haha, thanks three, funnily enough orange I don't think I've ever worn clothes that show the piercing off, apart from a bikini. Like my mum said when I originally wanted it done, what's the point? Maybe it was because I thought I was cool? or rebellion? or enjoying pain? I like the look of it in the mirror, but maybe I won't come 25th October.
Talking of pain, I found a section from 'stand and deliver' which I thought people may be interested in. I'm not forcing the opinions on to anyone, fully supportive of individual choices but I found what was written really supportive.
The point of pain:
There is a popular analogy that makes the rounds of antenatal classes that says 'If you were to go to the dentist to get a tooth pulled, youd expect to have pain relief. so why not do the same for child birth?'
It seems flawlessly logical, and suggests that women trying to birth without pain relief are some cult of masochistic martyrs. Sadly, what the analogy misses out is that when birthing, pain is an essential part of the feedback loop for the mother. For example, if your contractions are getting stronger and you feel the need to get up and walk around to make them more bearable then that is probably what your body needs to do at that moment to get the baby into a better position. Without the pain there would be no urge to move, and therefore no motivation to position the baby better.
In the second stage, when you are pushing the baby out, the pain - which peaks for a maximum of a few contractions when the baby's head appears (called 'crowning' or more accurately 'ring of fire')- actually speeds up the whole process. It makes sense that if this is a painful job, your body wants to get on with it. The pain feedback loop means that the nerves in the cervix, pelvic floor muscles and vagina transmit stretching sensations to the pituatory gland which in turn produce more oxytocin, which in turns increases the speed of labour. If you can feel the pain, it is more likely to be over quickly. (p94-95)