(no subject)
Jan. 9th, 2008 02:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
altarflameDude, this is the story of my life -
Ananda and I cashed in her Christmas Gift Certificate the other day - a day out alone with me, with piercing her ears, getting her a manicure, having lunch and seeing a movie on the agenda.
After lengthy deliberating I got her ears done at the mall. I have heard so much negative stuff about the gun piercing, but it's how my ear holes and second holes have been done, I was never gonna get up the guts to do it myself, and no piercing shop in this county will do a 7 year old even with parent. The pediatricians here use guns or refer you to the mall. Disclaimer stated, I watched the (really nice, patient, 30-something) lady at Claire's get the whole part of the gun that would be in contact with her or the earring out of sterile wrapping and then throw it away when it had been used, and even still she cleaned the whole thing and Ananda's ear first. And it was quick and almost totally painless and looks great.
-Upon entering Claire's Ananda was HYSTERICAL - fighting and clawing to get past me and run back out into the mall as soon as we stepped through the door, even though she'd been begging for *months* to get her ears pierced. No, Ananda does not normally physically fight me O_O She was crying and clinging to me and incoherent once I got her past that hysterical phase, like I have only seen her when getting her warts removed at the dermatologist. I told her over and over I just wanted to talk, nobody was going to rush up and pierce her ears, I wouldn't make her do it we just had to TALK about it before she abandoned the idea in a fit of fear...literally half an hour later, she was sitting in the chair with a smile and some studs picked out, and she didn't even tear up when the lady did it. I really had to pull out all the stops to calm her down for it, but I KNEW she would breeze through and be so glad she did, if she just stopped to breathe. She picked out some small dangly crosses, a pack of tiny turtles, crabs and fish stud-type ones, and a pair of giant dangling wooden things with rhinestones on them, for once her 6-8 weeks with the starters is over. She LOVES having earrings...aftercare is this joyous Big Girl ritual for her.
-I thought a manicure was something rich people did? I thought it was something people were paid hourly for and went to cosmetology school to do? What I'm saying is I thought it would cost more than FIVE DOLLARS. The lady buffed and filed her nails, painted them with two coats, went around with a brush and acetone and cleaned it up a little, did a clear coat and then put her hands under the dryer and it was...$5. Maybe I just know very little about salon-anything, but I was surprised. She chose a sea-green that perfectly matches her celery crocs, by the way, and actually managed to not chew it off like she usually does polish.
-After subs and a stop in at the house for me to nurse Elise and us to change into "evening wear", we went and saw Water Horse. I found it to be mind-numbingly boring torture. It's a period piece set in World War II Scotland, for crying out loud, and the water horse part is basically a subplot. But, she was enchanted and loved it and raved about it the whole way home. So, mission accomplished I suppose. Aside from being a more-easily-impressed child, she's really got more of an attention span for documentaries and such - which this wasn't, but it felt like that to me at times.
It was very good to drive around talking together and race in and out of places all bundled up on one of our rare cold days. As we sat in the food court together it was hard to focus on everything she was saying, as it just seemed so astounding that I have a daughter I can go have lunch and get manicures with. Someone who carries her own shopping bags and eats an entire 6 inch sub.
She is flying through her schoolwork lately - all of a sudden everything from reading to place value up to thousands to cursive handwriting is simple.
We're reading Queen XiXi of Ix, another L. Frank Baum book. She is endlessly fascinated by fairies.
Today was her last rehearsal before the recital on Friday. She had her regular Tuesday ballet class, and then a 45 minute break, and then an hour long rehearsal. Whenever this happens, she wants to pack a bag with snacks and art supplies and stay there through the break by herself, so she can draw and share food and talk with the other girls. It was her own idea the first time and she approached me about it with a whole plan thought out. Now she has a friend named Sashi that has a phone number, and acts like it's perfectly normal for one of us to drop her off there for almost 3 hours without her so much as glancing back at the van.
She also got her other recital costume - red glittery leotard and black mesh tutu. But I think her favorite part of today was getting to have her ballet hair (tight, gelled bun with bun net and a wide headband) with earrings, for the first time. And she always looks SO pretty to me after dance, because (she brings clothes in her dance bag and changes in the bathroom before she comes out, now) her face is all flushed and her hair is wavy and lively from being let down.
I feel as though I should say, "It feels like it was only yesterday she was wrapped in a swaddle and nursing"...but it doesn't. It feels like every single day of 7 years and 7 months. It feels like I was 17 and pregnant and deciding to name her Ananda Rapunzel in another lifetime, or maybe even a whole other dimension. It's hard to believe that she was Isaac's age only 4 years ago.
Ananda and I cashed in her Christmas Gift Certificate the other day - a day out alone with me, with piercing her ears, getting her a manicure, having lunch and seeing a movie on the agenda.
