Circumcision Decision Poll (Page 1)

i left it up to my husband since he has a penis and i don't. he's circumcised and he wanted our son to be like him so we did it. finn had his done while we were still in the hospital when he was 2 days old, he slept through the whole thing and never showed any signs of discomfort during the healing process.

it's very uncommon in the u.k., i don't really know about canada, and i think it's becoming about half and half in the states now.

both my sisters did not have their babies circumsized but I think it was more for financial reasons.It doesn't sem to be a problem anyhow, maybe just a waste of money?

We both decided to have our little guy done.

Daddy wanted his son to be like him "down there" but what really made the decision easy was when our two friends told us that they did not get circumcised until 12 and 5 years old

OHIP (in Canada) used to cover the cost of the circumcision until a few years ago but quit because it was deemed that there were no health risks associated with not being circumcised...tell that to my two friends who had the procedure done at 12 and 5! Apparently an infection developed and the foreskin had to be removed to treat it Both say it excrurciatingly painful.

It's good for hygiene

we had our son circumsized. he was still in the hospital. i think it was when he was 5 days old. i wasn't there when they did it, but they said he only struggled & cried when he was strapped down. like .bridget said, i kind of left it up to my boyfriend. we thought it was important to us that .gabe be the same as daddy in that department. the actual circumcision healed extremely fast & didn't seem to cause .gabe any discomfort or pain when we changed his diaper & changed his gauze thing.

I personally wouldn't have it done if i was to have a son. i asked .Dom how he felt about it when i got pregnant if .Mika was to have been a boy and he said that he wouldn't of wanted it. .Dom's circumsised as his grandparents are jewish and his dad is but he said he wouldn't want his son to be because he knew how uneasy he felt while doing sex ed in school knowing that he didn't have that bit

i truly regret circumsizing my son after researching it. it has nothing to do with hygeine, that has been disproved my the latest research. circumsizing also makes them loose sensation in the penis, so sex is not as enjoyable. it is a very painful procedure, and many consider it to be child abuse. there is no anesthesia given. it is totally unncessary, and its sad when people choose to do it just so their baby will "fit in". i recommend that you watch this proceudre before you decide. i wish i would have found the natural mothering boards that i am a part of now, before i had my son. here are the boards i am referring to:

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there is a lot of information there about circ and the consequences.

and here is a video of the procedure:

Forced genital cutting video footage. This has to end.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...umc ision&hl=en




TURN YOUR SPEAKERS ON!!

alternate route:

http://www.intact.ca/video.html

Transcription of what is said during the Circumcision Video:


Doctor [drawing on paper next to the empty Circumstraint, and talking to the baby's father before the operation begins]: This is the penis itself... in the final look, there's a little groove and then there's the actual head of the penis like this, right? (Uh, its a little to big for this diagram...)

Father: Right...

Doctor: But basically, the foreskin comes all the way along here right over the top...

Father: Mmm-hmm

Doctor: ...and up like that. You're gonna take it back to about here.

Father: Okay.

Doctor: So. This is the natural skin, when we're all finished;

Father: Mm-hmm.

Doctor: This is healed where the skin was taken away; and this is completely one line, completely free.

Father: Okay. Okay.

Doctor: If that was your question...

Father. Yeah. Yeah. That's... that's what I want. [Laughs nervouslyl.]

Doctor: Okay? Alright! That's what you're gonna get!

Father: Yeah okay, good...

Doctor: We're gonna set 'im down right here.... [Undoing the straps of the Circumcstraint.]

Father, [to the doctor:] He's all yours....[to his son:] C'mere my boy....

Doctor [To the father :] He's GROWN!

Father: Yeah.

Doctor: Look at the size, eh!?

Father: Oh my!

Doctor [putting the baby in the Circumstraint]: Look at him! He is... [baby begins to cry] Now, you'll notice, that he was nice and quiet - he's already fussy. Why? Maybe he doesn't want to be in this position, maybe he doesn't want to move his arms or his legs. You'll find th at one of the things that they most don't like is being unable to move. Cuz, their legs are normally flexed, right? And what we do is we take their legs out and we put 'em in a position- see how much he's reisiting me just now?

Father: Right. Right....

Doctor: And as soon as he realizes that he can't move that he gets all... He IS getting chubby! Let's put his sox on....

Father: He's gained, uh, seven ounce now... [Baby cries again as the doctor straps his legs down.]

