Tattoo-ed Mommies

Mamma-mia, Mamma-mia!

The number of moms getting inked is exploding. Traditionally, tats were for bikers, sailors, convicts…then, trendy teens and college kids started making tats a favorite form of self-expression.

Well, I’m here to say, that the world of tattoos has exploded to now include us mommies.

I consider myself a pretty average, down-to-earth mom, head over heels for her kids. But, when I tell somebody that I have a tattoo, occasionally I’ll get a funny look because I have a tattoo and a couple little kids next to me.
I understand that some might associate tattoos with trashy; unfortunately I’m not one of them. I’m tattoo-ed, yes, yet classy. And, you can be both!

And, I’m certainly not alone. There is definitely a segment of other tattoo-ed mommies out there. In fact, it’s now pretty mainstream with nearly a fourth of Americans aged 18-50 now sporting tattoos, many of whom are just like me and other average, down-to-earth moms according to some recent reports on the news.

On a related note, I recently was in line at Starbucks and couldn’t help but overhear a conversation by a tattoo artist who was saying to a fellow tattoo artist I presume that he sees moms walking into his shop all the time. He went on to say “they get birthdates, and some of them bring the birth certificate with the little footprints in to get tattoo designs of…”

According to an article I read by a leading dermatologist at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, there is an explosion of ink on female patients in her practice and not just on shoulders and ankles. The dermatologist noted that “as many as 25% of women in their early 30s may have a lower back tattoo.”

As the mommy tattoo-ing trend has taken off, some doctors have wondered if lower back tattoos could cause problems for women who receive epidural needles during labor. Fortunately, you mommies out there who have the lower back tattoos can rest assured. According to this dermatologist from Johns Hopkins, “there is really no good data on whether tattoo pigment can enter the spinal cord and potentially cause problems with immune reactions." Phew, right?!

Still not convinced those lower back tattoos are safe? Well, Dr. William Camann, who is an associate professor at Harvard and an expert in obstetric anesthesia, says that “pigments do not get dragged into the spinal cavity during epidurals.” Oh, and by the way, Camann noted that he performs epidurals on women with tattoos all the time, sometimes as many as three a day.

One word of caution however: The doctors do seem to agree that women shouldn't get ink drawings while they are pregnant. So, either have the tattoo already when you get pregnant, or wait until after you have that precious little baby to get inked.

I happen to have my tattoo on my lower abdomen, a tattoo which I have now had for nearly 10 years. While pregnant, I thought it would stretch and morph from its cute little design into something unrecognizable as my tummy stretched to tote around twins. Well, the body is truly an amazing thing…after the twins were born and my tummy returned to its pre-pregnancy appearance so did that little tattoo. Today, it still looks just as it did pre-pregnancy. YAY!!!!

While I know that tattoos aren’t for every mommy out there, I’ve enjoyed having a permanent reminder / tribute embodied in my tattoo. Have your own tattoo and thoughts on it? Are you a tattoo-ed mommy also? Email me and give me your two cents on the tattoo-ed mommy trend.