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IAM: rubixscuba
showing 22 weeks pregnant

I am a member of the IAM community and several times now I have visited someone else's page and noted the wonderful lil baby counter, the IAM Forums for pregnancy posted on their pages for easy frequent visitation and even on some, pictures of a slowly rounding belly, a photographic journal of their beautiful bellies.

I had never really thought about it until today while gazing upon another beautifully rounded stomach and pregnancy counter declaring only 4 weeks to go - but, what does body modification do with pregnancies? Does it complicate? Can it complicate? Can pregnancy complicate the modification?

I set some time aside, as I always do when my mind is set on learning something, and researched rather extensively on the questions that were rambling around in my head.

In addition to the research, I was able to get feedback from several of the IAM women that are pregnant and modified.

The first common myth that I would like to completely smash to pieces is that if you get your nipples pierced you will not be able to breastfeed. This is absolutely untrue. What can happen though is the hole itself can make breastfeeding uncomfortable and awkward, and in some cases, even painful. To breastfeed, the jewelry itself would have to be removed at every feeding, therefore making it quite a pain to remove and replace since a baby will feed often.

A woman is advised to remove her nipple jewelry as it can be a choking hazard for the baby as well as their gums and tongue can be injured by it. Babies who are left to nurse from a nipple with the jewelry remaining, aside from the two major risk factors listed before, tend to improperly latch onto the breast, release and latch more often than a baby nursing from a breast with no jewelry, slurp and gag as well as experience milk leakage from their mouth. The studies, though, also showed that once the jewelry was removed, the breastfeeding experience became more like what would be considered "normal breastfeeding" such as a breast with no modification at all.

IAM member Shelly shared one poor experience with breastfeeding - or should I say the inability to breastfeed.

The most negative thing that happened was at her 2 day check up at the hospital, the nurse made me feel like a failure cause I wasn't producing milk and had given my daughter formula (after she hadn't eaten for more then a day) she questioned us as to if we had food in the fridge I think she assumed we where poor ??? fortunatly my Doc was at the hospital getting ready to deliver another baby and we told her what the nurse had said - my Doc assured me we where doing every thing right and I knew best as far as giving her formula.

I cannot say this experience is limited purely to Shelly being modified. I had a very similar experience after the birth of my son and at that point in time, I had not been modified aside from the "normal" lobe piercings you get at a jewelry store. Like Shelly, I was made to feel as if I were doing something wrong merely because I did not produce milk (and never did). The lactation nurses are very passionate about their opinions on breastfeeding, and I do believe they react similarly to a non-breastfeeding mom regardless of modifications.

IAM: Orinda
26 weeks 7 days

Along with pregnancy comes the ever popular question about belly button rings. A belly ring normally is removed in the third trimester. This is because the stomach is, obviously, expanding beyond all realm of belief. It is suggested by many professionals that the belly ring be removed early on or even while you are trying to get pregnant so you would be left with a fairly well healed hole by the time the third trimester comes around.

As you can see from the image above, IAM member Orinda, also owner of a most prominant pregnancy forum at the IAM website, shows that although it is suggested to remove your piercing, it is not at all necessary.

Melicious_girl, another IAM member, said she had left all her piercings (naval, nipples, tragus, tongue and lip) while pregnant. She made some very insightful comments regarding her family and friends. She stated that it seemed to be 'tolerated' that she had her jewelry in while pregnant, but there was a general consensus, also shared by her husband, that after the baby was born, she would 'grow up' and remove the jewelry on her own accord.

Unfortunately, due to having to have an emergency cesarian section, melicious_girl ended with a long healing process and post-partum depression. Melicious commented rather openly that after three months, she woke up from her depression and realized she did not replace her jewelry and that her piercings had since healed up. She does plan on eventually being repierced, but at the moment she is breastfeeding and feels it best to wait. Quoting Melicious_girl, "I will get them all back at some stage but while I am breastfeeding I don't intend to do anything as I feel my ability to heal would be compromised."

Shelly was very open in sharing her experience with her piercings as well.

"My 2 year old bridge started migrating out so I removed it in my 2nd trimester. My 5 year old vert labret acted up and I had to put larger balls on it cause the smaller ones where sinking into my lip. After I had her about 4 weeks, my 2 year nape rejected and my ears that where at 3/4" flared up and shrank to a 00g."

Shelly also informed me that her physician told her that she did not HAVE to remove anything - what I removed would me for my own comfort level. Melicious_girl had said she used midwives and the issue of her piercings didn't come up at all. So what it seems is though even though general thoughts is that the naval would need to be removed, many health care professionals and providers are viewing piercings as a more mainstream way of life and are not commenting on them or even assuring their patients that it is ok to have them.

Getting pierced while pregnant is actually a don't. This can overstress the immune system and even possibly cause unwanted side effects like hepatitis, tetanus, HIV or infection, The risk of keloids, a raised formation of fibrous scar tissue, is also very possible. Granted, keep in mind these side effects are all those listed for anyone getting a piercing or tattoo - it is not specific to pregnant/breastfeeding women.

