No it isn’t.
Whether you wear tampons or those very stylish, maxi pads, you always try to convince yourself that this will be the LAST box of feminine hygiene products you will ever purchase. When going to the drug store, you can be found cursing in the feminine hygiene aisle. “I can’t believe I have to buy another stupid box of pads.” So you do the only rational thing an infertile can do, you purchase the smallest box of feminine napkins you can find. None of those family sized feminine hygiene products for you! You buy the bare minimum. After all, this is the LAST time you will ever get your period so you won’t need them anymore. Yeah right.
The next month, aunt flow returns and you end up tearing your house apart because you can’t find a single pad to wear. And good luck getting your period at the office. You have nothing in your purse, and you end up stuffing toilet paper in your panties. Great, another pair of stained underwear! Infertility has appointed you the President of the Soiled Underwear Club. You might as well get all your panties at the dollar store at this rate. You would rather stuff toilet paper in your underwear for the next 7 days, then buy a another box of pads or tampons. Want to find out if a woman is having infertility problems? Go to your local drug store. She will be in the feminine aisle sobbing over a box of lady products.
Here are some other women who are also afraid to purchase feminine hygiene products (from Suggest a Reason to Laugh at Infertility)!
“And I bet I’m not the only one who does this. Each month when AF starts, I count how many tampons I have left and think, “ah that’s just enough to get me through this AF and THEN maybe I won’t need them ANYMORE!” Or in the same kind of scenario…you use your last tampon at the end of your period and think how perfect it would be if you were pregnant b/c then you will have zero tampons going to waste at home and won’t have to buy another box! You even stoop so low as to use a jumbo bulky pad you find laying around for the very end of your period, because why buy a whole new box of tampons when you won’t need them next month right?” -Cherbear
“While shopping for a friend’s baby shower, I noticed a whole aisle of feminine products (I guess for the bleeding after pregnancy? I wouldn’t know, never having given birth) so now I buy boxes of pads, thinking, Well I’ll use these after I have my baby…” -Joy
“You never buy extra tampons because you think that you wont need them the next month because you WILL be pregnant. So when your period arrives the next month you are left in a bind, and your police officer husband has to make an emergency trip to Wal-Mart on his lunch break in uniform.” -Amanda
Glad to know I’m not the only one who does this! Stupid period. Stupid tampons. Stupid pads.
Ah, yes. So true. Every single month. Then I’m afraid that I’m going to jinx it if I buy the boxes. Yeesh.
haha…so true…especially about the underwear…I never have any tampons at work cause I just “assume” AF won’t come when she should and I therefore why be prepared for a potentially embarrassing situation? lol
luckily I’m an elementary school teacher so there are always plenty of women around who have extras
LOVE the idea of the police officer buying tampons in his uniform! Hilarious!!!
I am now the opposite- after the never ending miscarriage (yes I am, no I’m not, yes I am let’s manage it naturally, can’t take anymore ) mess where I think I was in pads (no tampons allowed!) for about 4 of five weeks, I stock up now. This is all part of the super clever reverse psychology on my own brain. If I have many many pads, all scattered around in hiding places, my brain/body will think I want to get AF and bingo! pregnant. I would also far rather have a stash of the kind I find comfortable than ever wear the diaperlike ones that they produce at the ER.
My poor husband (who did buy an awful lot of pads during the experience) was heard to mutter “I just found another stash of your pads, why can’t you just put them in one place” as we packed to move.
I DO THIS. I do buy the larger boxes (can’t handle the unit price on the smaller ones), but they last me several cycles, so I always tell myself that I certainly won’t need ANOTHER. If at the end of a period I notice that I have only one or two left, it’s obvious I need more. If my toilet paper or shampoo were that low, I would pick some up on my next shopping trip (or maybe wait for a sale if I had a couple of weeks). But I never restock on tampons early. I wait for disaster. I do not want to buy tampons. Hate.
LOL! You explained this so perfectly!! (Oh by the way, I currently have 2 tampons left at home and am 5dp3dt…very first IVF….so here’s hoping I can REALLY don’t need to buy another box for a long time!!)
Totally what K said! I was buying pads every week during my m/c, and finally I bought two packages instead of just one and bingo – stopped bleeding after 4 or 5 weeks halfway through the first pack.
Now that I’m back to TTC though, you better believe I WON’T be stocking up!
lol I do this but with pregnancy tests “just 4 will be enough then I’ll never need another one” lol
Im really glad I found your blog Im young compared to a lot of the women I meet on other websites and I feel comfortable here. I was part of another site “i-am-pregnant.com” I joined before I knew I was infertile then when I found out and was going through the begining of my greif people were actually mean to me and said I didnt belong there because I wasnt TTC anymore and I couldnt get pregnant so I had nothing to contribute to their site.
I will admit I buy in bulk, costco baby! but that is primarily to avoid buying them in shoppers who seem to think that feminie hygiene products belong in the aisle with the baby products. No matter how you slice it that doesn’t make sense.
Wow! This is so right Naomi! I hate buying pads and tampons and avoid it at all costs! I am always thinking, ” just maybe”, I won’t need them next month. Only to start the next month and have to muster up the sanity and not sob down my pad aisle at my work.
ha ha I’m a reverse psychology girl – I’ll buy tampons to be prepared, hoping that I’ll be overprepared and won’t need them…. one day they will go to waste…
And InfertileAndi – I don’t know why people have to be so horrible! Although most fertile people don’t understand what infertility feels like, it seems some don’t even attempt to imagine….. I’m relatively young too, glad you have found this site, it should give you a laugh or two
)
This was brilliant!
I think the worst was just before my latest IUI – should I buy or not? Then I remembered how much I bled with the last one (incompetent gynae!) so I knew it would be best to get them..
I am the opposite, like Rachel. I loaded up on overnight pads and all sizes of tampons hoping all these extra supplies and money spent would bring good luck and surely go to waste. Unfornately, I have long since gone through these…
I got sick of the tampon/pad buying thing. It’s so depressing. I got a menstrual cup instead. It still sucks when I have to use it, but at least I don’t have to buy any more tampons.
Love this blog!
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