About the small Si-Bell:
About the large Si-Bell:
A few photos: My opinion: The silicone used on both Si-Bell cups seems to be of really high quality. It's nice and smooth and feels great to the touch. It makes both cups also easy to insert and remove, giving them a nice glide. Although it feels a bit softer to me than the Organicup, I daresay the Si-Bell (both the small and the large), is easier to insert than the Organicup. This might have to do with the Si-Bell being a bit more flared, the rim standing thus a bit more out from the rest of the cup. Nevertheless, getting both Si-Bell cups to pop open once inside has a bit of a learning curve to it. You have to 'help' the cup by poking a bit with your middle finger and ever so slightly pulling its stem and then pushing it up again. To get the Si-Bell out again is not that difficult. Neither Si-Bell cup does have grip rings on their base to aid on removal, however, they do have grip rings on their stems and also four indentations on their sides. The indentations, in my opinion, don't really add to removing the Si-Bell, though they might help to break the suction a bit better, but the grip rings on their stems do. They are really practical and easy to grip and hold on to. The stem of both Si-Bells is also flexible and a bit stretchy, but not as stretchy as the one on the Organicup. The flexibleness of the stem is great since that way it goes with the shape of your body and does not stab you. My Si-Bell cup story: The Si-Bell cup is a very good quality cup, however, I don't like it, nor the small, nor the large. Both cups are way too soft for me, I believe my pelvic floor muscle just squished and moved them, which led them to doing some weird acrobatics once they were inside of me :p The small Si-Bell cup ended up so high that it hit my spinal nerve in some way and which made me feel sick to my stomach, really hot and sweaty (nearly feverish), and gave also a fierce dull painful feeling in my left lower abdomen. When it happened I was in class and we had to do some group work so I did not dare to ask if I could go to the toilet (stupid of me :O). After class, once I got my cup out, I soon felt a lot better. I felt a bit uneasy to use my small Si-Bell after that, so this period I decided to opt for the large. What I experienced with the large Si-Bell cup though, was really horrible and gave me quite the scare. Maybe you remember me saying I was afraid the Shorty (MeLuna) would get lost inside of me. Well, let's say it was not the Shorty that did, it was the large Si-Bell! I was literally shocked last night when I wanted to change my cup. I 'd had quite a heavy flow day and thought my cup was full since I had a leaking sensation (luckily I always wear a cloth pad as back-up!) so I went to the bathroom to take it out. There seemed no Si-Bell cup to take out though! It should have been there however, since I had not already taken it out. I was puzzled. I also felt myself leaking so I quickly put a towel on the floor in order not to make a mess of things. I tried reaching again for my large Si-Bell and what I then noticed simply baffled me. It had twisted itself and moved so far up that it was folded into a small ball upwards of my pubic bone. I could feel a tiny bit of it's stem, but could not grab it, as it was jammed between my now ball-cup and my pubic bone. I nearly panicked, but remembered just in time that in times like these, you really have to do stay calm! It is of the utmost importance, especially if you are like me and you don't want to land at your doctor's office or at the ER in order for them to take it out. Keeping that desperately unwanted scenario in mind, I succeeded in remaining very calm and decisive. I was absolutely determined to get that cup out myself! First, I tried reaching for it with my middle finger alone, as that's my longest finger. I could reach it, but not get it loose. I then remembered someone saying, that sometimes if you squat, it's easier to get your cup out. Well, it did not work for me. Squatting made the opening where behind my cup sat even tighter, so there was no way I would get it out that way. So up I got myself again, starting to feel ever so slightly desperate. What would work? I then decided to not only stick my middle finger, but also my index finger up into my vagina. Mind you, this was something I had never done before wearing a cup and was quite hesitant about, since I'm really tight and I was afraid I might really hurt myself. But hey, desperate times call for desperate measures and a woman's gotta do what a woman's gotta do, right? : ) so I just went for it. With every try, I felt myself getting more towards getting the stem loose from it's tricky position. When I finally succeeded in grabbing it, I pulled and pulled. I thought I'd never get it out, until suddenly, my large Si-Bell just popped out and, yeah, I was left with a murder scene-like scenario in my bathroom :O : ) blood was all over! There was a big splash of it on my towel I put on the floor in case of dribbing and also a big gush on my sink :O I did not mind though. I was way to happy to get the thing finally out : ) You cannot imagine how relieved I was (and really proud of myself in some way)! Shorty compared to large Si-Bell: Even though it was absolutely horrendous, I'm glad it happened. It gave me a chance to discover my female anatomy even more, which is always a nice bonus :p, plus I got to write about it, so you can be better informed when choosing between cups and maybe therefore it won't happen to you! If, however, this ever were to happen to you, there is always this tiny tiny chance with any cup really I guess, please, do stay calm! I've been there and I can assure you, it really helps!!! Do I recommend the Si-Bell cup after this experience? I hope I did not scare you off with my story, as I said the chances of such a thing happening are really small, but it's sometimes better to expect the unexpected in order to be prepared and that's why I decided to tell you about it. I might myself not ever want to use a Si-Bell cup again due to what I experienced with both of mine, I would, however, recommend it. I'm sad it did not work for my body shape. for it does seem so lovely. I would, however, not recommend the silicone pouch if you have the option. It really attracts a whole lot of lint! If you therefore like or need a really soft cup, the Si-Bell cup is probably a great cup for you! It's lovely soft and smooth and of