In August of 2003, I finally got to get my belly button pierced after years of trying to convince my mom to let me get it. I was only 17 last summer so I still needed parental permission to get it done. My advice if you are trying to convince a parent to let you do something such as a body piercing is to cry about a past experience; my experience was not making the cheerleading squad at my school because this year it was based on teacher recommendations instead of ability, but that's a totally different story. Anyways, I was in Virginia (although I live in Washington) to visit my aunt and I had finally convinced my mom to let me have it done. So we went down to the tattoo place (after my aunt had found one she liked) and I got it pierced. I was really excited at first, but soon it turned out to be horrible.
At A Glance Author Tara Contact princessoftheworld36@hotmail.com When Three months ago Studio Skyline Tattoo Location Arlington, Virginia After getting up the courage to have my piercing, my aunt and I went to a tattoo parlor pretty close to where she lives. It was pretty clean on the inside, so we decided to go in. My aunt had to pretend to be my mom so that I could get in done. The guy then took my back into this room and I lied down on this chair thing. I took a deep breath as the piercing person pushed the needle into my belly button. IT WAS DONE! I was so excited about it.
For the next couple of days, I lied down everywhere I went. I'm a cry baby, so of course I complained about it to anyone that would listen. Don't get me wrong, I was extremely excited that it was done, but it hurt really badly. I heard that a person that had their belly button pierced either had pain during the piercing and doesn't have any after or doesn't have any pain during the piercing and has it after. For me, it was after. I wish it would have been during so that it would have been done with when the piercing was done. But, of course, I had pain in my piercing for weeks after.
As soon as I got back to Washington, I had to show everyone. Most of my friends already had their belly button's pierced so, they really didn't care. However, that didn't really matter to me because I was so excited about mine. This is when the problem started to exist: the skin around my belly button was always red and irritated. I showed my friend at work it maybe a month after I got it and she exclaimed that it was infected. I was mortified. My mom said that if anything was wrong with my piercing, that she would not do anything to help me. I was so scared that I would have to go to the hospital. But, of course, I didn't take it out because I loved it so.
Up until about December 15, I cleaned my belly button with Neosporin and Saline Solution, which I think probably made my belly button worse. One morning, I woke up and found that there was a lot less skin over the top of the ring, where a lot used to be. My belly button also hurt a lot, almost as much as it did after I got it pierced. It hurt so bad that I even had to wear sweatpants to school because my jeans and belt buckle would hurt it.
The next day, I was sitting at the computer and my cat jumped on me. When he jumped out, my ring was no long in my stomach. It had ripped all the way through my skin. I freaked out and ran and showed my mom. She then rubbed it in my face that I shouldn't have gotten it done. The next day at school, I told my friend (who did make the cheerleading team) about my fiasco. She informed me that my belly button must have rejected the metal. Of course I cried when I found out this whole ordeal could have been prevented. My friend also told me that I should get my belly button re-pierced with 14 carat gold and then my belly button wouldn't reject it. This could have been brought to my attention before I had it done. You should have yourself checked for a metal allergy before having your belly button pierced so you don't have to go through the same thing.
I came out to Virginia for Christmas this year and what do you know: my aunt gave me the belly button ring that I wanted. It was a barbell with a cherry charm that hung down from a red cherry stone at the top. Again, I cried. I really want it back it, but it can't be replaced until the skin heals. I can't wait for that to happen because the second it does, I will get it re-pierced.
Until then though, I will be getting a tattoo probably tomorrow with my aunt, and I would like to use this site to look up pictures to find one I like. I'm thinking maybe a pink fairy because pink is my favorite color.
THE END