At A Glance
Author	Sarah
IAM	really_rosie
When	It just happened
Artist	James
Studio	Stigma
Location	Pacific Beach, CA

Four years ago I got my navel pierced. Yes, I was a college student, and yes, it was my first body piercing. Although many TrEnDy teenyboppers get their navels done, mine was neither trendy nor teenybopperish. I had just been dumped, rather cruelly, by a fellow who'd always insisted that piercing my navel would be the worst decision I could make. It was ugly, it would look terrible on me (the unspoken assumption being that my stomach was unworthy of being adorned and displayed), it would get infected. After the dumping I knew I would have to pierce my navel, if only to claim my body as mine, and prove this fellow wrong. And I did, and it healed perfectly, and it is still my most sentimentally cherished piercing.

But navel piercings do have that stigma of teen girls with their pink jeweled "bananabells", and I slowly grew to the realization that I wanted to distinguish my navel from the rest. The original ring was 14 gauge - THE standard, as evidenced by the wealth of 14 gauge jewelry in Hot Topic and the like. I was getting my nipples and hood done at 12 gauge, and so my first act of navel rebellion (so to speak) was to have it stretched to 12 gauge to match. I feel bad that I cannot remember the fine Minnesotan piercer that did this, but I was impressed at how smoothly the stretch went. There was a slight degree of pain as the taper was slid through, but this faded within an hour, and by the next morning I could barely believe that I'd been a size smaller the day before.

I thought for a while that I would stay at 12 gauge, if only to honor the pleasing symmetry of nipples, navel, and hood all with theoretically interchangeable jewelry. But whenever I browsed piercing shops, my eyes were constantly drawn to the many stunningly beautiful plugs on display. In particular I am drawn to buffalo horn spirals, and thought wistfully of stretching my lobes to wear them. But my job as an executive secretary effectively prevents stretched lobes, and I've never really wanted to stretch mine anyway. So, inspired by my friend Monica stretching her navel to a very impressive 00 gauge, I thought how lovely it would be to have a stretched navel of my own, and wear the spirals and other wished-for plugs in it.

I'm in no hurry to accomplish this. My journey to adulthood has gifted me with a very Zen outlook on life, and I see the process of getting from 12 to 6-2 (the rough range I plan to end up at) easily taking several years, as I wind my way through my early 20s. This weekend I did step 2, the stretch from 12 to 10.

My fiancé and two friends, Marc and Alison, went to Stigma at first with the purpose of watching Marc get his frenectomy. This unfortunately didn't end up happening, but while he was negotiating with the piercer I was lusting once again after the plugs on display. The thought of "tonight's the night" suddenly popped into my head, making me wonder – but I had money with me, and it seemed like the right thing to do. I found out the price of getting the stretch done (free if I bought the jewelry, for $25, which seemed entirely reasonable), we went for dinner, and then walked back to the shop. I said that I was ready to do the navel stretch. The piercer confirmed that I was going from 12 to 10, and asked about the history of the piercing (when I'd had it first pierced, and when I went from 14 to 12) to make sure that I wasn't rushing things.

I said that I wanted a curved barbell rather than a CBR, and the piercer brought out two – one long and one short. The short one looked it could be exactly the right length, and he measured with a small ruler. The verdict: it looked about right. He disappeared into the back of the shop to sterilize the jewelry, and I amused myself by flipping through a tattoo magazine and chatting with the gang. Soon enough the piercer was back. I went back with him to the room. It looked pleasingly clean, which was impressive considering that they were in the process of moving into the shop from their old location. He said that he'd decided to sterilize both the long and short barbells just to be sure. A thoughtful piercer, I love it! I hopped up onto the doctor's bench and pulled up my shirt, being careful to avoid touching my navel (and really, anything in a few inch radius, just for the sake of formality).

He pulled on a set of bright purple gloves and wiped my navel clean with some sort of cold goo that would also serve as lubricant. It took a bit of fiddling for him to get the old jewelry out. Despite myself I tensed up a bit at this, so he started having me do breathing exercises to stay calm and relaxed. Deep breath in, deep breath out... I knew that it wasn't going to hurt, and the even breathing helped me focus on the moment. He inserted the tip of the taper at the bottom of my navel, asked me if I was ready, and then slid it through to the thickest part of the base in a smooth, measured motion. There was a small amount of discomfort around the center of my navel, where the hole was the narrowest. He waited a few moments, and then replaced the taper with the new 10 gauge barbell. A bit of fumbling again as he screwed on the ball (pinching my skin slightly, amusingly enough the most painful part of the experience) and I was set.

I sat up a bit to admire the new look, and then lay back down, feeling oddly proud and sentimental. The feeling passed, replaced with a general sense of happiness, and I sat up and pulled down my shirt. I grabbed my purse and we went back out to the lobby. I paid up (and gave a generous tip, a hint for you all) and promptly showed off my navel to the gang. It had started finally to feel somewhat sore, and I tried not to bend around too much. Alison went home, and Mark, Marc and I went to a hookah bar to unwind. We stayed at the hookah bar for a while, and by the time we left the soreness had disappeared almost entirely. This morning there was still a bit of residual grumpiness between the center of the piercing and the bottom, no doubt the spot that took the most abuse, but even that was gone by noon. I'm probably going to give it a few sea salt soaks this week, just for good measure, but it was definitely a successful stretch.

I know I'm going to enjoy the journey of stretching all the way to my 6-to-2 goal, and almost WANT to prolong the periods between stretches, to better relish the process. In recognition of my original celebration of self in getting this piercing in the first place, I'm tempted to save each stretch for some major life event (my wedding next March is an obvious choice for the 10 to 8 stretch). Life is an adventure, and I'm having fun filling it with beautiful, meaningful body modifications. I would like to thank James for his pleasant conversation, delightfully calm demeanor, and consummate skill. Peace.