Ice packs get a big thumbs-up from me today. I decided to try icing my tummy before the injection, in the hopes it would numb it a bit. And to its credit it definitely helped! It still hurt, but just when I was bracing myself for the worst of it Den was done. It was a welcome relief.

In other news, my period is gone. Just like that, it’s gone. I was starting to think this was a horribly heavy period – I know me using cloth pads now has made it harder to judge how “normal” it was though. Different absorption rates and all that… it’s hard to tell if I’m having a “heavy” day or if the new pads are just making me paranoid and changing pads more often than I need to.

Getting through an entire period with only three pads (plus one overnight pad) is rather interesting, though. I ended up washing each one by hand as soon as I changed it, hanging it up to dry, then tossing it in the dryer on low for a few minutes to finish the drying so I could use it again. That was fun. I own more than three pads, but only three HH brand… and honestly every time I put on one of the other ones I got cranky and wanted my nice ones back.

The HH ones I don’t even really notice, they’re so soft. This is the first period where I haven’t felt like I never want to leave my bed again. I can’t even really explain it… normally I just feel so “gross” that I just don’t want to go anywhere or do anything. And I’m not talking about cramps and nausea… I’m just talking about how I usually feel dirty and icky and the pad makes me feel uncomfortable so I don’t want to do anything. (I would use tampons when I went out.) But honestly, this month hasn’t been the same at ALL. I’ve been walking daily. I’ve felt good enough to get stuff done and clean and keep my face washed and basically do everything but lay in my bed and mope. It’s really… weird. In a good way.

I’ll also mention that I never got cramps. I got the tiniest bit of nausea right when my period started, I took a midol, and nothing ever came back. Normally I feel crappy, I take a midol, I feel better in a little while, then a few hours later I’m feeling like crap again and I have to take another dose. Not this month. And no cramps at all. I know I read of other girls saying that they got less cramps and lighter periods when they switched to cloth but I honestly discounted it as illogical. My period was definitely not shorter or lighter… but I felt better. Maybe it’s because of my recent lap (even though the period before wasn’t better), maybe it’s psychosomatic. Who knows.

I can definitely see why it wouldn’t be for everyone, this cloth pads thing… the washing of blood would have made me feel ill years ago (I’m past that stage… long past that stage). Plus yes, they are a little bulky, so I don’t think they’re a good alternative to tampons if you’re into that. They’re a little more work, because of the washing (though with a normal stash you wouldn’t be washing them by hand every day, just throwing them in with your laundry!) and when I go out I have a wet bag – a little zippered waterproof bag – to store them in until I get home, so it takes forethought.

But for me, for my lifestyle, I think it works just great. I’m definitely sold.