Look, we have earrings!

29 May 2017.

The girls were very much looking forward to this day, not just because it was Daddy's birthday and we were going to have a day of celebration, but also because we had something special planned for them in the morning. It was something that the big girl had been asking me since last year and I promised to bring her this year if she worked hard for her exams.

Guess what? They were going to get their ears pierced and be able to finally put on their first pair of real earrings! The hubby was kind of nonchalant about it and didn't understand why I would fuss over it or why the girls were particularly thrilled by it. Yeah, tell me about it, men just don't get it sometimes. How can we not be excited, right? C'mon, they are going to have holes in their bodies and be shot by a gun and be able to wear bling bling on their ear lobes for the first time. Yeah, it was a BIG deal to us.

So, why did the little sister get to do it too? Well, if you have two girls who are both able to voice out what they want, have very strong opinions and tell you that they wish to do it together, would you have the heart to reject? In any case, I'm quite glad that they were able to go through this whole new experience together, 'suffer' the pain together, choose earrings together, get to make themselves look pretty and flick their hair together, and then announce to the whole world hand in hand that they can now wear earrings. Yes, keyword is together. If anything, they only made me wish that I had a sister to do it with me too when I was a kid.

My memory of my own ear piercing was that I was in kindergarten and my mum brought me to do it at some dodgy shop in our neighbourhood which resulted in an infection, the kind with pus, and I had to wait for the holes to close and do it all over again. The second time, she let me go with my friend's mum to some goldsmith shop and thankfully it went okay then.

Thanks to our friend Angie at Life's Tiny Miracles, she recommended me to take the girls to Kids Clinic @ Bishan for the ear piercing. We are no strangers to Kids Clinic because the kids have been seeing their paediatrician at Kids Clinic in Sengkang for a long time (until majority of the vaccinations became fully subsidised at polyclinics and we switched over). So, at least I felt assured when the name Kids Clinic was brought up and it made me feel more relieved that my kids were getting their ears pierced at a clinic meant for children, and by a doctor, than in a jewellery shop or shopping mall.

I called up the clinic a few days before and was told by the receptionist that no appointment was needed for ear piercing. However, you have to walk in on weekdays before 11am. She took the time to explain to us about the process and informed us that the girls would not be able to swim for a week, they could not take off the earrings for three months and they would have to come back for a follow up the next week. She also asked if the girls have any eczema problems because the doctor would not do the piercing if so, and I was glad that she took the effort to check with every potential customer first so that no one with eczema would have to make a wasted trip.

The entire process

On the day itself, we excitedly set off early from home and reached the clinic at around 9:30am. It wasn't a surprise to see that the clinic was very crowded on that Monday morning because we were so used to that sight. Babies were also given priority for their vaccinations, which is how it should be, and since we have been through that phase thrice, we fully understand and support it too. On hindsight, I think instead of Monday which is the start of the week, other weekdays will be better - we went for our follow up consultation on a Friday and the clinic was empty. But, since the hubby's birthday was on a Monday and he could drive us there and be the first person to see the earrings on our baby girls, we didn't want to lose this opportunity to go through this milestone as a family.

Registration took merely a short while as we filled up some simple forms and got a queue number for each of the girls. We were told that the doctor's assistant would come to us shortly to help the girls put on a numbing cream and we would be free to go for breakfast and then return.

After the numbing cream was applied, a sticky tape was pasted on the earlobe to cover it up. The assistant reminded the girls not to go and touch it and if the tape came off, the doctor would not proceed with the ear piercing. Yes, that would be a total bummer, right? So you bet my girls were extremely, positively careful with their ears for the next couple of hours.

Oh yes, we were told to return in 2 hours 15 minutes! We have heard of waiting times that lasted an hour or half an hour, but ours was over two hours. Well, it wasn't that bad because like I said, we could go for a hearty family breakfast before we headed back. The clinic is just a walking distance to Junction 8 but since we were early and not many shops were opened yet, McDonalds was an obvious choice for us. We even managed to swing by the library too (you will pass it if you choose to walk back to the clinic, which we did) and read a couple of books before time was up. To make things easier, an SMS will be sent to you when your turn is approaching. Very convenient, right?

