In the past three years, I have had exactly one period.

When I tell people this, they often react with such jealousy that I have had to scale back this announcement, only sharing it when it seems pertinent to the conversation, especially because of the reason: two back-to-back babies in rapid succession, late nights spent nursing, sore nipples and the other multitude of pregnancy/nursing for the 36 months straight.

In other words, it was no picnic skipping ye olde time of the month.

I am currently embarking on my second round of Aunt Flo since I became a Mama and since I have no plans for another sequel to “oops I am pregnant again, the sequel,” I think the old gal is destined to keep coming back. Every month or so.

And I could no be happier about it.

Oh, I know so many women hate their periods and it’s true. It is a messy, uncomfortable endeavor. But I was the last (the last!) of my friends to get my period. I was a flat-chested almost 15-year-old who was so jealous of my more voluptuous friends who laughed about tampons and pads and made me feel like I was still swimming in the toddler pool while they had moved on to the deep end.

When it finally came, I screamed and yelled, shoved my underwear into my mom’s hands and announced, “It finally came!” I think I would have shouted it from the windows if my mother had not wrestled me to the floor. I was a woman and I was psyched.

In college, while my friends dabbled in period skippage by going straight into a new pack of birth control pills and avoiding the placebos, I relished my five-day cycle. I know it sounds gross, but I like the monthly reminder that I am female, healthy and most importantly NOT PREGNANT.

In fact, there was only one time I skipped the placebos (on my honeymoon) and I spent the whole week bloated and uncomfortable despite the lack of my period.

So, I am not mourning this new phase. In fact, I am thrilled. My two babies are here. I adore them and they are healthy and my body is back to normal, back to its old self. I feel like shouting it from the rooftops, but instead, I will just announce it on the internet: She’s back. And this time, she is here to stay.