It is suggested that you do not get pierced the year prior to attempting to become pregnant, but we all know that pregnancy is not always a long term planned occasion so not getting pierced a year before you don't know you'll be pregnant is obviously not an option.

I was able to speak briefly with rubixscuba (pictured at top) via IM regarding her pregnancy and her modifications. She has since retired all her piercings which includes her nipples, naval, septum and tongue. She did leave her lobal jewelry in although she switched from the steel jewelry she once wore to glass and stone jewelry. She made clear that she did this only because the steel was irritating her skin. She has continued to stretch her lobes while pregnant with no issues. She has also since put her back and hip piece on hold. In her words "so nothing too interesting, I guess."

One common factor with many reputable piercing and tattoo artists is they will not modify a pregnant woman. It is a general consensus among them that to traumatize the mother is to traumatize the fetus and no one wants to do that.

What about tattoos and pregnancy? What are the myths?

IAM: Shelly
26 Weeks Pregnant

One common tale told is, of course, the woman who gets something tattooed around her naval years before, in her teenage days, only to have it stretch into something else during pregnancy and evolve into yet again something else after the baby is born. Is this true?

It is true that during pregnancy the tattoo will, in fact, stretch right along with the skin. A pregnant woman with a tattoo on her abdomen might find that some of the ink will be lost during the stretching process, breaking up the tattoo's original look. Also keep in mind that any tattoo can be affected on a pregnant woman if that area swells or if she gains a significant amount of wait. The stretching is not limited to only abdominal tattoos. Women can get stretch marks on her legs and back as well as her arms and stomach, which brings us to the next affect of pregnancy on tattoos.

Stretch Marks.

Some women can have their body stretch and return to normal not affecting their tattoo at all - others will have stretching and fading while others end up with a stretch mark or two going through the tattoo, thus practically ruining it. Provided the stretch mark eases in color, a woman could return to her tattoo artist and have it touched up or covered over with another tattoo.

Another wide spread and widely believed myth is that if you have a tattoo on your back, you will not be allowed to get an epidural (pain medicine administered via the back and into the spine). The myth states that if the woman is given the injection of medicine and should the ink get into her bloodstream, it could poison and/or kill her. This is not true at all! The ink is already in your system. Its not deadly. The needle passes through like any other woman and has no effect on the tattoo or your body.

It is only slightly conceivable complication of the epidural would be from getting an epidural through a tattoo is if the tattoo is not healed - considering it takes only a short period of time and most well respected tattoo artists would not tattoo someone knowing they were pregnant, the likelihood of having a woman in labor with a fresh tattoo is very small. Getting an epidural with an unhealed tattoo is not something there is much research on - in fact, I found none.

While conversing with rubixscuba, I asked about what her physician had said about her modifications, as you can see from the picture above, she has a significant amount of ink work on her back and hips. She said that her health care providers haven't said anything about the modifications, neither negative or positive.

The shame of the epidural myth is that many people believe it, including moms-to-be and healthcare professionals. The issue itself is not with the tattoo, it is with the epidural itself.

The epidural procedure itself has several risk factors including paralysis and death. When a woman agrees to an epidural or includes one in her birthing plan, she will find that she will be asked to sign a waiver stating she understands the risk factors of receiving the epidural. Death is listed right along with infection, a host of diseases and paralysis. Having a tattoo does not increase these risk factors - they are risk factors for all women who choose to get an epidural for pain management during labor and delivery.

Having a tattoo does not affect your breastmilk. The ink used, although not intended or approved for injection under the skin, has molecules that are too large to pass into the breastmilk. This does not mean it is overly safe for a breastfeeding woman to get a tattoo. In fact, as stated before, most tattoo artists will not knowingly tattoo a pregnant or breastfeeding woman.

The precautions to getting a tattoo while breastfeeding is not because of the ink, again, as I have said several times before, it is the general risks that all face when getting pierced or tattooed that can affect the breastfeeding mother and inadvertantly, her child. It is suggested that a woman wait at least a year after childbirth before getting a tattoo just to give her body time to rest.

IAM: sezleic
Ultrasound Image

Now even though before I stated that many tattoo artists and piercing experts will not work on a woman who is pregnant or nursing, that does not mean that ALL will not do it. Some may but there are some things you might want to consider before insisting on being inked while pregnant. One thing is that the tattoo is being placed on skin that is not at its normal state.

The skin is not only still stretching, but after pregnancy, it will begin to retract back from its previously stretched state. Also, the hormones and antibodies present in a pregnant woman could cause the tattoo to heal in a lighter state than normal and of course, there are the normal risk factors tied into getting a tattoo that no longer just affect the woman getting the tattoo, but also the unborn baby. Before insisting on that tattoo or piercing while pregnant, always speak to your physician.

When it came down to the end of my research, it all boils down to the same for any pregnant woman, modified or not - she needs to take care of herself and her body and do things that will cause the least amount of risk to her unborn child. If it doesn't feel right, don't do it. If she has questions, ask her health care provider. There are risks to body modification regardless of gender or pregnancy - just take care of yourself and do what is best.

A Happy Ending

IAM Member Shelly's Little Girl
Lily, age: newborn

***ALL IMAGES AND STORIES USED WITH PERMISSION***