After having my miscarriage I wanted to be tattooed immediately. Unfortunately it doesn’t exactly work like that if you want to see a reputable and sought after artist. I have another appointment at the end of March with Sean Cushnie from Kapala to start my sleeve but that was too far away for me and I wanted something smaller and more simple as another part of the healing process. So I decided to book an appointment at Rebel Waltz with Bram Adey. He was able to get me in within a couple weeks so I was feeling pretty happy about that considering I thought it would take longer. He does do walk ins, but with 2 young kids and being the primary caregiver that probably wasn't going to happen for me.

Yesterday (Monday March 11th) I went to see Bram. I have seen his work from numerous people, to people who I worked with and even best friends of mine. He does “stick and poke” tattoos and his work is beautiful. Simple, black with perfect lines. I was intrigued to get stick and poke only because it was something different and I felt this situation was deserving of something different. I decided on a 6 inch bat for my forearm and a 6 inch echeveria succulent. I didn't even have a consult or see any drawings before getting them done I completely trusted him to do what he does and draw me up something amazing. Which he delivered on.

As always I was nervous before getting tattooed. I don’t know why, I suppose because it is painful but really in the grand scheme of things I have been through pain wise, it is like a walk in the park. I kinda like the pain of being tattooed anyway. I made my way down, Rebel Waltz is located on Notre Dame in the West End. Managed to get there 5 minutes before my appointment and we got right into it. He showed me the drawings, I loved them and he said he wanted to get started right away because stick and poke generally takes longer than using the tattoo gun.

The pain was very minimal. I can’t even believe I was nervous about it! I feel like the stick and poke method is less painful than with the gun, or maybe Bram is just that good at doing it. Either way it was almost pleasant, there were a couple times I probably could have closed my eyes and fallen asleep. He did my bat first and was finished in about an hour and a half I would say. Then we got started on my echeveria on my leg, this location definitely hurt more than my arm, but again not bad at all! He was finished that one in about an hour, so all in all the whole process was done in 2.5 hours. I was very shocked because I had anticipated longer and more painful. He wrapped them up for me and away I went. He suggested that I keep them bandaged until the morning so whereas I wanted to write this blog post last night I ended up waiting until I could get some good pictures.

I also feel a complete ending to all the awful things that have happened in the past month and a half. It’s funny how a little bit of pain and blood can be so healing. My echeveria specifically will always remind me of that little baby we never had. But it doesn't make me sad surprisingly just like that baby will always be a part of me. Memorialized into my skin. The month is moving fast and in a couple weeks I have my first appointment with Sean to start my sleeve. That one is booked into 3 appointments so I don’t imagine it will be nearly as easy and as pain free. I am expecting more but after this experience I am even more excited. The only thing that sucks about being tattooed is being out of the pool. But Bram said the stick and pokes may heal quicker so hopefully they do and I can get back into the water for a couple days before having to get out again. I will of course update when I start my sleeve on how that goes and how these 2 healed, but in the mean time enjoy these little pictures of my newest additions.