Tom wrote:Ive used tapers for both a tool and to wear. "O" Rings kept em in place. Never had problems with them getting caught on my shirts. I just found it more comfortable for me, i dont like having to stretch and then try and fit my plugs in right after.
I see plenty of people use tapers as your actual jewelry, though not my style. To one his own, I assume. Anywho.
To answer your question while you're sleeping tapers do seem to move around quite a bit, but at such a small size I don't think it would directly affect your other holes.
My personal opinion is to go at the smaller size you were (8g) and clean them thoroughly with H2Ocean. Normally it runs about 10$USD per can. If you don't want to shell the 10 bucks out the saltwater method is a viable alternative.
Now concerning the blowout. Hopefully it hasn't been too long since it had happened. You did the right thing in gauging down. I always try to clean my holes with the aforementioned H2Ocean or saltwater and let them completely heal before even thinking about going up another size.
Hope this helps at all, seems I've just stated what everyone else has.