I know that lots of women, maybe even most women, commonly have irregular periods. But if yours are consistent like 99% of the time, could it mean anything weird when you have an irregular one?

I use the Nuvaring as birth control. My cycles usually last around 35-40 days. Taking out my nuvaring prompts my periods start, and I usually take it out around day 33-35. My flow is consistent, I have I have a heavy first 2 days and then a normal one for the rest, my periods usually last 6 days.

This period has been really weird though. While my nuvaring was in, I had some spotting on day 28. I've never gotten spotting before my period starts, so I figured my period had started despite my nuvaring being in, so I took the ring out and put in a tampon. Later when changing my tampon, there was barely any blood on it, I figured I was having a light start and put in another to be safe. When I went to change that one, there was even less on it than before, like the amount that usually signals me I'm done with my period. I didn't wanna waste tampons if I'm not even really bleeding, so I didn't put another in.

The next like 3 days or so I didn't have anything worth using a tampon, but it did seems like I was discharging a lot of dark brown menstrual wall kind of stuff. Finally a couple days ago, I started bleeding enough that it's worth a tampon, and while it started a little normal, right now it's heavier than usual, I usually only have to change my tampon every 6 hours, and between today and yesterday I'm having to change like every 2-3.

All in all, this is just a really weird period for me and I don't know if it's any cause for concern, especially since I stared spotting before I even took my nuvaring out. I can't even tell at which point here my period technically started. When I was telling an older friend of mine the weird stuff happened, she teasingly laughed at me and told me, "welcome to periods!" Cause irregularities are super normal for most women, but I never really have irregularities.

Sorry this drew on so long, I'm just confused. Any helpful answers are super appreciated! thanks girls.