a high quality with a good capacity to it too. I will try to give mine away to the Amps for Africa project if they want them (after having sterilized it first of course!). I hope they do, maybe someone else will then be able to benefit from it. It really seems like a great cup! The Si-Bell cup is available in two colours: clear version pink version until it happens to be one of those days it's quite the opposite... The first time ever I bought cloth pads, almost two years ago now, I bought them from this shop on Etsy, called Lola's Loft. I did not know anything about cloth pads at that time, only that they were better for your feminine health and that they came in a ton of different cute prints. I had seen pictures of some cute froggy cloth pads online and learned that you might be able to find similar ones on Etsy so I decided to go and find out. That way, I landed at Lola's Loft. Not only had she gotten a few cute froggy pads, she also offered some cute owly ones and her prices including shipping overseas were affordable too! I decided to buy a few. They arrived quite quickly I have to say and I was extremely excited to try them out. I did not know what to expect. I pre-washed them to increase the absorbency and noticed something was wrong with one of them. The inside core had gotten mixed up. I immediately contacted Lola and she was very nice and helpful. She sent me a new pad and this one was fine after washing it. Then came my period and I finally got to test cloth pads for the first time. I remember constantly running to the toilet to check whether I had leaked or not, but no, nothing happened, no leaks at all. Not even overnight, whereas with disposables I could never sleep comfortably or soundly, because now and then I Ieaked, which caused me so much discomfort and stress I constantly worried and stressed about it. Lola's pads, in addition to be leakproof, also felt so very much more comfortable than the different kinds of disposable pads I had been using up till that day. This absolutely made my day, or do I have to say my period in this case :p For I like these pads so much, for Lola's friendliness and helpfulness, for that I really like them, and for the fact that I can't seem to find any review on this lovely lady's shop, I decided to do my first ever cloth pad review on the first time ever cloth pads I bought :) That I've had these pads for nearly two years now, means that I also can offer you a view what your pads will look like after they've been used for some time! These are the photo's like they were portrayed on Etsy for about 2 years ago: My Lola's Loft cloth pads after nearly 2 years! About the regular cloth menstrual pad 9 1/2 inches long with PUL:
About the Maxi cloth menstrual pad 11 inches long with PUL:
My opinion: These pads are wonderful. I'm really grateful I got them to be my first ever cloth pads and Lola as the first shop-owner to sell them to me. I cannot imagine having had a better first experience with cloth pads than I did. Thank you Lola! The flannel top-fabric is of good quality. Nearly two years later the colours are still looking vivid and lively and the fabric is still in good shape. I also love the fact that, even as inexperienced as I was, I never leaked through them nor ever stained them so much I could no longer get the stain out again. I still buy pads from Lola's Loft from time to time. I just even placed a custom order with her for one overnight pad and for one panty liner. I love her overnight pads and I had never gotten a chance to try her panty liners, since they were always sold out in the fabric I liked. I really wanted to try them though, since they seemed to be the way I love a panty liner to be. Lola went really out of her way to track down the fabric I liked and was always ever so friendly! I'm really grateful to her because I just love the fabric so much! I can't wait to receive them in the mail and try them out! I will post pictures on them when they've arrived so you can have a look too! I will also do a review on the panty liner and add it here too! Update!!!! : ) My pad and pantyliner have arrived and I just love them to bits! They are so well-made and extremely pretty! I'm also really impressed with the panty liner. It is even better than I hoped for! It's so soft and stays in place so well. It seems also really holding up well even as a cup back-up! I made the photos and will upload them shortly! Omgeee, what a lovely name this cup has! You often hear people say ''What's in a name'' and this truly holds for this cup. We women often have mixed feelings about their periods, even their entire bodies, and then often especially when they're on their periods. at such a time it's not always that easy to love your body. That's exactly why I love the name of this cup: it's a constant reminder to love your body the way it is! Think about it, your body is great because every woman is unique! Even if there are days that you feel not all that well, you can take it from the positive side: it's your body's way of telling you that you need to spoil yourself a bit that day, to just indulge, take a little me-time and pamper yourself! What's not to love about that ;-) I first found out about the LuvUrBody cup on the menstrual cup section of Femininewear where you can buy a lot of period products. I immediately fell in love with it's name, not to mention it's looks, since it has to be the prettiest menstrual cup around. It's covered in flowers and even it's stem is cute, it being a little leaf! I hesitated a long time before buying it though. It has to be one of the largest cups around and I'm like really petite as you all know. Going back and forth about its pro's and cons, I could not help myself and just bought it. I was looking for a huge cup for when I would be sitting exams and this one fit the bill perfectly because it indeed is huge! I bought it straight of from the LuvUrBody website itself. About the medium size LuvUrBody cup itself:
A few photos: My opinion:
