Belly tattoo before pregnancy

[Cpl West]

Hi folks. I've got a girl who wants a heart tattoo just below and offset from her bellybutton, but is concerned about the stretch it will recieve when she gets pregnant. She and her husband want another child in the future(my guess is soon), and she asked me if it was a good idea to wait until after she has the child, or is it ok to get it now. She's concerned about possible stretchmarks occuring, and ruining the tattoo. I told her I didn't have a clue about the after-effects, but I had some knowlegable folks who I could ask. As we know, stretchmarks are a very real possibility during pregnancy, especially in that area, but...

Is this a tattoo she should wait on getting, or have any of you dealt with this issue in the past? Any info would be very appreciated.

Thanks-

Cpl West

[tadt]

Id have her wait until after the baby. She doesnt know were she will get stretch marks or how bad they will be. My sister has a celtic design around her belly button when she got pregnant it got HUGE with some stretch marks threw it but they werent that bad and you couldnt notice them, but after her 2nd baby you can see the scretch marks threw the tattoo.

[MontanaPiercer]

we keep a pic on the wall at the shop of a little chilly willy cartoon that a girl had tattooed on her, then went through pregnancy..... we do that because it completely destroyed the tattoo, and we use it as a visual aid for young girls who are considering belly tattoos.....
it's her body, and ultimately her decision, but if she shows at all during pregnancy.... and most women do, it will cause some image distortion minimally, and could render it completey unrecognizable......

[Cpl West]

Right on guys. I appreciate the heads-up, and it was basically what I'd been thinking anyway. I figured, instead of taking a chance, I'd rather find out first or get some further advice.

Thanks fellas for helping out.

[Miss Disaster]

Well, I have spider web around my belly button and a black widow underneath ( oh god, got it when I was 16 at some punker's house---jeesh!)and its about 2 1/2 inches total and when I hit my 9th month of pregnancy, it was about 7 or more!! It was freaking huge. Everyone said it looked like a cast net !! hahah. But anyways, after the baby came, things got back to normal, and lucky, lucky me, the tattoo went back to it's original shape with no stretch marks. But I have seen some nasty ones. Maybe she could get it on her hip or something, where the stretching wouldn't be so great during pregnancy, and it would still be cute.

[Cpl West]

Yeah Missy D, she's already commited to getting a cross on each hip, which I'll do when I can fit her in around both of our revolving schedules. I've had alot of people tell me the same thing that you did, but with everyones body being so different, I told her why don't we wait until after the baby... just to be sure. She's also the wife of a close friend that I'm working on too, so I'd hate to f#*k that up...regardless of how they felt, I'd feel like shit.

I'm just getting into this and would hate to have a bad thing happen when we could've avoided it to begin with. My bad judgement would speak volumes to those who wanted one in the future, and it would suck for her to have to wear a messed up piece waiting to get it fixed, if it would even be possible(see montanapiercer's reply). I'm not at the point where I'm doing cover-ups or major fixes yet either... not even close. It's a 50/50 chance that I'm not willing to take.

My wife's had 3 children and the only stretch marks she has are around her lower back/hip area, and those are minimal at best, so even though the chances are it would be ok, there are still the lingering horror stories waiting to happen everyday.

Thanks to all of you who contributed in this thread, and the many who keep this great site rockin'. I appreciate it more than you know.

Peace all-

[needlemark]

i think its better to wait until after for sure

[Grafx]

Not to mention the endorphan rush running through the womans system from the tattoo itself . Believe it or not it will freak the unborn child out! Not healthy at all. If you care about your clients then advise against it. Great tattoo work is worth waithing for. (Research) Google the keywords "tattoo safety during pregnancy" and see what pops up.

:wink: