So what did you do this weekend? Well… I had my tongue pierced. I’ve wanted to do it for three years, but due to being pregnant, breastfeeding, caring for a baby then a toddler. I only just got around to it.

I took a friend to hold my hand. My friend, who was laughing at wussy old me before, looked rather nervous at the sight of the needle. I think it was scarier for my friend than me!

If you are not familiar, tongue piercing involves sticking a metal needle through your tongue, then insertion of a metal barbell. It actually hurts less than you think. And while the person being pierced can’t really see what’s happening, the friend holding the hand gets a great view of metal going through flesh. Not for the faint of heart!

Then your tongue swells up to twice it’s normal width and you talk strangely for a few days. Your toddler laughs at you. It’s sore to eat and it’s a bit of a pain to swish your mouth out with mouthwash several times a day. Your toddler will want to drink the mouthwash. Remember to put it somewhere high up. If you don’t consider juice as a paving stone on the road to hell, buy the toddler some blue juice as a consolation.

I’m a couple of days out of the piercing, and it’s still a bit sore, and is still swollen, but I can just about talk normally and I love they way it looks. In a month, I’m going back for another bar through my ear.

Are you considering a tattoo or a piercing?

Tattooing and piercing, while generally considered safe, are not recommended for pregnant or nursing women. Your body has plenty to deal with right now, so don’t add in anything else, let yourself focus on your baby. Consider the time taken in the aftercare of the tattoo or piercing – will you find the time, or even remember to clean it? Also, infections and complications are possible, and harder to deal with while pregnant or nursing or looking after a baby.

So here’s the question. What is your opinion of moms with tattoos, or moms with piercings? Do you think that they look trashy on moms? Would you think a tattooed or pierced mom is a bad mom? Or in 2008, when almost one-third of the population has a tattoo, does it matter at all? And do you have any tattoos or piercings?

This past Saturday we took our 6 month-old daughter to a local accessories store to get her ears pierced, a milestone for anyone with a little girl. We held her still as the multiple-tattooed and multiple-pierced associate ensured that the marks on her lobe were perfectly aligned. We digested her observation that our daughter’s lobes are actually not symmetrical; one is bigger than the other. We held our breaths as the piercing gun went off silently, but in our imagination was as loud as revolver. And then I cuddled her as she cried then found her thumb and sucked happily.

Why did we decide to get her ears pierced now

as opposed to later when she is older? We did it partly so that she’ll just have it over with, and won’t remember the pain. Partly because of tradition. In our family, girls ears are pierced as babies, and it’s no big deal. And partly so that people would stop asking me constantly whether she is a boy or a girl.

There’s of course another school of thought on this subject

which is that piercing is an unnecessary body mutilation and should be the child’s choice. There’s also the rite of passage method where parents build anticipation in the child. They may require the child to save up for the occasion, and allow them to pierce it on a milestone birthday.  I think each way is fine as long as the parents take great care in choosing the place that pierces your child’s delicate ears.

Some things to consider

Make sure the company you select to pierce your baby’s ears uses sterilized products, and sealed, sterilized earrings. Your pediatrician may even do this for you so do ask them. Make sure to pick the tiniest post available; they can get as small as 2 mm in diameter. And most important of all, make sure that the piercings are sterilized at least three times a day, and the studs not removed until six weeks after the piercing. Post earrings must be worn six months after the piercing to ensure it will not close.

As for our daughter, we carried her around proudly in the mall afterwards, showing off her peridot studs. Until, that is, a gentleman approached us and admiringly said: “What a beautiful boy!”

Hmmp.