what counts as the first day of your period?

what counts as the first day of your period? when you see some of the brownish spotting? OR when you actually see red blood and begin the heavy flow?  im confused here. any input would be great!

[Kim1989]

i would say brown blood. mostly periods start red...theres no brown spotting....but keep in mind sometimes you have brown spotting after your period and its just old blood. it depends on when you see it and if its time for your period.

[swsunshine]

The first day of your period is when you see the brown stuff. That is blood, just old blood.

[BD0506]

Its  when you see red blood. I always spot brown blood 3-4 days before I start heavily bleeding. Thats why my Gyno said. If it was when the brown started than I would have a 10 day period! Yikes!!

[babenum3]

I'm somewhere between 9 and 11 weeks. i just started spotting and wiping brown "stuff". i had bleeding the entire first 5 weeks with my last baby (he's 9 now). i'm assuming this is normal but since i'm so much older it worries me. Plus, i didn't know i was pregnant for quite a while and was taking my prescription meds until i found out. should i worry since its brown?