Painful Piericing

By Cristin Sierra, Indiana.

I decided that I wanted to get my belly button pierced when I was 16 years old.

But my mom did not want me to get it done. She told me that if I still wanted it when I was 18 and could pay for it myself and did not need her permission then I could go and have it done.

I waited until four months be for my 19th birthday be for having my belly button done. I went to Tommy’s tattoos, a small but popular tattoo parlor in the town that I live in. I didn’t tell anyone I was getting it pierced that day; I just took my best friend Heather for support and went.

When I got to the parlor I had every intention of having a professional do my piercing. I didn’t even know that novices would be training at Tommy’s. But when I got out of my car I was met by a girl that was training to be a tattoo artist and piercer. She told me about how many belly button piercing she had done, and that if I allowed her to pierce my belly button I would only have to pay the price of the belly ring, and that a trainedand licensed tattoo artist would watch the procedure and make sure that everything was done correctly. Not knowing much about piercing I foolishly agreed to allow her to pierce my belly button.

She was very thorough in cleaning the needle, forceps, and my belly button. I swear she took at least half an hour to open and clean everything; but at least I knew that I had a fresh and clean needle. When it was finally time to lie down on the table and have my belly button pierced I was so nerves, I was a bundle of nerves. Heather held my hand and I think I squeezed hers to tight. After being asked to count to three and breath through my mouth the needle went through my navel, and scraped the skin just above my belly button, leaving a small scar. Instead of pulling the needle all the way though my belly button, she pulled it back out the way it had come, so that when she put the belly ring in it could not fit through the top hole. She had to pull the belly ring out and then the guy took over, re clamping my belly
button and sticking the needle through the top hole and pulling it out the bottom.

After that the belly ring went in fine, until she dropped the ball in my belly button, causing her to have to lift the belly ring up while still in my navel to retrieve the ball. By then I was in a lot of pain and just ready to leave with or with or the belly button piercing. But they got the ball on the belly ring, and I have now had my belly button pierced for a year. I love it and am so happy that I had it done; I just wish that I had paid the extra money and had the licensed professional pierce my belly button form the beginning, rather then allowing a novice to do my procedure. I guess you live and you learn.