Alright, well I guess I'll begin by telling you that I have a father who was in the military and a super-Christian mother, neither of who approve of piercings. Somehow I convinced them to let me get my ears pierced (two in each ear), and I've stretched the lower holes to 8ga recently. I also have my navel pierced, which leads us into the story...
At A Glance Author drewberry Contact drewberry@bme.anon Artist Charlie, perhaps? Studio East Coast Tattoo & Piercing Location Arlington, Virginia For my 16th birthday, last June, my mom agreed to let me get my belly button pierced. I had been hassling her for about 2 years, so it was pretty exciting when she finally agreed. About a week later we went to East Coast Tattoo, which had been recommended to me by two friends with their tongues pierced. It was about 10 minutes from my house, so I didn't have much time to be nervous. I have to comment on the parking situation though- it sucks!! There appear to be about 10 parking lots nearby, but every single one is owned by this single restaurant, so we ended up having to park in an alley about 3 blocks away.
So we went in, and my mom was visibly scared since she had never in her life entered a tattoo parlor. I've been in a few just to look at flash, but this one did not look as nice as the others. It actually resembled a bar or something. There was a pool table in the middle, and a huge motorcycle in the corner, with a man working on it. When we entered, he looked up and told us he was the piercer. We waited a few minutes while he went to wash the grease off his hands and put out his cigarette (yay for sanitation...) and then he came back to do the paperwork. We had to show him a ton of IDs so he could verify that my mom really was my mother, and then we signed release forms so he couldn't be held accountable if something went wrong. Then he led me into a small room in the back.
He immediately started explaining the procedure, and then he also explained the aftercare since he said afterwards I'd have too much of an adrenaline rush to pay attention to anything he said. He wrote it all down on a piece of paper too, so that I would remember. Then he took a purple marker and marked two dots on my navel, while I was standing up since the placement would be different if he marked me while I was lying down. Then I got up on this hospital-like bed and laid down. He took a sanitary wipe and cleaned off the area, then got out the clamps. He clamped my belly button pretty hard and then shoved the needle (14ga) through. Unfortunately, I have tough skin or something because he had a lot of trouble getting it to come out the other side. It didn't really hurt; there was just this incredible pressure in the area. During this whole time, my mom was getting paler and paler, and as soon as the needle came through the other side, she nearly passed out. So the piercer quickly put in the jewelry and then made sure my mom was alright.
Just as my mom started feeling better, my belly button started bleeding profusely. The piercer quickly gave me some gauze and tissues but it just kept bleeding. He said he had never seen anyone bleed this much. *Great.* So we bandaged me up and I went home. When I got home it had reduced to a trickle, but it didn't actually stop until the next day.
For my aftercare, I did some sea salt soaks during the first 3 weeks or so but I didn't really like how it felt, so instead I just washed it in the shower with Dial Antibacterial soap. It's about 9 months later and I still wash it every other day in the shower. It hasn't completely healed yet. Also, my boyfriend John keeps getting me sick, so it's been kind of gross lately.
I've changed the jewelry twice so far: I started with a simple 14ga cbr with a black bead. Then I got a 14ga barbell with a skull on the end but it really didn't fit my anatomy so after a month (and a lot of problems) I switched to a 12ga circular barbell. As soon as I start my job and get some money, I plan to get a 10ga cbb, but I think that will be the extent of my stretching.
All in all, my navel experience has not been a bad one. I love it very much. I'm thinking about getting a second navel piercing, on the bottom. Not too sure my parents will be down with that... Anyway if anyone is hesitant to get pierced and wants to ask me anything, feel free to contact me.
**drewberry**