Of Tattoos and Childbirth

I never thought I'd think of these two things together! But after an interesting conversation at work.... Well, what can I say?

It all came about because one of the guys came in and I had to escort him to his meeting. I noticed he had some very nice body art and I asked if I could get a better look at it. He showed me everything! LOL I was surprised at all that he had.

One of his tattoos was on the inside of his upper arm! When he showed it to me I said, "That had to be the most painful one!" He said I sounded like I had experience with getting a tattoo there and I said, "No, I'm not even that brave!" He told me it wouldn't be so bad if I had a coach who had already gone through it.

That got me to thinking. Lamaze for tattoos? The mental image of someone coaching me to breathe through it as I got my tattoo had me giggling for the rest of the day. The only thing I can say is: I hope it works better than Lamaze for childbirth! What a crock! Breathe through it?! You've got to be kidding me. More like curl up in the fetal position and hope you survive the ordeal. Frankly I was thankful I ended up with a C-section after 23.5 hours of labor. It hurt less!!

I digress...

I've heard people say that getting tattoos is addictive. I've not had that experience, but then again I have only one child too. I've heard a lot of women say they just love being pregnant and giving birth. What?! Really?! They must get some good drugs in the hospital! I can't say I enjoyed being sick every day of my life for nine months or feeling like a beached whale. Neither can I say I relish the feel of a needle poking me a gazillion times and injecting ink into my skin. And I like the buzz of the ink gun about as much as I like the sound of all the monitors I'm hooked up to during childbirth. Addictive? Right. Maybe for the masochistic.

And let's not forget what comes after. Both experiences leave you sore, tired, moody and swearing you'll never do it again. Yet, I know people with so many tattoos they can't possibly get more. I also know people with so many kids they can't possibly afford them. (That's a rant for another day.)

So, to my surprise, tattoos and childbirth do have a lot in common. Much more than I thought, actually...