My piercings started out as something to get for the sake of getting, but have evolved into reminders of "life events," as I call them. They are symbolic of important lessons I've learned and of the pain and personal growth of those events. During a difficult period, I knew I wanted another piercing as part of my healing process. Although I already had a vertical hood and a Christina piercing in that area, I started doing research to figure out what my next piercing would be. My piercer, John Kid, said a fourchette would go well visually with what I already had and I agreed. I liked the consistent vertical line of jewelry going down the center. It is also supposed to be a functional piercing, especially for male partners, but that wasn't really my primary motive.
At A Glance Author Jaclyn Contact Jaclyn@bme.anon When It just happened Artist John Kid Studio Blue Lotus/Piercing Lounge Location Madison, WI
John Kid had never done this type of piercing before, but I was confident in his abilities and pleased with his work on me so far, so this didn't really faze me. He started doing some research of his own and I met with him a few times to ask questions that I thought of. We decided on a 12g CRB, since a larger gauge would be less likely to pull or tear and a ring makes the healing process easier.
The day I went in to get it done, I was slightly nervous but not as much as I thought I would be. I guess because the piercing was important to me, there was more of a calm feeling. So I went into John Kid's room and he started poking around down there, looking at my anatomy and planning how exactly he would go about this. Then we made the sad discovery that my inner labia is not continuous (meaning, they don't join together at the bottom of my vaginal opening). I am not positive I have this right, but what I understood that to mean is, I could still get the piercing, but it needed to be placed slightly different and, therefore, may 'be in the way' more during sex. Normally the piercing is supposed to just go through the labia tissue, but in my case it would have to go through my vaginal wall. Another possibility we discussed was placing it to the side, so it would really be more of an inner labia piercing, but I didn't like how that looked as much. I said I'd rather have it centered and just see what happened.
Somehow, the thought of a needle going through my vaginal wall wasn't that exciting, but I had really had my heart set on this specific piercing. John Kid saw I was somewhat disappointed that my body apparently sucked, and he said we could give it a try—that there wouldn't be any problems with the piercing process itself, but that he didn't know how 'user-friendly' it would wind up being.
So we decided to go ahead with it, and he went and cleaned the area and then clamped it. (Sorry for the lack of technical language here, I don't really know the specifics). All of the talking we had done actually did wonders for any nerves. By then I was more like "Just do it already." He told me to take the usual deep breaths and with each exhale, I sort of waited, like "Is he doing it on this one?" He finally did it on the third exhale and the sensation was actually interesting. Initially, it only hurt mildly for a split second, and I thought that was it. But then it hurt a little bit more the second right after and I sort of jumped a little because I wasn't expecting it. But then it was over and I wasn't bothered at all by the jewelry going in. He asked how I was doing and how it was and I told him it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. "I don't know about those giggling girls, though," I said, referring to other stories I read on BME where the endorphin rush made girls giggle post-piercing.
So he gave me the usual aftercare talk—use piercing antiseptic twice a day, salt soaks once a day. Make sure you rinse any soap or body wash clean in the shower, and rotate the jewelry under warm water in the shower as well. No sex—I believe he said at least the first week, the longer the better. And use condoms to keep the area free of fluids, etc. He recommended I explore the area to determine when I was healed enough for penetration. I was bleeding slightly and he said the area was purplish, indicating he may have just hit a capillary or something, but that should go away. After checking myself out with the mirror (I loved it!), I put on my underwear with a panty liner inside, and got dressed.
Walking home was, well...not painful, really. But I definitely walked like a decrepit old lady. I wrote this immediately after, and have been seated the whole time without any pain. But, I am sitting with my lower body scooted forward in the chair more than usual, in a slouched position. At one point, I dropped something on the floor while standing and bending over hurt a bit. In general, I feel pretty good. Definitely happy with the piercing and John Kid. I'm supposed to go out tonight, and I don't really know what I'll wear, since I feel my usual tight jeans (or normal jeans...or pants, for that matter) are out of the question. Might have to rock a skirt for the next day or so.
In conclusion, I definitely recommend this piercing to anyone. As far as describing the pain in relative terms, I have my nipples done in addition to the vertical hood and Christina. So, the fourchette hurts slightly less than the hood, but the pain lasts slightly longer. For me, the Christina really didn't hurt at all, just felt odd and uncomfortable, and the nipples didn't really hurt that much getting them done. The Christina and the nipples are more things I had to be careful with after the piercing (getting dressed, etc), and I feel like the fourchette might be the same.