Sophia's Earrings

OK….I am almost over the traumatic experience that I encountered Friday during Sophia’ s ear piercing. I feel that the final step to overcoming this experience is to share it. First off, Sophia is great! I, on the other hand, will be scarred for life.

So I woke up Friday morning around 2:00am with a strange feeling in my chest. I woke Mike and told him that I didn’t think we should get Sophia’s ears done. Well, actually I sobbed that we should not get her ears done. Half asleep and annoyed that I am crying in the middle of the night, he said, “Fine” and went back to sleep. I took that answer as the Gospel and went back to sleep too! Our morning was great Sophia was happy and all I could think about was putting these holes in my child’s head. All day Sophia’s ears and the idea ear piercing overtook my every thought. Finally 2:40pm I picked her up at school and brought her home to where Mike was waiting for us to go get her ears done. At that point I was ready to do it. I got her dressed in a button down shirt, took a before picture of her, packed her bag and camera and we were out the door.

At the doctor’s office I was excited but that feeling from 2:00am started to overtake me again, but I push it aside since we were already there. We got into the room and Wendy, the Nurse Practitioner, that was piercing Sophia’s ears, came right in. She went through the procedure, stressed how much better it is to get them done early, and went through how to care for them after they are done. She tells us about these new infant earrings they just got. They are smaller gold balls that will fit Sophia’s ear better and a post that is no thicker than what we wear on an everyday basis. Now I am happy because I remember the starter studs and how thick the posts were. It said right on the package for infants ears. NOTE: SOPHIA IS THE FIRST INFANT TO BE PIERCED IN THEM!

Now it is time for the “procedure”. I am calm and smiling. We lay Sophia down and I mark her ears with the purple marker as to where I want them put in. Mike is ready with the camera to capture this moment. The Nurse does the first ear. Sophia has these bugged out eyes and begins to cry. As the nurse is loading the second earring into the gun, I look at the earring in her ear and it looks like it isn’t in all the way. I tell the nurse and she reassures me that sometimes the back isn’t on tight and we will pierce the other ear and then go back and tighten the back to the first one. She does the second one. This one also looks like it is not fully in. I pick Sophia up and she automatically stops crying. We give her a bottle and as we are doing this the nurse checks the earrings. The first earring is on tight. She checks the second…same thing. We realize that the new earrings have longer posts. Why they would do this for an infant’s earring is beyond me. Well, they are hanging out of her ear so we know that we can’t keep them in.

The nurse goes and consults the doctor and nurses to see how we are going to fix this problem. In the meantime, I am doing all I can do to stay calm so I don’t get Sophia upset. About 3 min. later she walks in with another nurse and a new set of studs. The old thick post ones! I have 2 options. 1. Take them out or 2. Take them out and push the thicker post through the thinner hole already made and hope it works. Already feeling like the worst mother in the world I opt for option one… take them out and forget about it. This was the worst part. Sophia was screaming, I was crying, the nurses were swelling with tears, and Mike was quiet (which means he was upset too!). They get them out and put numbing stuff on them. They tell me to leave them alone and wash the purple ink off tomorrow. We leave the office as I am clutching Sophia for dear life, crying and apologizing to her. She is looking at me like I am crazy. We get home and she goes to bed.

The next morning I think that this nightmare is over. So I go to wash the purple off her ear and realize that some of it is trapped under her skin. She now has bright purple dots where the earring should be. I freak! I have not only scared my child I have tattooed her. Since it is only 5:00am I can’t call the doctor’s office so I feel totally out of control. So poor Mike had to listen to me about how I do everything wrong with her….I didn’t bake her right, deliver her right, didn’t feed her right, and now I let them drill holes in her head. By 7:00am I was ready to drop her off at a baby drop station since she deserves to be with a mom that does things right. Sophia woke up and thank god she did because I was OK once I was feeding her. It was during that feeding that I realize she has Mike’s look (except he doesn’t have tattoos), my personality and my luck.

For those who don’t know my luck. I went for a cavity to be filled 4 months before the wedding and ended up with a root canal and cap on a tooth that had nothing to do with the cavity. 3 months before the wedding and 2 days before my bridal shower I got appendicitis and needed emergency surgery. And the best….the morning before the wedding I woke up with conjunctivitis and was in the emergency room waiting for treatment 2 hours before my nail appointment. With that in mind I started to dread her first haircut, starting foods, getting teeth, and her walking.

Well the story ends happily. I finally spoke to the doctor who said my daughter tattoos will disappear because the marker is a surgical marker. But it could take up to 3 months. So, until it disappears I am thankful her tattoos are purple since it matched most of her clothes. I am able to smile about it now because the dots have begun to fade. I am sure that I will be laughing about it someday when I look back at her pictures and see the purple dots on her ears.Well, there was one good thing that came from this experience. I have learned what that feeling in my chest was. I believe it was my “mother’s intuition.” I know that once you are a mother you get it but I never knew what it felt like. Now I know I have it and it works, so I am going to use it and when I feel it again…no matter what I am going to follow it. Oh, and as for the ear piercing. ..When she makes the decision to have them done, I will be happy to take her.

