A hole in my face

I was 18 when I got my bellybutton pierced. It was unplanned. I was at the tattoo studio with a good friend, her boyfriend and my 3 month old Emily.
My friend was getting a fairy tattoo and wanted me to come along. While I was watching her get inked, I casually mentioned that it would be cool to get my bellybutton pierced and my friend was like "GO, do it, I'll even pay for it!"

So I left my baby under the care of her boyfriend (who I knew through high school), and went off to another room. I remember laying on a chair, a lot like a dentist's chair, and the clamps, and I got a little hot, and my heart was racing. And the needle, it hurt, a lot. It took a long time to heal, over a year. I hear that bellybuttons take a long time anyways, but I'm sure nursing my daughter didn't help speed things along. It was sore for a long time.

When I was 6 months pregnant with Damien, I took it out. When he was done nursing, I tried to put it back. It had closed up, partially. I spent a good half an hour in front of the mirror in my room trying to force it back through. Probably the most masochistic thing I have ever done.
It eventually went through, and less than a year later, my body rejected it.

________________________________________

I was 24 when I got my nipples pierced. I'm not sure where I got the idea, because that so is not me, except I guess it is. It was January. I had a 5 year old and a 2 year old, and we were living on my job that paid $12 an hour. It wasn't easy, and I rarely bought things for myself. So when I got my tax return, I got pierced and then we went to Toys R Us and bought a gamecube. I remember spending that evening with them playing Mario Sunshine.

I went to a different studio that time. Mostly because they had a piercing happy hour, where all piercings were 30% off, and hey I was on a budget.
The strangest part of that experience was going into a small room with a man I had just met, and standing there with no shirt on while he knelt in front of me and made the marks. I was prepared for the same kind of pain as my bellybutton, but it wasn't as bad. Perhaps because I had already nursed two babies by that point. I loved those piercings, but they're not the type you get to share with a lot of people.

I had to take them out a year and a half later to nurse Caliana.

______________________________________________

So yesterday I decided to get pierced again. This time with something that wouldn't interfere should I choose to procreate again. I went back to "happy hour" and had the same piercer as before. I got prepped, and felt that familiar hot flash and shortness of breath, but it was nothing. By far the easiest one thus far. Easier than my ears even.

I guess getting stabbed with a needle is a pretty masochistic method of therapy and self indulgence, but.....it's also exciting, and my day needed some excitement.

I'm loving it.