Getting the okay from the Pediatrician, I thought about the best places to get the piercing done. My first inclination was to have Adrina's ears pierced at a tattoo parlor. Why not? They specialize in piercings and they run a nice sterile operation! After all, I did get my navel pierced at a tattoo parlor in the 90s! By the way, bad idea in retrospect, especially after having a baby! I thought of going to Newport Tattoo, the place where Gary got his tattoo on his foot, ouch! Turns out, they don't pierce infants, not even with parental consent!
With the tattoo parlor option out, I decided on Claire's in Fashion Island. Claire's specializes in the pre-teen market, and they are game to pierce infants! Walking into Claire's is an intoxicating sensory overload. Every square inch of Claire's is cluttered by Justin Bieber t-shirts, One Direction posters and Hello Kitty jewelry The ear piercing station was near the front entrance, actually, it was practically in the front window display for all to see. We walked in on a 4 year old girl getting her ears pierced. She was waiting patiently for the piercing gun to trigger, and when it did, we heard her horrible cry! I almost called it off, but then I saw that the girl was just fine, she was safe in daddy's arms with a mouthful of Swedish Fish. Okay, now Adrina was up. We picked out a pair of sparkly CZs and the two nice Claire's ladies placed Adrina on the chair in Gary's lap, market her ears, positioned the guns, counted to three and bam, Adrina had a shiny new pair of earrings. The shriek Adrina let out was absolutely horrible. I didn't want to witness it happen, but the ladies got trigger happy and did the piercing while I had one foot out the door. I didn't want to hear the inevitable wail. Luckily, her cry only lasted 30 seconds. After that she was happy and blinged out with her new earrings. Overall, she did great, what a Colombian trooper!
Adrina before her piercing
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Adrina just after her ear piercing
Adrina before her piercing
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Adrina just after her ear piercing
Hooray! Glad all survived this holey tradition! :)
ReplyDeleteMelissa,
ReplyDeleteWas searching for my GF's blog and came across yours. Started reading and My mom had mine done at 1 week old and I did Sandi at 6 wks and Missy at 3 wks old. I never had any problems with them and just always thought I'd do the same with my daughters.
When I had my daughters it was important for me to carry on some of the traditions I grew up with, so I had both girls ears pierced when they were about six weeks old. Just in time for their baptisms. Those 2 things go together traditionally. But I did discuss it with my husband, and waited a few months although I wanted to do when they came home from the hospital. In retrospect, I would do it even younger. All the care was my responsibility, they never got infections because they were unconscious of the pain of piercing, or the discomfort of keeping the new piecings clean, etc. Both are very proud of their ears, but not from a “pretty pretty” girly thing, but because of the tradition and family history.
I'm not sure bodily integrity, coming of age, and vanity plays a part in a young girls life when they get their ears pierced. For me, ear piercing was about identity and culture, rather than having anything to do with looks.
Our daughters are now two and three years and love wearing earrings. We can also taking them out for periods without the holes closing up. I know not everyone agrees with our decison but I firmly believe that little girls should have their ears pierced when they are babies. Mine were done by mom at days old since we were Italian. All little girls have it done by Madera in the family soon after birth.
When I was five, my little little sister was born. My mom says, at the hospital, I had to take her blanket off and count her toes and check her out to see if she was a girl or boy. Then, I said to my mom, "But where are her earrings!" I guess I assumed every baby had them! Needless to say, as soon as she came home, she had little earrings. My mom pierced her ears and let me watch. She as asleep, and never woke up as she pierced each ear with a needle and red silk thread and then inserted a little gold stud. My baby sister slept through both ear piercing! Thinking it would hurt her, I asked why she didn't cry. My mom turned to me and said, "...this is why we pierce babies as newborns."
I always remembered the warmth of that day. As a result, I told my mom thas I would always pierce all my girls soon after they were born. After being a mom, I decided when I found other moms on the fence or who needed a little reassurance about having their dd's ears pierced, I would reach out to them. Your intuition guided you like my mom piercing her daughter's ears.
Think you were a smart mommy for having daughter's ears pierced now.
Angie
angietune@hotmail.com