Re: Guaging help...
I've stretched mine out twice before, both to zeros. It helps if you buy the tapers and just push those in while you're in the shower, the skins softer/tender and easier to stretch out. You can also get it done professionally, but I hear it hurts more but it's all at one time. If you don't have the patience for gauging them yourself, I suggest going to the parlor and getting someone else to do it.
And can't you get tetinus or whatever from putting random metal shit in your ears? I dunno.. I put a nail in my ear once and was called a fucktard for doing so and that my ear'll fall off. I was 13 so I was pretty clueless.