Note: this is a girly-TMI entry. Please do not read if you are weak of heart or a squeamish boy type. Thanks.

I’d originally heard of the mooncup a few years ago. I liked the sound of not having to pay out regularly for tampons, but given that my periods were rarely around anyway (‘thanks’ to the depo contraceptive jab, miscarriage etc) I saw little point in investing. I told myself I’d get one “in the future”.

I remember reading a couple of posts on mooncups/reusable menstrual solutions on Hanna’s blog, amongst others, some time between having Izz and my periods returning, and told myself that as they had returned I would invest.

Lo, 10 months to the day after I had Isabel, the bastards returned. As promised, I bought myself a mooncup (in time for period number 2).

I must admit when it arrived I was a little confused as to how I’d get the great big thing up there. I mean, without wishing to be crude or anything, it all went back to normal shape and size swiftly after having giving birth! Turns out there are a couple of methods to ‘fold’ this cup, and as you insert it you let go and it resumes normal shape.

The biggest benefit, aside from cost obviously, has been the fact that my previously agonising cramps have completely disappeared. I’ve been plagued my monstrous period pains forever, and was a little concerned that they appear to have been triggered by tampons. Some people accredit this to having given birth, but I’ve used tampons on a couple of occasions since and the cramps make a return. I can only begin to guess why (and would probably be wrong).

The other particularly nice thing about the mooncup is that because it’s quite a soft latexy material (rather than hard moisture-absorbing cottony stuff) is that it slides in and out (sorry) quite easily.

I do find that I tend to put the cup in and forget about it. This could be seen as a blessing or a pain in the arse, depending on how heavily you bleed I guess. This brings me to one weakness: removing a full cup is a little err… shall we say… tricky ;)

I’m definitely a big convert. Never did I think I’d be raving about periods and menstrual products though :P

(You can buy mooncups online or in most Boots stores in the UK.)

In my new room on the MLU (see part one) I was hooked up to a cylinder of gas and air (and, incidentally, went through 3 of these before I was finished) because they had no wall supply and ditched the TENS… the batteries had died anyway. I was given another internal — 7cm dilated,… read full entry »

If someone had said to me on Friday 13th November that I’d be going in to labour that evening, I would’ve probably scoffed at them. I’d crossed fingers for a Friday 13th birth because it’s a cool date, but with not even so much as a twinge by tea time I thought it unlikely, and… read full entry »

I’ve had the majority of my antenatal care through the local midwife-led unit. It’s a very relaxed atmosphere, a great team of midwives who’re all there for you and make you feel like you’re the only woman in the world currently having a baby. Clearly that’s not the case, but it’s nice to be made… read full entry »

I was going through some of my old posts the other day, looking for one in particular, and found my old ramble on the joys of PMS post-Depo Provera, and thought it appropriate to write a follow-up post on birth control. Yes, pregnancy: the ultimate birth control. Morning sickness does not stop at 12 weeks…… read full entry »

Jem: I’ll pop your drivers license in my purse Karl: Is that some kind of sexual metaphor, for later? Yes dear, yes it is.

I need more pants. Any volunteers willing to send pics? Actually, that very request reaches new levels of creepiness…