I get the cup and practice some folds on it and finally settle on the punch down fold. My period comes and I insert and I manage to get it in with little to no problems. My second day of bleeding is usually very heavy. I needed to empty the meluna at least once an hour. I was worried about having to take it out, but I managed fine with it and only had a couple little spills. I have to say I am kind of amazed at seeing my menstrual fluid. A tampon kind of negates the sheer amount of fluid. I figured that since I had a good first day, then the second would be better. I was kind of right and kinda wrong.
I decide to go cup only for work because I felt pretty comfortable with using it and having an idea of how much it could hold. I get to work and decide to empty it about half way through the morning (It's so nice not having to conserve tampons to get through the day!) and when I took it out I noticed that the top hadn't unfolded all the way. It was still kind of punched it. The fluid collected in it no problem, so I thought maybe it was just user error. I put it back it and felt around the bottom and it seemed fine, but when I took it out again later, I noticed that the top hadn't unfolded again. I didn't have that problem at all the day before. I cleaned it and then did the punch down fold and then kind of let it go in my hand and it took the top a LONG time to unfold all the way. Like 10 seconds at least. Is this normal? I have no idea how to make sure that the entire thing if totally open and while I didn't have any leaks, I don't want to get any in the future.
Another thing. The opening to my vagina is sore. Really sore. I've been spending a lot of time with my fingers in my vagina checking the position of the cup out, so I'm hoping that this is the main cause, but I'm worried that the insertion is being rough on my delicate tissues. When I do insert it, I feel like I'm pretty much cramming it in there. I tried a little lube this morning, but I'm not sure how much that helped. Is this normal for first time usage?
I really like using the cup and I want to master it, but it's hard to not get frustrated. Guidance would be wonderful! I'd love to depend on it full time for my period, but I'm still leery about wearing it at night and I feel that the opening to my vagina needed a break so I'm wearing a tampon right now.