Hello, it's me Ashlyn again.
At A Glance Author ashlyn When A month ago Artist Stan Studio Cheap trx, (of course) Location St. Louis, MO Previous BME experience:
I'm writing so many stories for BME I figured I should tell about them. You may recognize me from my other two experiences on BME (you guys rock!). 'After two years of research and a lot of begging' is under the tongue piercing section and 'My impulse piercing' is under the tragus section. Today I'm going to be telling you about my standard navel and how it got to be pierced.
Events leading to the piercing:
I've wanted a navel piercing since the tender age of 7 when I saw it on some girl at the beach. Fast forward 9 years, after repeatedly asking my mom for permission and finally getting it. I (being a little pudgy at the time) wanted to lose weight before I got it. After I had lost the amount of weight I wanted I finally felt like I could gather up the courage and get my navel pierced. However, since I was leaving the country on a school trip to Greece and Italy in a week, I didn't think I should get it right then.
During our stay in Firenze (Italy) I decided that as soon as I got home I was getting pierced jet lag or not. By the time our plane landed it was 10pm and Cheap trx was closed, so I decided to sleep and wait until the morning. As soon as I woke up I called Cheap trx (best piercing and tattoo place in St.Louis) and made an appointment for 3 o'clock. Shortly after I get a call from my girlfriend, Emilia. I tell her that today is the day I'm getting my navel pierced, and after some skepticism on her part, she agrees to come with me on one condition...we go to Pride fest. It was gay pride weekend in St.Louis and Pride fest was right down the street from Cheap trx.
The three of us (me, Emilia, and my mother) spend the next few ours chatting it up with a lot of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people of St.Louis. At about 2:30 we left for the piercing parlor.
The piercing (finally!):
We arrive early and go through the usual paper signing, ID checking, and jewelery picking. Stan comes out, greets us, and tells me it'll be a few minutes because the jewelery is still hot from the autoclave but if I want I can go in the piercing room. Emilia and I walk into the room to wait, with her asking questions the whole time. This was the first time she was in the piercing room and I think she was a little shocked by the wheelchair piercing chair. She asked what the chair was for and what's an autoclave. By the time I got finished answering questions the jewelery was cool and ready to go.
A few minutes later Stans staring eye to proverbial eye with my navel, marking where he wants to pierce. He reclines the chair and has me lay down flat. Although, I think it wasn't really flat like if flat is 180 degrees then I was laying at 185 degrees. I get the normal nervous flutters in my stomach and my brain is screaming, "Stop! I don't want to do this!" but just like the last two piercings I don't say it. I grab my girlfriends hand in a death grip and let him pierce me. Let me tell you something the only reason I hadn't called off the whole thing was because I figured the last two didn't hurt, this one wouldn't either, right? WRONG!!! It hurt like hell, my eyes watered a little and I nearly broke my poor baby's hand. For some reason it felt almost like I had been kicked really hard in that one little spot.
I waited until the pain subsided ,which took about 30 seconds, and went to look at it in the mirror. It was so beautiful! The little blue gem was twinkling in the light and I knew the pain had been worth it. We left Cheap trx and bought some H2Ocean (which kicks ass). It's been a month now and healing has been smooth, no traumatic events or accidents with it. Although no one ever warns you that a dogs nail could catch on the bottom ball through your shirt. Don't worry other than a dart of pain nothing was adversely affected.
The Questions, answers, and my bod mod future:
Q: Would I get this piercing again if this one migrated or rejected? A: Yes but reluctantly.
Q: Do I still want an inverse navel piercing after this heals? A: Yes but much later after I get a few other mods.
Q: What do I do for aftercare? A: I wash it twice daily with Provon soap and spray it 3 times daily with H2Ocean.
Q: Do I intend on getting more mods and if so what? A: Some piercings-both nipples, vch, forchette, inverse navel and three tattoos.
"The issue isn't whether you're paranoid, it's whether you're paranoid enough."
-Strange Days