Qu for girl mums

[Princess of Pink]

Mine has always been 7-8 days long. After having DD#5 they have shortened to 4-5 days which is heaven!!!

[atomic sagebrush]

Hi, just wanted to know if any of you have long periods, I am having a very strange period wher I am still getting mucousy blood on cd11, normally af would only last until cd5. I'm trying to work out if this is a hormonal thing, is it familiar to any of you girl mums? Thanks!!!!

I was thinking more about this thread and I remember that when I was a teenager, I had very long and irregular cycles and my periods were a week-10 days long! (I even got my mom to exempt me from PE when I was a sophomore because it was so bad.) Then when I turned 18 or so, they suddenly became spot on 28 days regular and only 3-4 days long and there they have stayed for lo these 20+ years. Weirdly, I didn't have any cramps at all until my cycles became very regular and then I began to have O pains and menstrual cramping that I could set the clock by practically.

I've read that when you first get your menstrual cycle, your hormones are still kind of in flux and so you can have very irregular cycles because of this. Swish, I think it's a good sign that your hormones may be different than they were before.

[gizmo77]

so shorter mroe predictable cycles equals boys??? (hoping!) ;-P

[soontobesix]

so shorter mroe predictable cycles equals boys??? (hoping!) ;-P

It's so weird you wrote about this Gizmo b/c I've been contemplating how the length of periods maybe plays a role (or is an indicator) in having boys or girls as well. I did a lot of reading on menstrual cycles in the last few months when L-arg screwed me up. What I read said something to the effect that you need more hormones to build up the uterine lining (that you shed during your period) so i was wondering if a heavier flow is more indicative of having boys (ie. more hormones)??? I have three girls and have had a very short period with light flow for as long as I can remember (we're talking 3-4 days of period, at least one of those days is spotting, maybe one - 2 medium flow days at most). I was concerned about it being too light after DD #3 that I even talked to my doc about it. So if I recall correctly from reading one of Atomic's posts about hormones, you need estrogen, to make testosterone and then progesterone (or something like that...) So it makes me wonder if the moms of little boys are having the more regular, longer, heavier flow periods and the moms of girls are on the lighter, shorter side???? I may totally be off base but just wanted to see what everyone else's thoughts are on this.

[atomic sagebrush]

so shorter mroe predictable cycles equals boys??? (hoping!) ;-P

That is what I ~tend~ to think, that "normal" cycles (and that will be different for every person) or maybe "optimal" is a better word, ~tend~ to indicate your estrogen level is higher. Esp. if your cycle has been very irregular and then becomes regular, that is a good sign for blue.

I don't want anyone to panic if this has not been true for you while on the TTC blue diet/supps, this is just a tendency and MY speculation and nothing that has been scientifically proven. I know Tamara believes that long cycles don't sway either way.

[LolaInLove]

Well, when I had my girls, I had shorter AFs, like yours Soontobesix, about 1 day of real flow and 3 of light and spotting....and in the last year of swaying, they have gotten heavier, where I have 2 days of heavy flow and 2 days of light flow with a spotting day at both ends. Hmmmmmm........

[atomic sagebrush]

It's so weird you wrote about this Gizmo b/c I've been contemplating how the length of periods maybe plays a role (or is an indicator) in having boys or girls as well. I did a lot of reading on menstrual cycles in the last few months when L-arg screwed me up. What I read said something to the effect that you need more hormones to build up the uterine lining (that you shed during your period) so i was wondering if a heavier flow is more indicative of having boys (ie. more hormones)??? I have three girls and have had a very short period with light flow for as long as I can remember (we're talking 3-4 days of period, at least one of those days is spotting, maybe one - 2 medium flow days at most). I was concerned about it being too light after DD #3 that I even talked to my doc about it. So if I recall correctly from reading one of Atomic's posts about hormones, you need estrogen, to make testosterone and then progesterone (or something like that...) So it makes me wonder if the moms of little boys are having the more regular, longer, heavier flow periods and the moms of girls are on the lighter, shorter side???? I may totally be off base but just wanted to see what everyone else's thoughts are on this.

My take would be that ANY deviation from what is optimal for your own personal body, whether that be very long periods OR very short ones, are prob. a sign that something is not quite "right". Doctors may not be able to show this in a lab test because the stuff they test for is things that are glaringly wrong and out of balance. More subtle things will not be noticed.

You make an interesting point about the uterine lining - since estrogen does play a part in the thickness of the uterine lining, it does seem ~possible~ that a heavy period could equal higher estrogen, but I don't think that's in any way proven. There are lots of diff. variables that come into play, like cycle lenght...a long cycle ~tends~ to cause a heavier period and of course taking things like blood thinners also make you bleed a lot more and heavier even though it has nothing to do with yoru hormones. So a person with more or less clotting factor could have a shorter or longer period because of that and for no other reason. FWIW I have periods that are almost exactly like you describe yours as being, and of course I have 4 boys.

Just to clarify, your body takes cholesterol and first makes progesterone, then testosterone, then estrogen.

[gizmo77]

ive always had heaver longr cycles. esply so when i conceived dd1.with dd2 i was in the middle of trying to lose weight via cardio, small portions, and low carbs so af was slightly shorter and lighter. tjhese days even tho im eating tons, no cardio (except daily running around), muscle building, my af is about avg id say shorter than normal. 5-6days, 2 heavy days 2 medium 1-2 light. and this cycle i suddenly have spotting 3 days post AF ends. as ive gotten older it seems my af has gotten shorter and lighter. but still pretty heavy initially (i dont think the heaviness in the beginning has changed.).

interesting tho!

[atomic sagebrush]

MY AF has gotten shorter and lighter as I got older as well.

If there's anything to be gleaned from cycles, it seems too hit and miss to tell.

[jane]

mine are usually 3 heavy 2 medium and 1 light,i never get period pain but i get headache on the 1st day.im not sure if this helps the cause though!