So I realize now that I've gone way too fast here, and I actually feel really stupid, but they say hindsight is 20/20.  (I am however feeling like I'm doing better than my roommate, who told me she went from a standard gunned piercing to 0g in one shot)

I bought tapers and no flare steel plugs from 12g to 4g, 4 being my goal (big enough for some fun jewelery, small enough that hopefully grandparents won't notice and have heart attacks.)

I've had a small set of organic spirals in for a long time, and I was under the impression that they were 14g, which is why I decided to start at 12.  I got my jewelery in the mail, and sorted them out, and took the 12g taper and plugs into the bathroom to give'er.  I put the taper through one of my holes, and I could feel that it was loose in the hole.  So obviously the spirals were not 14.  Anyways, I went back and grabbed the 10g.  Didn't use any lube, and the taper went through like a hot knife through butter.  After I had the plugs in, I all I felt was a little bit of pressure.  I had no bleeding or soreness, or any other problems with them.

After about 2 weeks, I got really antsy, and I went up to 8g.  (I know, bad idea)  I stretched right after a shower, they stung a little, but there was no real resistance, so I figured I was doing okay.  This was in the evening.  The next morning, they were a little sore, and there was a little bit of brownish discharge around the back.  SSS and cleaning them twice a day made that go away in about 2 days, and then I was happily at 8g for 3 weeks.

Then I thought to myself, they're looking and feeling pretty good.  So I got out the 6g taper.  This one was waaaaaaay more uncomfortable.  I used a little bit of Polysporin as lube, and it took a bit of force to get the taper through.  My left hole was way harder than my right, but I had a much tougher time getting the plug to follow the taper on the right hole.  They were pretty sore, little bit of discharge, but nothing majorly unexpected.  This was 2 days ago.  Then last night, I kind of fiddled with one, the o-ring fell off, the plug fell out, and when I went to the bathroom to put it back in, I noticed that it was bleeding.  I got out my awesome little bottle of saline (additive free for sensitive eyes, i figure if I can put it in my eyes, i can put it on my ears, plus it makes it much more convenient for while i'm at work) and I cleaned it, soaked it, and then put the plug back in.  Then I took out the other side, and noticed it was looking pretty angry too.  So I cleaned and soaked it as well.  Before I went to bed, I took them out and soaked them again, and they both looked a lot better.  Today, they're just a little red; however, I've noticed that there's a kind of ring of pale, irritated skin around the hole, and I'm wondering if it's cause my ear really badly wants to blow out, or if it's just irritated by the black o-ring.  Or it could be just because something is constantly sitting against the skin, kind of like when you wear a band-aid for awhile, and then take it off, the skin is kind of pruney...

So the reason I've written this (very random) novel, is because I'm wondering if I should downsize, or just wait as long as I should have waited before I go up to 4g.  I've ordered some Emu oil, I'm going to give'er with the massages at night, regardless of what I end up doing, and it'll be a good 2 weeks before it gets here...

Sorry if this rambled on, I'm just new to this, and I know that I've been doing some stuff wrong up to this point, and I'd like to get it right in future... 

 if it were me I would probably downsize one or two sizes and sit there for a good 4-6 months.  treat it like a fresh piercing and salt soak it.  and don't fiddle with it ;)

good luck

I'm sorry you had such a bad experience. =( When it comes to improper stretching, sometimes you luck out, other times you don't. I stretched to a zero in one week. Awful, right? I had no idea what I was doing. I lucked out but it had disaster written all over it. 

Anyway, it seems Quinnn's got this one covered. Best of luck! :)