughout pregnancy may be MISTAKEN for a period, BUT IT IS NO PERIOD.

If you get a PERIOD, you CANNOT BE PREGNANT!

STOP CALLING IT YOUR PERIOD!

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