Friday, April 3, 2009

The Ear Piercing Saga

Finally! Its done at 2.5 years, the third year of her birth. And for those wondering I should have asked her...she is the one who has behind me to get her ears pierced.

Imp has always loved jewelery, is fascinated by it. And for the longest time she has wanted earrings. She would always look at my ears and want to wear my earrings too. This Tuesday, we suddenly woke up to realise that Navratri was on us and with Imp being in her third year, this was the day to get her ears pierced. The question now was how? the traditional method or the Gun Shot method. My ears were pierced by our family doc's compounder and now he is quite old and not a feasible option. A few phone calls later decided to go to a Jeweler. Getting his number took another day.

I was still in doubt, since I would have to be alone with Imp and she feeds of my anxiety in seconds. Plus stranger anxiety. She has tons of it. So I did some checking on the gun shot method. Spoke to my beautician, turns out she does piercings and has done for kids younger to imp too. Speaking to her helped. And blogs came to my rescue. Read a lot of posts. Esp by Poppins and Priyanka. Both their experiences scared the shit out of me. And then I read this which gave me some hope. Also checked with the pead, and realised that the doc's don't give any anesthetic simply cause they don't see any reason! So beautician it was.The decision was the easiest part of the whole day, I was to realise later.

Before going I decided to mark her ears, and she wouldn't let me. She howled like no mans business. i even let her mark my ears with the marker, but to no avail. I fed her lunch and we left with her fav teddy in tow. And to my luck the AC is switched off, power cut or an energy saving exercise? Getting her to sit on my lap was a BIG task. The earrings she was to wear came to my rescue. She starts crying the sec I hold her head to put the anesthetic cream and then there was no turning back. And of course in between all this the mark conveniently disappears and we have to mark her ears again. I wasn't even sure if her ears were marked properly! SO finally I'm holding her head, one lady with the gun, one lady to pull the ear lobe, one to hold her hands and one to pin her down on my lap. Took us about 10 min to get this combination right. And then the earring kept falling off that gun. Holding her down was bad enough, and I was so wrong in thinking that it would be easy with the gun. She just refused to sit tight, kept fighting to get off and me feeling guilty as hell. Finally we get her right ear done. The left one, the earring refuses to detach itself from the gun. And that woman gets it from me. Should I have kept quiet? I do not know, but my daughter is crying from pain and I could see her ear lobe being pulled/stretched by the gun, not a pleasant sight. Miraculously it is done. Check both the ears and no bleeding, just red. She refuses to have the anesthetic gel applied again and I don't push her.

Then it is my turn. yes I got my ears pierced again. Simply cause my left one was not done correctly, was crooked. And majorly to know what it feels like...esp the after effects. And that woman goofs up on mine big time. My right bleeds a bit, and even after 24 hours they are still paining. Watching me go through the same procedure calmed imp to some extent. And plus she is fascinated & thrilled that we are wearing the same studs. She cant wait to get out of the beauty parlor and I know the staff there is also waiting for us to leave. No body likes to hear the cries of a baby, esp a baby in pain. She smiled only when we pick up dad from his office to go to the Ice cream parlor ( yes they have lactose free ice cream, called Sorbets) as I had promised her. By the time we reach there she is fast asleep. She wakes up as I am applying Entorps to her ears and remembers that she has not had her ice cream. She polishes half the box of Forest Berrie Sorbet.

And there end our ear piercing saga. Thank god it was me they goofed up on. If I had to do it again, I would go for the Gun Shot, Its smoother and quicker. And get it done in the first year, the older they are the tougher it gets.

36 comments:

Kanupriya said...

Oh, piercing at such a young age & no blood??? God, didn't she cry a lot? But hope she is enjoying her ear-rings now!

Unknown said...

I have a Colleague - a Chinese lady in her 40s. In her family neither women nor men pierce. Her teenage son wanted to get his ears pierced and she hated it. She asked me about it and I told her that my father was pierced. And my father was a very traditional man. It's funny that what is traditional is now hip and cool. I don't know if that helped her or not. But to this day, she wrestles with the idea and expresses her displeasure at the piercing of her teenage son.
What a world we live in!!

Indian Home Maker said...

Sounds traumatic. It must have been more tough for you than even for little Imp.

Gun shots are best. I had waited to get my daughter's ears pierced till she was nine!!! It wasn't easy because no gun shot piercing was available where we stayed ...but she was very keen!

But recently she got her two more piercing done , almost painless with gun shots.

Iya said...

aww..she is a brave girl...hope she heals very soon.. and hope the same for u too..

Anonymous said...

Aww....brave girl must be looking like a pinshesh now (princess).

I got my daughter's ear pierced at 3 months. Yes! months :) she cried just a bit. It was one shot.

I couldn't bear the look on her face so my mom had her on the lap.

Imp's Mom said...

@Kanupriya: Thank god there was no blood... I would have prob fainted right there! She did cry during the procedure, but as soon as it was over, the tears dried up and yes she is absolutely loving her earrings right now :)

@Vinod: lol... so true and to think I was always questioned by total strangers as to why her ears were not pierced yet!

Imp's Mom said...

@ihm: Oh yes it was more tough for me... I kept thinking how I would manage by my self without my dad holding her...the main reason I choose the gun shot method, its faster.

see, waiting till 9 is abs fine, at least then we don't have to deal with the guilt of the pain we put our kids through... they are old enough to deal with the pain. I would have waited too, but imp was really keen on getting her ears pierced. :)

Imp's Mom said...