Once we were back at the clinic, we were told to apply more of the numbing cream and then massage the earlobes for the next 15 minutes. Yup, it was better to be safe than sorry especially since the waiting time was rather long and the numbing effect might have wore off a little.

The big moment

Soon, it was time for us to enter the consultation room! I think all our hearts were skipping so fast at this point and I was glad that I could focus on the moment with my girls inside the room while the father and son did their bonding outside of the clinic (he chose not to enter and said he would take the baby instead, yay!). Yes, Mummy couldn't and wouldn't miss that moment for the world!

The assistant came in and she examined the girls' earlobes a little before using a black marker to make dots on them. These dots would indicate the positions of the earrings and if we had any other preferences, we could voice them out before the doctor did the actual piercing. What we realised was that the big sister had very small earlobes while the small sister had bigger ones. Yup, I didn't even notice it much till that day. The shape of the earlobes can also be different on the left and right, so make sure you are comfortable with both positions before giving the go ahead.

After that, it was time to choose the earrings - sterilised studs made in the U.S.! There were four colours to choose from, namely white, purple, blue and pink. I totally knew from the start what each of my girls would choose and I was not wrong - the big girl went for purple while the little one went for pink, same choices as the colours they chose for their beds in their princess room. It was a choice that was totally up to them and I wanted them to be able to make their own decisions in this matter.

买大，买小，买定离手！We all laughed out loud when we saw this - there were the chinese characters "BIG" and "SMALL" boldly written in black on the back of the earrings. Yes, big for big girl, small for little one of course. It was just so cute and amusing to see that being written down like that.

Finally, we met Dr Oh who was a really nice and amiable doctor! She took the time to get the kids to warm up, told them about how the noise could be a little loud (read more about it on our friend's daughter's experience at A Million Little Echoes), prepared them that it would not be too painful but would resemble how it felt when someone pinched them, and even played a cartoon on the computer so as to keep them distracted.

And how did it go? 

Well, I might as well show you instead of tell you because it can be a little hard to find words to describe that exact moment. All I can say is the girls were so brave and didn't even flinch, much to my relief. The big girl said that it wasn't painful at all and while the little girl did comment afterwards that she felt a little pain but she tried her best to keep it in and didn't even wince during the process, of which the doctor strongly praised her. Kudos to both of ya, my princesses!

Unlike some places where you are given lotions or alcohol swabs to use, Dr Oh said that all we needed to do was not to touch the earrings or go swimming for a week and then return for a follow up consultation to make sure that there was no infection. That definitely saved me quite a lot of hassle!

How much did it cost?

Yes, we've received a few queries on the ear piercings and I must say ours was not just one of the best experiences, it was also the cheapest of all I've heard among my friends too. For the girls, I paid a total of $107 and that is inclusive of consultation and both pairs of earrings. Not too bad, right? The follow up consultation is also inclusive and you do not need to top up anything for it in your second visit. Best of all, you can choose to pay everything using the Baby Bonus (if you are using a sibling's account who has never been to the clinic, make sure to bring his/her birth cert). That can be such a relief, right?

See how happy they were with their new earrings? Yup, they were indeed over the moon and in the perfect mood for Daddy's birthday celebration. It might be a small gift from me but it meant the world to both of them. It was also a sign that my beautiful girls are growing up so quickly and learning to make their own decisions in their lives. This milestone would always be one that I would treasure and remember, and be glad to have not one, but two girly girls in my life. Love ya, dearies!

******

Check out our whole experience in the short clip below, and see the girls' reactions when the gun went "bang"!


 
Kids Clinic @ Bishan
Blk 116, Bishan Street 12, 
#01-28, Singapore 57011
Tel: 6356 8909 
*For ear piercings, walk in before 11am on weekday mornings. No appointment required.



Disclosure: This is NOT a sponsored post. I have to write about this because it's a huge milestone for the girls and we wanted to share our positive experience too. All pictures and opinions are our own.