After lengthy deliberating I got her ears done at the mall. I have heard so much negative stuff about the gun piercing, but it's how my ear holes and second holes have been done, I was never gonna get up the guts to do it myself, and no piercing shop in this county will do a 7 year old even with parent. The pediatricians here use guns or refer you to the mall. Disclaimer stated, I watched the (really nice, patient, 30-something) lady at Claire's get the whole part of the gun that would be in contact with her or the earring out of sterile wrapping and then throw it away when it had been used, and even still she cleaned the whole thing and Ananda's ear first. And it was quick and almost totally painless and looks great.
-Upon entering Claire's Ananda was HYSTERICAL - fighting and clawing to get past me and run back out into the mall as soon as we stepped through the door, even though she'd been begging for *months* to get her ears pierced. No, Ananda does not normally physically fight me O_O She was crying and clinging to me and incoherent once I got her past that hysterical phase, like I have only seen her when getting her warts removed at the dermatologist. I told her over and over I just wanted to talk, nobody was going to rush up and pierce her ears, I wouldn't make her do it we just had to TALK about it before she abandoned the idea in a fit of fear...literally half an hour later, she was sitting in the chair with a smile and some studs picked out, and she didn't even tear up when the lady did it. I really had to pull out all the stops to calm her down for it, but I KNEW she would breeze through and be so glad she did, if she just stopped to breathe. She picked out some small dangly crosses, a pack of tiny turtles, crabs and fish stud-type ones, and a pair of giant dangling wooden things with rhinestones on them, for once her 6-8 weeks with the starters is over. She LOVES having earrings...aftercare is this joyous Big Girl ritual for her.
-I thought a manicure was something rich people did? I thought it was something people were paid hourly for and went to cosmetology school to do? What I'm saying is I thought it would cost more than FIVE DOLLARS. The lady buffed and filed her nails, painted them with two coats, went around with a brush and acetone and cleaned it up a little, did a clear coat and then put her hands under the dryer and it was...$5. Maybe I just know very little about salon-anything, but I was surprised. She chose a sea-green that perfectly matches her celery crocs, by the way, and actually managed to not chew it off like she usually does polish.
-After subs and a stop in at the house for me to nurse Elise and us to change into "evening wear", we went and saw Water Horse. I found it to be mind-numbingly boring torture. It's a period piece set in World War II Scotland, for crying out loud, and the water horse part is basically a subplot. But, she was enchanted and loved it and raved about it the whole way home. So, mission accomplished I suppose. Aside from being a more-easily-impressed child, she's really got more of an attention span for documentaries and such - which this wasn't, but it felt like that to me at times.
It was very good to drive around talking together and race in and out of places all bundled up on one of our rare cold days. As we sat in the food court together it was hard to focus on everything she was saying, as it just seemed so astounding that I have a daughter I can go have lunch and get manicures with. Someone who carries her own shopping bags and eats an entire 6 inch sub.
She is flying through her schoolwork lately - all of a sudden everything from reading to place value up to thousands to cursive handwriting is simple.
We're reading Queen XiXi of Ix, another L. Frank Baum book. She is endlessly fascinated by fairies.
Today was her last rehearsal before the recital on Friday. She had her regular Tuesday ballet class, and then a 45 minute break, and then an hour long rehearsal. Whenever this happens, she wants to pack a bag with snacks and art supplies and stay there through the break by herself, so she can draw and share food and talk with the other girls. It was her own idea the first time and she approached me about it with a whole plan thought out. Now she has a friend named Sashi that has a phone number, and acts like it's perfectly normal for one of us to drop her off there for almost 3 hours without her so much as glancing back at the van.
She also got her other recital costume - red glittery leotard and black mesh tutu. But I think her favorite part of today was getting to have her ballet hair (tight, gelled bun with bun net and a wide headband) with earrings, for the first time. And she always looks SO pretty to me after dance, because (she brings clothes in her dance bag and changes in the bathroom before she comes out, now) her face is all flushed and her hair is wavy and lively from being let down.
I feel as though I should say, "It feels like it was only yesterday she was wrapped in a swaddle and nursing"...but it doesn't. It feels like every single day of 7 years and 7 months. It feels like I was 17 and pregnant and deciding to name her Ananda Rapunzel in another lifetime, or maybe even a whole other dimension. It's hard to believe that she was Isaac's age only 4 years ago.
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no subject
Date: 2008-01-09 08:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-09 09:02 am (UTC)I thought it was hilariously appropriate that they chose that one as #5, to be emphasized with each verse.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-09 08:46 am (UTC)You are about to get an influx of "zomg, I got pierced with a gun and I'm just fine" comments.
