The baby chronicles #30: The return of Aunt Flo

Weeks old: 30
I like: Green Day, talking to myself, boobs, peanut butter
Mummy is learning: To move her coat/scarf away from me if I have been eating something messy and it’s all over my chops

Warning: I am going to talk about menstruation in this post. I personally don’t think periods are anything shameful or dirty and that normalising talking about this totally natural bodily function that half the human race experiences at some time or another is something we should do. However if you are not mature enough for this, stop reading now.

This week I got my second post partum period. When it turned up last month I was half hoping it was a fluke but this week’s arrival of “Aunt Flo”, as she’s often “affectionately” called, proves that it wasn’t.

If you were wondering why I was surprised, it’s not uncommon for breastfeeding to stop your period while you continue to feed overnight. It’s a kind of natural birth control that protects your body from getting pregnant before it’s healed enough to manage a healthy pregnancy. For many mums, it stops for over a year. I was kind of hoping for a bit longer than six months but no such luck. I guess this is my body’s way of saying it thinks I am ready to have another baby.

Go home, body… you’re drunk!

Of course it meant that the second baby discussion became a reality. Right now I can’t really imagine what having an additional little human would be like. I think I would want Little O to be sleeping more at night before I would even consider it. Mr and O and I both feel like we wouldn’t be upset if I were to fall pregnant unexpectedly but that there isn’t a burning desire for another baby right now. I do like the idea of Little O having a sibling  but with a bit more of a gap. Of course I am already 36 and while there’s nothing wrong with having babies into your 40’s, I am not sure that it is right for me, especially considering that pregnancy made me unwell last time. I guess only time will tell.

Jack taking a bite out of his potential future wife, Little T

Interestingly having a baby has changed the normal “progression” of my period. Most women know when their period is coming because of certain signs and then it follows a similar pattern. Mine used to be a long drawn out often very painful affair but since Little O was born it comes and goes very quickly and with virtually no pain. This seems like a massive score. Unfortunately I still get quite bad breast tenderness, which makes feeding quite uncomfortable in the lead up. These babies don’t realise how much they put their mamas though.

And finally just for a laugh… I was talking periods with some friends of mine and we joked that Aunt Flo sounds like a character from a show called Gigglebiz that stars Justin Fletcher, the face (and figurative arse), of CBeebies playing a host of characters both male and female. We found it so amusing that the image below has now become our universal symbol for periods.

Disclaimer: This character is actually called Gail Force and she reads the imaginary weather… she doesn’t talk to preschoolers about menstruation.