To Pierce or Not To Pierce.. That Was My Conundrum

So my plan was to keep it all a secret. Don’t tell a soul.  The secret?  We are having Lily’s ears pierced on Saturday.  Why keep it a secret?  Parent shaming is at an all time high in my opinion.  People will judge every choice you make as a parent.  When Kylie Jenner posted a picture of Stormi with her ears pierced, the internet lit up.  “You have taken away your child’s right to choose”.  “You should have waited until she could consent to body modification”.  Ok, I get it.  I see both sides of the issue. Don’t picket my house with burning torches. It was the same struggle I had when trying to determine if we should circumcise Conor. In the case of circumcision, however, it isn’t easily reversed if he decided he didn’t want it. So we left that choice to him later on.

For us the choice to do it now is the fact that I can control how and where it is done, and I am the one responsible for the post care.  I have little doubt that Lily would not want it later in life, and if she doesn’t she can take them out.

Yes, it isn’t necessary to do.  I am, however, exercising my parental discretion.

In making the decision I researched best options, materials etc. We are having them done at Skin Dimensions, which is a professional piercing shop. On staff, they have a female professional that specializes in baby ear piercing.  Yes there is such a thing.  They use single use sterilized needs and the earrings are implant grade, which eliminates the fear of allergic reaction.  In my research, going to a professional piercing establishment is seen as the best option.  You are dealing with professionals that abide by strict rules of cleanliness and sterilization (make sure you research a reputable piercer).  The needle they use is hollow and it reduces any pain.  This is in stark contrast to say going to the mall and having a 17 year old girl at Claire’s use a piercing gun.  A piercing gun actually piercing using blunt force, which just shoots the blunt earring through the lobe.  Having had my original piercings done this way.. no thank you. Not only is it painful, but the sound of the gun and the high school part time worker likely isn’t the best option.

Yes, I have made this choice for Lily. For us it is the right one, and I can and will make sure she is safe and they are well taken care of.  Of course pics to follow on my Instagram, and a follow up piece on how it went.

 

 

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One Year File Review

We are rapidly coming up on our one year file review this September.  It is hard to believe that nearly one year ago we were officially approved and placed in “the box”.  One year of waiting hasn’t been so bad actually.  Yes, there were times where we (me) become impatient, but generally I feel as though I have handled it well.

As our official file review is on September 30th, we have to complete the following items again:  Criminal Record Checks with finger prints for both R and myself and R’s Dad because he lives with us, medical reports (for each of us) and then an update to our home study.   Fun!  I have called and made appointments for each of our medical exams, and we are making the trip to the police department on the 25th to get fingerprinted.

Then we have to review our photos and such and determine if we are making any changes.  We won’t be making any changes to our profile package, it is strong and isn’t necessary for us to change anything at this time.

It sounds like a lot of work, but it is all worth it.  What we don’t want to happen is for us to get a match and baby is set to be placed in September, and our checks etc are not up to date.  That could delay the process.  With the adoption process, you need to have these up to date up past the 21 day period past placement.

It doesn’t seem like a lot of work for R because I schedule his appointments and he just shows up.  I think I need an assistant too!

I re-read my blog post On The Edge of the Box .  It was great to reflect back on that period last year, and remember all of the nervousness and excitement associated with awaiting approval.  The excitement still exists, but for very different reasons.  Now, we are excited because you just never know when you will get the call that you have been matched and selected.

What will be even more challenging is that when that happens, I won’t be sharing until after we have had our child for 3 weeks.  I think my plan will be to write a series of unpublished blogs during that time to document that phase… then when we can share, I will publish to the world!