My journey with menstruation commenced in October , marked by a distinctive putty brown color. My mother and my father's two sisters welcomed me into the shared experience through a thoughtful rites of passage care package. It included seven day a week panties in pastel colors, two slips, two girdles, and an assortment of menstrual products reflective of the s era.
With each cycle my blood carried a rich tapestry of information about my well being. It became a tangible record bearing evidence of my physical and emotional health. I metamorphosized into a blood cartographer, meticulously charting my periods and accumulating data to illuminate my journey. Some people think that blood is, well, just blood. But for me, menstrual blood profoundly connected me to my evolving identity. It established a rhythm uniquely mine yet intricately intertwined with the ancestral cadence familiar to my mother, sisters, cousins and grandmothers.
And when that profound connection ended after 34 years, I found myself compelled to become my own blood photographer once more, navigating this uncharted path with introspection and resilience. There's a lot that goes on during a period, a complex interaction of hormones causes changes in the uterine lining, and the growth of new egg follicles. But one thing that's always fascinated me specifically, is the blood.
There are schools of thoughts where we just say, you know, menstrual blood is just blood. That's true, in a sense. That's Dr.
She's a huge proponent of menstrual education, starting with what's actually in our period blood. As the menstrual blood flows down the reproductive tract, it's going to pick up other things. So it's going to have that uterine lining that's also associated with it, there will be cervical mucus, and then there'll be vaginal cells and other things like fluid from the vaginal wall.
