Earring Fiasco

I had my ears pierced for the first time when I was five. Unfortunately, one came out somehow and it was a horrible experience having my mother try to get them back in. Eventually, she gave up and they closed.

When I had Ella, I decided against getting her ears pierced as a baby. I thought it would be better to let her decide for herself if she wanted them, and I figured it would be a good idea to wait until she was old enough to clean them herself, twist them herself, change them herself, and not accidentally rip them out with flailing baby hands.

So when Ella turned five this past July, I offered to take her to get them pierced as a birthday present. But I warned her it would hurt a little and she would have to be responsible for taking care of them. The mention of pain was enough to deter her for a month and a half until, this past Sunday, when she saw a little girl about her age wearing pretty dangly earrings. She decided it was worth it. We took her right away, before she could change her mind.

She handled it so well! She didn't cry and she's been a stickler for making sure they get twisted and cleaned twice a day.

Then disaster struck. This morning, she was laying on the couch and one of the prongs of her earrings (she chose princess crowns) got stuck on the couch pillow. When she jumped up, it yanked the safety back off and ripped the earring out. Her ear was bleeding a little and it was nearly impossibly to get the earring in at all, as any parent who's been through this can attest. Luckily, I work at an urgent care, so that's where I was when this happened. My husband brought her to my work and if this has happened to you I suggest you do the same. It was simple, easy, took about 2 minutes, and Ella came out smiling.

First, the doctor quickly put a lidocaine filled needle through the hole (Ella barely protested), kept it there for a minute and then took it out. Then we gave her the original earring (with the pointy tip for piercing). Ella flipped. She screamed, struggled, and kicked. Rather than continuing to try to hold her down, I held her hands and explained that the medicine they just used made it so that she wouldn't feel a thing. I told her to close her eyes and I talked to distract her and the doctor took another minute while she slowly worked the earring through. Then she snapped the saftey back onto the back of the earring and we were done.

I would advise going to an urgent care, doctors office or even the emergency room rather than trying to put it back in yourself. It really is painful and traumatic and it's just not worth it.