Thanks big sis for telling me how to use the female stuff. Thanks mom for buying them for me and never making a big deal out of it. COme to think of it, that goes for birth control, too.

I didn't start using tampons regularly until I was in college, because my mother didn't like them. When I first started my period, I asked about them (having read about it in Are You There God, It's Me Margaret) and she said that they were bad. I found out I liked them when I was at a friend's house and started unexpectedly and all she had were tampons. Her mom was really sweet and explained everything, and then offered to go buy me some pads. I wore them once and thought "this is awesome", so I went home and asked my mother to buy them for me. She said "oh, I don't think you should use them" so she wouldn't buy them. I would sometimes save my allowance, but the damn things were expensive!

Yes, my mother has ISSUES. Don't get me started on the whole underwire bra issue.

Email her this and record her reaction when she sees it.

I saw that commercial after my dad died, and was a sobbing mess for a few minutes, because that WAS my dad. And it being a black dad and daughter just made it hit even closer to home for me.

Don't get me started on the whole underwire bra issue.

My mom is less than an A cup, and always has been. Her view on underwire bras has always been that they are uncomfortable, horrible, awful, why would anyone ever wear one??? Because, hey, she didn't need a bra for actual support.

So *I* never wore underwire bras (despite having a full B cup) until I got to college. On a trip to VS with my roommates, they talked me into trying one, and immediately I was all, WHY have I NOT been wearing these?!?

My mom is STILL befuddled as to why I would want to wear such horrible awful uncomfortable things, because her worldview is that her own experience MUST be true for everyone, ever, anywhere.

So, not just the same name, but the same mother? This is EXACTLY my experience with bras and underwire.

Only difference was my VS trip was because I wanted to buy something pretty for an assignation, and the saleswoman was so horrified at my bra that she gave me her discount so that I could by two more.

you're really not supposed to flush tampons

I think it really depends. Especially since most tampons say they're flushable.

I switched to reusable pads

Thinking about doing so myself.

most tampons say they're flushable

I've been told by more than one plumber that "flushable" wet wipes have been great for his business, so it wouldn't surprise me if tampons fall into the same category.

I still flush mine, mostly. Or did, back when I had periods. Having now been pregnant since THE BEGINNING OF RECORDED TIME, I barely remember what it was like.

Never liked tampons. Apparently I have a tipped uterus, so the architecture in there is not conducive to internal methods.

Just did a quick Google of reusable pads. The entry for the Swiffer pad was quite disconcerting.

"Mama pads" is probably going to be your best search term, Connie.

Most cloth diapering sites (Nicki's, Happy Tushies, etc) sell them. Happy Tushies has the best wet bags on the market.

According to the doctor who delivered Nick, my tailbone is oddly shaped and impinges on things. Whatever the reason, I can't use tampons either. I have a partially bicornate (bicornuate in the UK) uterus, too, which may be why all three of the monkey bunnies presented transverse.