I am not sure what to think about the LuvUrBody cup. It is a well-mad cup and it's really pretty with a unique design and beautiful name encouraging you to love your body, which I appreciate very much. Now onto the cup itself. The cup itself is quite soft and really huge, which makes it a challenge to get it in (read: not touch the wrong hole with it or for that matter your hands, having to wash it all over again (not funny if you're in a hurry) :p). Once inside, I had a bit of a struggle to get it to open up. The LYB is a softer resistance cup, which makes it more difficult to get it open, its size not being helpful in that matter ( : The softer resistance also is one of its weaknesses if you have a strong pelvic floor and if your looking for a high capacity cup, for that it does have, large capacity. However, you will probably not being able to enjoy it then as your pelvic floor will crush and squish the cup, causing you to leak. The LYB's stem is a little leaf and looks really cute. It is easy to grip and to hold on to as it has tiny incisions on it, and best of all, it is flexible, which means that you probably will not be poked (I got poked sometimes, but mostly that was because my muscles were playing with my cup (I have a strong pelvic floor and I guess it might be too soft for me.)) Would I recommend the LuvUrBody cup? I would. I believe it to be a decent cup so it's worth to give it a go. I would, however, only recommend it to you if you do not need a really firm cup and if you have a high cervix. Otherwise, your muscles will squish it, causing you to leak, or it will hurt or poke out if your cervix is too low. About my pastIt was plain horrible. What my father did to my mum, my gran and me, still has repercussions on all of us. I have lost 10 years of my life because of it. It took a long time to fully being able to come to terms with it all (especially what happened the one night the police finally came to take him away) and it's still a work in progress. It also made the healing slow down because of the scars inflicted on my mum also had a stake in it. I do not blame her for anything though. She was as much a victim of the situation as was I. She did all she could to offer me an as normal childhood as she could as did my gran. Mum, if you were to read this sometime, I love you! I am not (entirely) happy with my past, but I would not want to change it either! It has made me who I am today and I would not want to be anyone but me. If there is one thing I learned from everything that happened to me during my entire life, it's this. I realized that, after all, the only one in your life who ought to make you happy is you. Others are not responsible for your happiness, nor will they ever be entirely able to make you happy the way you could make you happy. Their definition of happiness will always be different than yours albeit only a little for no two human beings are the same, and some will even use you to make themselves happy when it won't do the same for you. My gran always used to say: "Life is what you make of it". and she was right. The emphasis is on you. You are responsible for your own happiness. Other people can add to your happiness of course, but the only one capable of truly making you happy is you. Happiness truly is an inside job. In order to accomplish doing this inside job properly, I decided to first and foremost not let any dark moods tempt me anymore than necessary. I think it's okay to be sad and it's not that I would want to banish them, but what I mean is that I would like to be able to contain them in order to be able to learn the lesson they have to offer instead of getting lost in feeling only the hurt. It's okay to be sad, but sadness can drown you if you let it or learn you a lesson if you are open for it. The choice is up to you. In order to be able to do so, I first had to come to terms with the fact that I am the kid of such a horrible person. I had to imprint myself that I deserve to be happy. It took me a long time to come to terms with the fact that I have a father like mine that did such horrible things, but I am not him. I may look like him in some aspects but this does not make me a bad person. If the thing in which I look like him is a positive one, I try to be grateful and use it to do good, if it's a negative thing, I try to be aware of it and work on myself so I do not turn out like him. After all, I am human so I will make mistakes and I should, because you learn so much from them and if you learn from them you become a better version of yourself. It's okay to be me. When I finally realized this, it felt so freeing. It felt like: Second I decided to do so by from now on, altering the way I think by focusing even more on the little things that make life worthwhile. I noticed that it feels great to feel grateful and there are so much things in life you might otherwise take for granted, but actually deserve our feelings of gratefulness. Although my life has not always been the easiest, nor is it know because all I've been through and all that I have to overcome in order to live a 'normal' life, nonetheless, I would not want to trade with anyone. I have had a lot of things happen to me, but if you place it in perspective, there are people who suffered less, but there are also a lot of people who suffered more! It is up to me how I choose my future to be! I can use my experiences to let my past make me stronger as a person and more emphatic towards others. I can let my past rule me or take matters into my own hands and try to become the best possible version of me. SomedayAdmittedly, it can be a bit scary if something goes wrong, you've got no one to blame but yourself. Let's focus on the positive side though. Being able to be in control of your own life is a great gift and can be very empowering too. If something works out the way you planned it. You know you are responsible for it and even that fact alone will make you glow. Every small thing that you've achieved will make you grow. You know that you are what you choose to become; not the (bad) things that happened to you. You feel that, if you stay positive and if you focus on the things you love, someday, you gonna get it right your life. Motivational song : Most of the time, we don't really think much about what we eat, as long as it's yummy and for a lot of us, also healthy. Maybe we should think twice about what we put in our mouths though:
http://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/without_saying_a_word_this_6_minute_short_film_will_mak_you_speechless/ These are living beings and they're just being treated as if they were nothing more but lifeless objects. All because more is never enough. No words... |
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AuthorLottemarie, KULeuven-student, life-enthusiast, happy-go-lucky, thinker, determined, persistent, creative Archives
December 2015
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