So, I’m going to get my belly button pierced in a couple of days, for my 39th birthday! 
Rather than hijack the “who has them?” thread, I thought I would start one for the already-pierced to (hopefully) share their experience with this particular piercing.
I understand that they are very slow to heal, and can be prone to infection. What else do you think is important that I should know?
Just a bit of absurdist practical advice, but you might want to wait until the day *after *your birthday. Not only should you not drink alcohol the day you get pierced, but everyone will be grabbing you for hugs on your birthday. Which will hurt. A lot.
It’s the little things that make careful planning important!
Hmm… is it too late to offer “don’t” as advice?
What kind of clothing do you normally wear? If you don’t have pants, slacks, or underwear that sit below-waist, you may want to get some. And some slouchy sweatpants or loose skirts will be good for awhile too. Wearing anything that fits too tight against the piercing is not going to be a fun thing for quite awhile.
I’ve had mine pierced about three times, and each time I had to retire it. As with any piercing, make sure you follow your piercer’s aftercare procedures. Don’t use anything too harsh to clean it, and try to do your best to let your body heal it on its own.
It’s a fun piercing, it just gets in the way a lot more than most piercings because it’s right on the waistline. I remember standing up on more than few occasions and immediately doubling over in pain because my piercing was stuck to my jeans. It’s not impossible to heal though, with enough patience and care. I just didn’t have the patience when I was younger.
Christ on a cracker, why is that anytime anyone asks anything about piercing or tattoos some self-righteous poster has to come in and tell them not to? As with a recent thread on nose piercing, the OP hasn’t asked people’s opinions of the piercing, but is specifically soliciting advice from people who have it, and has already stated their intention to get it done. Do you also walk into hair salons to tell people the haircuts they’re thinking about getting look like shit?
Be prepared for it to hurt like none other for a week or two. The actual piercing wasn’t so bad, but any time I wanted to bend over for the next several weeks, I adopted a strange quasi-squat posturing so as to avoid having to contort my midsection.
Check out the Association of Professional Piercers for some good information and guidelines about choosing a piercer. If the piercing parlor isn’t using sterile, opened-in-front-of-your-eyes everything, leave. At best you open yourself to an even greater risk of infection, at worst you could contract something like Hep C.
Be sure to get a hoop with ball closure, as that is the easiest kind of jewelry to clean. Be vigilant about washing with mild soap and water at least twice a day and removing all the crusties, especially the first few weeks. If you’re not cleaning it, don’t touch it. Also, I’ve heard you’re supposed to avoid any sort of peroxide, alcohol, or piercing cleanser (usually made for ears) because it will irritate your naval piercing.
I personally switched to a barbell-type piece of jewelry after about six months, because I was tired of having the ring catch on things and yank. I had had few infections, and nothing serious, but even after all that time, the piercing wasn’t totally healed. Changing the jewelry HURT. I left it in for another 2 years without any pain or complications whatsoever.
I hope you have abs like Janet Jackson! I took it out when I decided that since I never showed off my stomach anyway, it was a pretty pointless piece of jewelry. But it was fun while it lasted.
Good luck, and happy birthday!
You’ve received good advice so far.
Definitely do it on a day when you can go home afterwards and pull down your pants and relax - I did mine when I was out with friends for the day & evening, and it killed!!!
Make sure the person doing it marks the hole target very carefully - my friend’s was in quite crooked!
Follow the cleaning advice religiously, and expect it to STILL get infected. Ask what to do if it gets infected.
Be prepared that if you take it out, the hole will close up incredibly quickly. I was cleaning mine one morning, it came out, I didn’t have time to fiddle with it to get it back in. By the time I got home from work, the hole was completely closed. I didn’t bother going back to get it put back in. Honestly, it was too much of a bother, without much payoff.
It was cute and sexy and fun at first, but the thrill quickly wore off.
I’ve had mine for several years now and have never had a problem. My only trick is that I faithfully clapped a shot glass with warm water full of salt over it every night for about 3 months. Also, I got pierced with a barbell, not a ring, and this led to a lack of snagging and pulling.
Haha, I agree but I take it as the hazards of being pierced and/or tattooed (of which I am both).
My employers have no problem with it but I have to work with several outside attorneys/firms on the type of work I do and lord almighty, the crotchety ones I meet for the first time always feel the need to tell me that they’d never allow allow a nose-ring wearing attorney at their firm or make a personal mutilation comment. For fuck’s sake, I don’t work for you do I??? And you’re asking ME for money so pipe down and let me review your poorly constructed application package in peace.