I will stay out, because there are like ten million reasons other than sterile equipment not to get gun pierced. I will mention that if the kid who did it told you to do anything to her ears like alcohol, salt soaks, washing or peroxide - don't. Proper healing is LITHA: Leave It The Hell Alone. Don't touch it, don't soak it, don't submerge it.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-09 08:58 am (UTC)The person who did it was definitely not a kid, though, she was like 35, and didn't mention anything about salt soaks or washing or anything like that, and did emphasize keeping hands off. I was really happy to find a competant seeming person because I was afraid I'd get there and find a 16 year old talking on her cell phone while piercing, and if that was the case I was just going to leave and go somewhere else.
Anyway I am curious so go ahead and tell me: What are the main reasons you personally wouldn't do it?
no subject
Date: 2008-01-09 09:59 am (UTC)Long story short:
Contamination (even with disposable cartridges), two week "training", uncertified piercer says what?, frighteningly unsterilized environment, crooked piercings, blunt force trauma, huge risk of infection, ragged holes, tearing, keloid scarring, rejection and allergy sensitizing from cheap materials, short posts, they are ILLEGAL in some places, I am not a cow, excessive pain during healing/piercing, 22g posts in your ears, And many moooooooore...
no subject
Date: 2008-01-09 08:06 pm (UTC)Any certified piercer is well-trained, educated, has an extremely sterile environment the likes of which you could never even come CLOSE to replicating at a mall. They use specialized tools they have been properly trained to use, the tools are completely disposable, one-use and specialized to what they're being used for. A gun is not, even if it has a disposable cartridge, the trauma causes blood spray, the people are untrained, etc...
And no - piercing at a certified body piercing studio will not give you ragged holes pierced with blunt force trauma and inserted with short, unapproved 22g posts made of garbage material. Ever. I have yet to hear of any body piercing studio that would put anything less than high quality 14g ball capture earrings in.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-09 10:07 am (UTC)I got all my original ear piercings done with a gun. The first time I was 9 and got two done. We did the whole "Turn it three times a day with alcohol". That stings like hell. They had problems healing and I believe they closed off, and I had them repierced a few years later. Those initially healed fine but there was scarring at the back from the blowout that comes with the earrings. 22g posts tear easily and can cause damage with a sharp tug (the main reason why they are NOT recommended for ear piercings), particularly on young ears, so I got my share of "ouches" over the years which only goes to increase the problems and the risks. I was constantly getting infections even YEARS later (in fact I was still having problems with spontaneous infections with NO injuries up until I started stretching almost two years ago. I stretched properly and with good materials and for some reason that has cured it).
Somewhere in my teens I got an "extra" hole and that one was way worse. The infections were brutal from the torn up skin, and I was already sensitized after years of off-and-on issues from the first hole. I had to let it close up, but I have internal keloid scarring.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-09 02:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-09 07:50 pm (UTC)The only thing I could wear were my custom made hoops which were reshaped from my mother's gold wedding ring. I wore them for like 12 years straight and even then sometimes I would just spontaneously have an infection, for no reason, with no injury, and it would go away after four or five days.
I thought I was just allergic to everything, but after stretching properly I can put anything in with no problem: acrylic, metal, silicone... things I never would have been able to do before.
I'm 0g now and I love me some Kaos tunnels. It's like wearing nothing and my ears are so much happier stretched than with the regular piercing. Plus I'm much happier with the way it looks.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-10 05:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-09 04:31 pm (UTC)Hopefully Ananda won't have to deal with any of that, though. One good way to prevent the scaring is to use arnica oil or jojoba oil on it. (Sterile quality, of course). Professional piercers often give that to their clients, warning to stay away from alcohol. Just clean with a good quality sterile antimicrobial soap if needed.
Don't feel bad about it, Tina, just do what you can with the aftercare to make sure she doesn't have complications! It's awful that you don't have any other options there.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-09 04:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-09 08:12 pm (UTC)Way easier and less painful than, "saturate with alcohol and turn it several times a day for weeks" that I was told when I got mine done with a gun as a small child. O_o;
whoa!
Date: 2008-01-09 06:53 pm (UTC)needless to say, my now 11 year old daughter does not often wear earrings and is always scared to put them in.
i wonder what i should do?
*i pretty much pierced all of my holes (5 in each lobe) myself...but by pushing one of those 'piercing studs' through it by hand.
and tina, that video is adorable. i cried and wished i had 6 kids.
Re: whoa!
Date: 2008-01-09 08:19 pm (UTC)Well first, let her know that you can do something to help it and hopefully allow her to wear earrings without pain. When/if she wants to, take her to a body piercing studio (look for certification and view their piercing room to ensure it's a sterile environment, you can also search BMEzine for stories relating to a particular studio to ensure it's a good place). She can have the holes "tapered" to a safe gauge with good materials (this means they will very quickly stretch the holes slightly larger). It will initially hurt, but the healing will be way faster and easier than with a gun. And it'll probably hurt less than the initial gun piercing did.