@iya: thanks :)

@solio: yea she looks every inch the princess, strutting in front of the mirror, looking at the earrings at various angels...she is thrilled :D

wise decision, getting your mum to hold her and to get the ears pierced at 3 months, they're so much easier to handle then...

Smitha said...

Oh oh!! Am sure she must be enjoying her new earrings now :) I got my daughter's ears pierced when she was 2 months old :) And believe me - it was a cakewalk.. She did cry - but very little.. She quietenned down almost immediately :) I think the younger, the better.. Much easier on us..

Anonymous said...

It sounds just like my/Ash's experience. The tough part is pinning them down, and its horrible when the earring gets stuck in the gun. I wonder why our Doc didn't use any anesthetic cream on Ash's ears :S
Its so sad to see our lil ones cry :(

~nm said...

awww poor baby..I hope she got treats after wards.

And somehow I still prefer the silver/gold wire method than gun.

Razzer said...

Ear piercing for Imp is like scaling Himalayas at this age..Kudos...

I aint gettin it done..no matter how smooth... Im happy with the holes naturally given to me..heeee

My blog says it misses u..

:-)

Imp's Mom said...

@Smitha: Yes she is enjoying them, always preening and touching them and smiling to herself :) you knw when a friend of mine got her daughter's ear pierced at 2 months, I was in shock, i believed that she was putting her kid to a whole lot of trauma and pain...now I know better!

Imp's Mom said...

@Priyanka: Oh yes it is...and the doc didn't use the anesthetic simply cause the ear lobe is only tissue, and in medical terms will not cause pain!! Practical/ Logical for them but illogical and horrifying for us mothers. Your post was the reason why, I choose to check with the doc if they would use the anesthetic cream or not.

Imp's Mom said...

@~nm: oh yes she did! Lactose Free, ice cream, called Sorbet...got a big pack so she finished last night with relish :D

I prefer the traditional method too, but only if the child is just a few months, older are tougher to pin down. And its easier to clean the ear lobes with the wires than studs.

Imp's Mom said...

@Anand: lol!! Been really busy with summer hols, will be there soon :)

Razzer said...

heyy..If a pic had been taken, that person wud hv been on my 'kill' list. :-)

I hope u like my achieve. But don't check too much.. I dont write that good...heee

Hey and thanx for telling me bout my newESHT template ya. I wanted someone's feedback so to speak. Well, atleast it's better than the old one.

Be back.. I love how u say wot u say..

Anand. :-)

Mampi said...

O mY God, this makes me a totally nalaik ma. MY Daughter is 11 and she has no ear piercings. She is fond of jewellery. In her initial years, I forgot and now she refuses to get it done. So far, so good. aagey kya, no one knows.
Your description had me sitting on the edge of the chair. Could almost see the little imp in pain. Poor little baby !

Imp's Mom said...

@Anand: lol... will def be back for more :)

@Mampi: Que Sera Sera :) she'll get it in her own time...one fo my friends cousin got it done when she turned 16 cause her friends were getting it done then...and yea imp is feeling much better now... enjoying her earrings :)

Razzer said...

R u on Gtalk by any chance?

Serendipity said...

hope shes enjoying them now, and no side effects (infection et all).

I Wonder why we do piercings at a young age.

Monika said...

awwww i want to see the pics of the princess

hope she is better now

Imp's Mom said...

@serendipity: thankfully no infections as of yet, hope she never gets them.. and yes she is loving her earring :)

@Monika: yes better, still hurts when I have to turn them, but better... put up the pics soon :)

Swati said...

awww..how is it now ?

post a pic of hers with earings :)

Imp's Mom said...

She's fine now Swati, enjoying and loving every bit of her earrings :)

Sukhaloka said...

Great to know it all ended well for the imp :).
As for your ears, here's a caution - if it continues to hurt, the piercing might be on a vein. In that case, let it close off and get it redone. Tiresome, but better than bleeding _every_ time you wear earrings!

Imp's Mom said...

Nice to see you Suki :) And thanks for the heads up on the recurring pain and bleeding..will keep that in mind!

Anonymous said...

owwwww she's enjoying her earrings now. ur pain subsided? is it no longer crooked. mine's crooked too on right ear... hmm might get it again then eh.

Imp's Mom said...

yea roop she's enjoying them now,, still hurts her though.. the pain is still there when touched, might take a few more days to heal...thnx for asking :)

urs too is crooked? hehhehe... mine was in the left and hopefully it's straight now :P

Poppins said...

Oh no you too ?! Gosh. I tell you traditional method below 3 months of age is the way to go. I'm convinced now !

Imp's Mom said...

Yes Poppins...I'm convinced too now and making sure my preggy cousins don't go through the same hell!

vandana said...

Imp is really brave to get it done ..I had got both of my ears pierced by gunshot because as my first time piercing was not done properly ..it took me lots of courage to go through it ..

vandana said...

one more question I wanted to ask was why you call her Imp ..what does this mean ?

Imp's Mom said...

Vandana, my ears were not pierced correctly too but I had decided to live with it rather than get them done again, but then that day when I saw how scared and unsure she was, I got mine done too and seeing that calmed her down.

Imp is just another name for a mischievous child :)

Sharmistha Guha said...

I'd got my daughter's (now 3yrs 7 mths) ears pierced when she was 14 months.
The howling and crying and holding and pinning her down were almost identical to what your Imp faced, but at least the AC & gun were working fine and the ladies @ the parlour were adept at handling kids!

Imp's Mom said...

SGD: lucky you!! The whole experience was absolute horror...its terrible when they have to be pinned down...