I get a vicious pleasure of telling them it’s cultural and then watching them scramble to cover their ass.
Thanks everybody. My actual birthday was last week, and I don’t drink, so it’s not a drunken let’s-get-pierced thing! 
I want a barbell-type thing but will probably defer to my piercer if he prefers a ring at first.
And Turek? Actually, it is too late, since the decision is my own and hasn’t been influenced by anyone else’s opinions. I appreciate your concern, though.
Hah! I know what you mean.
I had a very conservative type behind me in line at the grocery store the other day. He gruffly pointed to the cross tattooed on my arm and asked what it was all about. I told him “It’s a rendering of the cross I was given and have worn since I was baptised.” He was a bit flabberghasted and seemed embarassed he asked.
The thing about these types of things, we get them done for ourselves, or at least we should. Not because other people think they look/don’t look good.
In all the time I’ve been on these boards I’ve very rarely seen anyone ask whether people thought tattoos/piercings looked good. Most of the time someone has made up their mind already and want information on the specifics. And, this board being a place to fight ignorance, I’d like to see more people free to ask that kind of stuff without those jerks making them feel unwelcome or coloring their view. It’s incredibly rude to me to barge in and assume that anyone cares about your opinion on whether they will make the wearer look stupid/unprofessional/skanky. Of course, when you get a tattoo or piercing you have to deal with that in real life too, so maybe it’s a good exercise in the rudeness of strangers.
Heh.
I am getting this piercing while still contemplating my tattoo (15 years and counting).
My ear piercings were so long ago, and I’m not even cutting-edge anymore! I mean, they’re only EARS. Duh, mom. Even having seven holes in my ears (but only still wearing earrings in the bottom hole in each lobe plus the cartilage in the upper left) doesn’t mean anything to the young hip of today!
My tummy looks great, even after two kids, so I’m excited about it.
How funny- I just called the shop to check on hours, etc. Nice guys. He asked me which piercing I wanted, and when I said “belly,” he replied that it was fine, they just don’t do any “below the belt” piercing. I laughed and said that’s okay, honey, neither do I!
I had mine done several years ago, and it got infected. And stayed infected. I took the ring out over four years ago, and it still has a tiny bit of infection in the center of it. It hasn’t closed up, either.
Do not wear anything tight around your waist for a while, and avoid bending at the waist as much as you can. I was a bartender when I got mine done, and bending over coolers all night is most likely what caused my troubles. I decided to stick to tattoos.
Good luck!
Maybe I’m the minority but mine didn’t hurt much during or after piercing. But I did get an infection and another, and another.
Barrels
After I got mine, I preferred wrap-around skirts for a few weeks for work. I went with a ring, but any pants with a waistband irritated it for about three or four weeks afterward. My piercer recommended Dial anti-bacterial soap and Neosporin.
As it’s for your 39th birthday, this may not be pertinent, but I never took my belly ring out the first time I was pregnant, and it was no big deal. The last two pregnancies, it became uncomfortable, so I removed it around the fourth or fifth month of pregnancy. And my doc always bitched about it when she was doing my sonograms, until I removed it.
If my belly ever goes back down to normal human proportions, I might put it back in. 
Yeah, follow the cleaning instructions very carefully, and make sure you do the cleaning with the salt water business-- I mean it. It will develop a bunch of sort of pus-like plasma stuff-- not infected per se but exactly what your immune system should be doing, and the salt water will help clear that up. Just do it.
One thing to keep in mind, not that I expect it to disuade you: when I got my nipples pierced, the piercer casually mentioned to me that belly button piercings were the most likely piercing to “grow out”, i.e., gradually work it’s way to the surface and fall off.
Salt water is an excellent antiseptic. When I got mine done, it did get very sore and red for a few days. The piercer suggested salt water several times a day. I would get a small cup of salt water, hold it to my belly, then lay back/slouch on the sofa and sit there for a while it order to let it ‘soak’. It really did help.
Hardly anyone ever saw mine, as I’m not in the habit of showing my belly. but I liked knowing it was there. I took it out with my first pregnancy and never bothered to repierce.
The salt water soak makes sense- I am planning on it.
Tomorrow is the big day. I am very excited! How geeky…