Then after that, stay away from those mall studs - they are too short and too thin and made of terrible materials. There are lots of good, lovely options out there that are proper size. At 14g you'll still be able to wear normal studs if you want, the size difference is not large enough that you'll be able to notice, but you'd probably want to wear the more comfortable stuff most of the time. ;)
Re: whoa!
Date: 2008-01-09 10:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-10 02:42 am (UTC)I'm sure I would have gotten up the gumption to self-pierce her or drive out of county or something, if I had had that sort of experience. For me, the first time I ever heard anything bad about the guns was online, and in the past couple of years...it was never specific and was mainly just a couple of people, but I figured it was just another one of those organic vs. non, type things - like, this isn't as good, but it won't kill you either, and it's what we have right now so deal. Before this post of mine neither my mom or my mother in law even knew there WAS any other way to pierce an ear O_o It's just What Is Done here.
After reading the whole thread the whole gauge thing is interesting to me. I know NOTHING about earring gauges. I grew up putting paperclips in my ears as earrings sometimes, but only bought earrings at the mall. I suppose maybe the paperclip type stuff may have worked to "stretch" my holes. My ears were pierced at 2 weeks old (at the mall) and I've gone years without wearing earrings on several occassions. I've head to "re-pierce" them myself a couple of times, but I've never gotten infected. If Annie did/does, I wouldn't use alcohol - I'd just go with breastmilk like I do when she's had an internal ear infection. As my brother in law says, "When in doubt, pull the titty out".
I thought I was being a conscientious person to refuse to pierce baby girls' ears and let them choose for themselves years later - that is also pretty much unheard of in my community or family.
I'm glad you were up in the thread for Becky (breathbox) and her daughter.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-10 04:16 am (UTC)But these stories and experiences are way, way more common than you'd think. The internet is chalked full of them and at this point even mentioning a gun in a piercing community is a practically ban-worthy. O_o;
no subject
Date: 2008-01-10 02:44 am (UTC)I thought it was rather disgusting when I spotted a group of 3 women outside the Claire's window looking in at Ananda, stopping, nudging each other, pointing and giggling, like "Ooooh this is going to be good." I wanted to smirk at them and throw a rock when she smiled through the whole thing and they walked away dissapointed.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-09 04:37 pm (UTC)"People will think she's a boy if I don't" is stupid... they'll think she's a boy anyway. I took my daughter to church at around 6 months, absolutely DRIPPING with pink tulle, sequins, and ribbons... and people still said "awww, isn't he cute!". Not to mention kids won't be bothered by being called the wrong gender as infants.
Anyway. Got off track.
The reason I don't condone infant piercing is because in this day and age, we have so few real rites of passage. I remember getting my ears pierced. I remember my dad taking me for ice cream because I was a big girl and didn't cry. That was a special, special memory for me, and it will be for your daughter, too.
Why would I want to take away that memory from my kids? When they're old enough, my kids will get theirs done, if they want.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-10 02:46 am (UTC)But, yeah, you're right...it was pretty great :) I like rites of passages.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-09 05:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-10 12:54 am (UTC)For Isaac http://www.littleredheadbook.com/
no subject
Date: 2008-01-10 02:49 am (UTC)Those pictures are *to die for* adorable.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-10 04:12 am (UTC)Redheads Across Canada book, too. It's partly about self-acceptance and she's including sections in them about teasing and such. How cool is this? I'm totally loving it.
When my mom was growing up in La Habra she said she was the only redheaded girl in her entire school, all the way up.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-10 04:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-10 04:30 am (UTC)Obviously, there are tons of horror stories about any piercing, gun or professional. But since you're now acquainted with the risks, it's hopefully something you'll be on the lookout for.
For what it's worth, I'll give you my own story. I have quite a few piercings: two in my left ear as well as an industrial, three in my right ear, a nostril piercing, and a vertical clitoral hood piercing. All of my ear piercings (except my industrial) were done with a gun when I was younger. My initial ear piercings did have to be redone when I was three by my pediatrician because they were uneven. Aside from that, I never had any issues with infection, healing, scarring, etc.
The only piercing I've EVER had any issues with is my industrial, done by a professional piercer. I've had it for four and a half years. It was pierced on a ridiculous angle, so much that it traveled INWARD and now one end of the barbell comes out of the middle of my upper ear as opposed to the upper edge. I've since showed it to my ex (a professional piercer) and the piercer who did my nostril ring, and both agreed that it was a huge error of the part of the piercer, as most piercings travel out and not in.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-18 07:29 pm (UTC)It's the piercing I wanted more than any of the others, so it's really a bummer. I think that's why I've been procrastinating on removing it.