My idea to have my navel pierced stemmed from my desire to find ways to accept myself. Or, more accurately, to accept my... shall we say... festively plump body. I'm not sure where the idea came from, but once it was in my head, it just stuck. I figured that maybe having something beautiful on a stomach that I found to be far less than beautiful might change my opinion of my body somehow.
At A Glance Author Meg Contact Meg@bme.anon When Six months ago Artist Jacob Studio Next! Body Piercing, Tattooing and Aftercare Location 1068 Granville, Vancouver, B.C. >From the idea to have my navel pierced at an average gauge(14ga or so) evolved the idea to have my navel pierced at a larger gauge. This idea danced around my head for a few weeks, but after that it got tucked into the back of my mind. I still planned to have my navel pierced, but the opportunity had yet to present itself.
Then, one day in August, I joined two of my friends on a trip into the city. They wanted to have their helixes pierced, but I didn't have any plans for piercings that day. We arrived in downtown Vancouver at just before noon, and immediately headed to get some food. The boys had to eat before they could be pierced, and I had to eat because... I was hungry. We got to Next! in time for the boys to sit through the first group aftercare talk of the day, which is mandatory for people who are being pierced at Next! for the first time. The talk lasts for about half and hour and contains everything one could ever need to know about the body's reaction to being pierced, aftercare, irritants, and so on. There were about five people in the group we were in, and three of those people were girls getting their navels pierced. As I watched the first girl being cleaned off and marked up, my idea to have a large gauge navel piercing done came rushing back. I tried to talk myself out of it, a nd I was quite successful. At first, anyhow.
As the guys and I walked up the street and away from Next!, I was filled with a growing desperation to go back and have my navel pierced. When we reached a crosswalk, I stopped them and told them that we simply had to go back so that I could be pierced. It wasn't quite that easy, though. The boys didn't really want to go back, so we agreed that we'd check out the movie theater up the street to see if there was anything good playing, and if there wasn't, we'd head back to Next. We got to the movie theater, and there wasn't anything good playing. We turned around and headed back, and I wondered what I had just gotten myself into. A giant knot took up residence in my stomach, and it only grew bigger as we got closer to Next!.
We walked up to the counter, and I informed my wonderful piercer, Jacob, that I wished to have my navel pierced at a large gauge. Originally, I wanted to go with an 8ga, but somehow I ended up choosing a 6ga. This meant that I would be pierced with an 8ga needle, and then stretched immediately to 6ga with a taper. I filled out a form, and then the guys and I followed Jacob to one of the piercing rooms.
As we arrived in the room, I sat down on the dentist type chair briefly, and let my mind run wild. I was quite positive that I was going to pass out from the pain. Or, I was going to die from the shock. Or I'd just bleed out. Of course, I'd surely scream and make myself sound like a complete idiot. In reality, I was only sitting and thinking for thirty seconds or less, but my pessimistic mind works at amazing speeds. I snapped back to reality and reminded myself that I had a great pain tolerance, and that the pain didn't mean anything, anyway. I told myself that the outcome was what was important, not the momentary pain. I calmed down substantially after that.
At this point, I was making conversation with Jacob, and he was setting up. I watched everything come out of their individual autoclaved packages(clamps, the elastic band for the clamps, the needle, the taper, my jewelry,etc.) and then get put on a sterile surface. Everything was ready to go. I stood up, and my navel was cleaned meticulously and marked. Jacob stepped back and looked at his marks. Then he erased them, remarked me, looked again. He asked me if his marks were good. I said they were perfect, and everything was good to go.
I laid back in the medical/dental chair, and I was handed some lavender aromatherapy on a sterile piece of gauze. I sniffed it like there was no tomorrow, and found that it actually did help me to relax a little. Then, I looked over, and in sheer terror, took note of the size of the needle. It hadn't looked that big coming out of the package, but now it was gigantic.
"Is that the taper?" I asked hopefully.
"No. This is the needle. THIS," Jacob said, holding up the enormous looking taper, "Is the taper."
I gulped, and sniffed the lavender so hard that I thought the smell would be permanently embedded in my sinuses. I was afraid, but at the same time, I was immensely excited and filled with anticipation. Jacob started to guide me through breathing exercises. Being that I'd been pierced using the exact same exercises before, I was very comfortable with them. I would breath in on one, out on two, in on three, and while I breathed out on four, he would pierce me.
And the countdown began. I was told to breathe in, and out. In, and out. In on one, and out on two, in on three, and out on four.