4 Month Appointment

Sophia had her 4 month check-up on the 11th. We were lucky because Daddy came with us to the appointment. While we were waiting Daddy thought it would be a good for Sophia to have some tummy time, so he laid her on the table...belly down. Sophia realized she was making the crinkle sounds when she moved and loved it. She managed to crinkle and eat the paper so forcefully she ripped the paper apart. Daddy was so embarrassed that he put new paper on the table before the doctor came in.

Her appointment went very well. Her weight is in the 55 percentile, height is in the 77 percentile, and head circumference is in the 70 percentile. The doctor spoke with us about starting her on food. He said developmentally she is ready. She can sit for short period with no support, hold her head up, and shows interest in foods people eat in front of her. BUT… we can't start her until we get clearance from the GI doctor. The GI doctor already told us that she can’t start food until she is at least 5 months….at the earliest.

She also got her 4 month shots and did really well. She only cried from the initial shock and then was fine. No temperature all night. Then around 4:00am she had a low grade fever but happy and eating, so I sent her to school. Well around 11:30am I got a call from my mom that she had a temp. of 102 (which is common after shots) and she needed her mommy. So I left work and brought her home. We had a few hours of cuddle time and by bedtime she was fine. The final part of the visit we spoke to him about ear piercing. We have been playing with the thought for awhile and Daddy is all for it. He wants her ears to be healed before she starts walking or teething. While I was pregnant I wanted her ears done and now that she is here I am torn.

As a mom I don’t want the experience to be scary or one that she remembers as painful. As a woman I feel that it is her body and she should make the decision if she wants them. Since I remember the sting that came with getting my ears done at the age of 5 and I don't want her to be able to remember, I will probably get them done and hope the she is happy with my decision. So, we made the appointment for Friday. I figure get all the painful stuff done in one week. I still have time to change my mind. I know she will only look more beautiful after she gets them done.I will let you know how the ear piercing went. Mike is coming so we should get lots of great pictures for her site and scrapbook.

Sophia 3 Months

Well, were do I begin. I have so much to share. To start off, Sophia is off all her gastric medications, thanks to the excessive drool from her teeth coming in. What is the correlation you ask…well, it was explained to me that the extra water (drool) that she digests helps to bring the moisture levels in her intestine up resulting in easier time having a movement. She is still on her reflux medication, but we have reduced the amount we give her each day and it seems to be working great.

Since she has been off all the medication she is like a new baby. All smiles and wonder. So, Mike and I took a lot of time this month exposing Sophia to new things. The beginning of her 3rd month started off with an even bigger playdate then the one she had a 2 months. She got to spend time with my friends I teach with and their children. Sophia had a blast and loved all the attention she received from the older children.

Every weekend we take her to the local pet store to watch fishes and birds. She LOVES this! Mike thought it would be great to introduce her to more animals. So, at the beginning of the month we took her to Stone Zoo. She was in awe the whole time we were there. She loved to watch the animals move around, especially the big cats that would pace by her at the window. She also loved looking at the black and white monkeys.

Towards the middle of the month, Sophia went to her first birthday party to celebrate our neighbor Connor’s birthday. It was great! They had a reptile woman come with a lot of great animals. Of course, Sophia had to get in on the action. She loved the feel of the alligator and the snake. She loved the snake so much she tried to “gum” it.

The last week of August Sophia started school. She has made a lot of new friends and gets excited every morning that she gets dropped off. It makes it so much easier to go to work when she flashed me that big gummy grin on my way out. This weekend, the last true weekend of summer, we took her to the Feast of the Three Saints in Lawrence. She had a great time. The little old ladies loved her because when they would talk to her she would smile at them. She knows how to work a crowd! She loved the marching band and all the paper fireworks that were going off. She had so much fun she was asleep before we made it out of the feast.

Sophia is amazing! She has begun to laugh out loud and has become very particular on who hold her. She talks A LOT. When she is alone in her crib or in her swing is when she seems to talk the most. Mike and I love to sit and listen to her over the monitor in our room. Sometimes she gets so animated we can’t stop laughing. I find the conversations between Mike and Sophia to be the funniest. Whenever he talks to her she always responds back to him in the same tone. She sleeps through the night except for her occasional conversation with the frogs on her mobile. She has begun drooling and chewing on our fingers every chance she gets. She can roll over from back to front and front to back, although she doesn’t like to do it that much. She loves to play in her exersaucer and is even able to walk small distances when she is in her walker. She is so full of energy.

As for Mike and I, we are finally adjusted to our new schedule. Going back to work was easier than I expected. I would be lying if I told you that there were not a lot of tears leading up to the first day of school. As for Mike, he is an awesome dad. He is very involved and it shows. Sophia adores him as much as he adores her. All Mike has to do is walk into a room and she flashed the biggest gummy grin, kicks her legs, and waits for him to hold her. She is daddy’s little girl.
Well, I hope to be in touch more this month, but it is hard now that I am back to work. We have so much planned this month and I can’t wait to share our memories with everyone. Until then.