Baby Earrings - follow up

I went to the pediatrician today to see what to do about Cupcake's missing earring. We'd tried to put it back ourselves last night, but we couldn't get it through. I called her doctors office (where they did the original piercing), and the doctor nicely told me that she could try to put it back, no biggie, just stop on by around lunch time.

We went a little after 1 pm, and waited for about 10 minutes, which is fine because our pediatrician has a wonderful waiting room full of wooden toys that must be some Montessori fantasy (you know the type, wooden, pure and very Swedish).  Cupcake has a great time playing with new toys.

When the doctor finally saw her she regretfully informed us that the hole had healed completely, and the best thing to do would be to re-pierce it.  I mean, we could try to push it  through, but then we'd be risking potential pain, and also infection.  Her medical advice was to re-pierce so we'd know that the needle was antiseptic, and they could use the proper little piercing contraption.  I was devastated.  I just could not believe that the hole could close in a mere 30 hours.  Our pediatrician was super nice about it, and reassured us that this was in fact wonderful news: Cupcake is very healthy and can heal quickly.  Well... when you put it that way...

We have another appointment tomorrow for the re-piercing, when the nurse practitioner is in.  On one hand, I'm really upset that she'll have to go through the pain again, but I'm reassured that our doctor is taking care of it.

Whatever.  My mom is currently in a conference in Spain, and I asked her if she could go  buy us some baby earrings to have as backup should she pull one out again.  I seriously don't know where one would go about buying baby jewelry in the US.

Apparently, my mother went to the first jewelry store she found and asked for baby earrings, and they had newborn, baby and toddler styles. Bless them. She started chatting with the store owner, explaining to him that she needed earrings for her granddaughter, because in the US babies don't have earrings, and told him how scared I (Cupcake's mama) was about the piercing falling off, since some people in the US considered baby piercing barbaric.  His response:  They legalized handguns,  but they consider earrings barbaric? That's ridiculous.

It's so reassuring whenever I hear of other countries that pierce.  I was feeling very mixed about it today, but it's just a cultural difference, much like Cupcake's late bedtime.   I'm still scared about the re-piercing tomorrow. But it'll be okay. It's being done in a sterile environment, and Cupcake is a tough girl.  We'll be fine.