Whatever minimal pain I experienced was forgotten immediately as I delighted in the sound of the needle exiting my navel. The popping noise echoed throughout the room, and I looked over at the guys to see them cringing and looking away. That wasn't so bad. Not at all! I laughed, and then prepared for the taper. I was told to take more deep breaths, and I felt some sliding initially. It wasn't so bad. No, I could handle this. Then, all of the sudden, the taper got thicker and the pain became more intense. The sensation was something between an aching, bruised feeling, and a burning pain. My face scrunched up like a lemon, and my toes dug into the soles of my shoes. And then, it was over. I looked down, and the jewelry that I had chosen (an internally threaded 6ga curved barbell, made of 316 LVM stainless steel) had been inserted and Jacob was screwing the top bead into the barbell.
I slid off the table as rigidly as I possibly could. I must have looked pretty ridiculous, because everyone laughed at me, but my navel ached and I wasn't used to the feeling of jewelry in it. I waddled over to the mirror, and looked at my piercing. It was absolutely beautiful. Exactly what I had imagined, exactly what I had wanted. It looked so perfect on my body. Like it belonged there all along.
Jacob informed me that my piercing wouldn't bleed because it didn't have room, and made sure I remembered all of the aftercare steps properly. Then he gave me a candy to suck on, and sent the boys and I on our way. I walked down the street on the way to the car feeling absolutely wonderful. The cool air felt wonderful against my piercing, and I couldn't help looking down at it repeatedly. I almost tripped several times because I was gawking at my navel with such fascination.
The car ride home was brutal. Every stop, every corner, every speed bump made me grit my teeth in pain. I discovered very quickly that seat belts and fresh navel piercings don't go together. By the end of the ride, I had my seat belt pulled up to my rib cage, and getting out of the car was a much welcomed relief. My navel felt much better the second I stood up.
I walked slowly up my driveway and into my house, and approached my mother to show her my newest piercing. She gave me a look mostly of disgust, and asked me why I hadn't just gotten my navel pierced with a railroad spike if I wanted it "that big!". I didn't care, though. I was on Cloud 9. I walked around the house with a stupid grin on my face for the rest of the day, and I managed to find my way to a mirror every five minutes to examine my navel and marvel at how beautiful it was.
That night, the piercing was too stiff, swollen, and sore to clean it as I normally would, so I just soaked it with Epsom salts for about half an hour while I watched TV. I changed my sheets immediately before bed, and I wore clean pajamas. I wanted to ensure that the piercing would be as clean as possible. I tried my best to sleep on my back and side for the entire night, so as to limit irritation to the piercing as much as possible. In the morning, my piercing was significantly less swollen and stiff. I was able to begin my regular cleaning routine with it.
I wash all of my fresh piercings twice a day (more if required because of sweating or contact with dirty hands, etc.) with an unscented, glycerin based soap. Then, I add Epsom salt soaks twice a day for at least fifteen minutes. If my piercing is feeling especially irritated, I soak three times a day. I've found that limiting irritation to this piercing(and any other piercing) has been a major key in successful healing. So far, the biggest irritants have been: Too tight pants, catching on clothes and blankets, hormonal flare ups, over cleaning,lack of sleep, and too much touching.
After a week and a bit, the lymph started to come. And oh, did it come. Cleaning my navel started to feel somewhat like I was picking my nose. I'd often have to use my (clean) fingers to haul dried up lymph out of my navel and to scrape it off of my jewelry. After removing all of the dried lymph, I was only met with warm, sticky, fresh lymph. The lymph didn't start to decrease for a month or two. I definitely suggest that anyone preparing for a large gauge navel piercing also prepare to deal with lots and lots of lymph.
It's been about five months now, and my navel still needs pretty regular care. It's been completely worthwhile, though, and I'd go through all of the pain, lymph, and salt soaks all over again in a heart beat. Jacob has told me that my piercing is doing exceptionally well, which is encouraging to me. Sometimes, it's hard to note progress and I worry that my navel isn't actually healing. It's then that I remind myself that ALL navels heal slowly, and then I stop worrying. I plan to stretch my navel to at least a 2ga in the future.
As for the piercing changing my views on myself, well, my navel piercing didn't make me accept myself. Instead, it helped to show me that it's easy to find beauty in even the smallest things about my body. And when I can find beautiful things about my body, it's far easier to love it. Many people I've run into think that my navel piercing is way too large, and that I'm too "chubby" to have it. I find it to be perfect and absolutely beautiful, though, and that's all that matters.