Doctor: See? If you were standing outside the door, and you hear that, you'd say 'Oh my goodness! What's happening?'"

Father: Yeah- 'what is that?'

Doctor: [Opening up the baby's diaper] Oh, he's actually... a good size! Now. Of course, we check that the penis is fully normal, right? We also check and make sure both testicles are okay. (We've checked this before on him.) But, he's a little bit pudgy here and I'll show you what I mean by 'pudgy'. [Baby cries again.] Now we've done nothing to him. LISTEN to him! And that's important because everybody gets all excited about how they...

Father: Is it okay if I put this in? [Referring to a pacifier/soother]

Doctor: Sure! By all means. By all means.

Father: Quiet him down a bit... [To his son:] Okay. son, okay....

Doctor; Alright. So, the first thing we do...

Father: [To the baby} Go to sleep... Go to sleep. Go to sleep....

Doctor [Putting Betadine, an anti-infectant, on the baby's penis and scrotum]; Now this doesn't burn on anything. Also just the wetness alone will get them all excited here. [Baby cries again]

Father: Okay son. Okay....

Doctor: But, If he's quiet and doesn't move his legs, he's quiet. You watch the hands and legs! (They hate this....)

[Baby begins to scream, then shriek as two needle-nosed glamps are closed on the opening of his foreskin, a bigger clamp is inserted into the foreskin's opening, and the foreskin is torn away from the penile head.]

Doctor: What we've done here is we've completely separated all of the skin from the head of the penis- you can see the outline of the head of the penis, right?

Father: Yeah...

Doctor: So we've taken the skin right down, here, right? Right down to that level we talked about.

Father [to the baby]: Okay. Okay... okay....

[The doctor makes the dorsal crush with the flat hemostats. As the baby begins to shriek over and over.]

Father: Is that the anesthetic?

Doctor: What?

Father: Is that the anesthetic, or?

Doctor: No that, that just crimps the whole thing.

[The baby begins to choke on spit in his throat while still shrieking- "gargling"]

Doctor; We'll let that sit for just a moment. K? What we could do is release his arms... [The doctor undoes the baby's arms from the velcro straps.] So he feels less.... [Baby continues to scream higher and higher.]

Father: I was aware that you'd use an anesthetic.

Doctor: What?

[The doctor makes the dorsal slit along the crush line with a pair of scissors.]

Father: I was aware that you'd uh use an anesthetic?

Dcotor: We mix into the mixure here...

Father: Okay.

Doctor: And that just takes the edge off it, okay? And uh...

Father: [To his baby] Okay, son....

[The baby continues to shriek and choke as the foreksin is laid back off the glans.. and the doctor wipes the blood from the glans with a piece of gauze, until there is no sound heard from him until he gasps and resumes shrieking and choking]

Father: 'I need your help'

Doctor: [In a soothing tone to the father.] Alright. We'll settle him down. [Baby's still sputtering.]

Father: [Neverously] Okay. No problem. No problem.

[The doctor assembles the Gomco clamp over glans and pulls the foreskin through the plate and over the bell with tweezers as the baby chokes and chokes and screams!]

Doctor: [To the father] Oh, he's gotten himself upset. [To the baby] I think Dadd'ys getting excited! Its okay Dad. We'll be okay....

[The baby continues to shriek and choke as the rocker arm is assembled on the Gomco clamp and the nut is tightened.]

[The baby keeps choking.]

Doctor: Nice big swallow he had there.

Father: Yeah

Doctor: ...now he got it out.

Doctor: We'll just let him sit a little bit.

Father: You're okay. You're okay.... Okay son. Okay..... Okay... Its almost done. Okay....

[The baby continues a bleating cry, alternating with occasional shrieks, while finally the foreskin is cut off in a circular motion with a scalpel against the bell of the clamp.]

[The baby stops crying and begins a quick, raspy panting as the ring of detached foreskin is cut off with scissors.]

Doctor: Okay now we let him sit for a little second.

[The doctor gets out some petrolium jelly.]

Father: Mmm-hmmm

Doctor: Just so that uh... what it does is stop all- any potential for bleeding. Okay? So he's sitting there with the clamp on... and he seems to be... reLAXING a little bit! So we let him sit for a few minutes and that's it. [Baby still is panting loudly through his nose.] And uh, there's a drop or two here and a drop or two here- and that's your total blood-loss.

Father: Mm-kay.

Doctor: Actually, at this point, what I do normally is go through the instructions with the parents cuz t gives a chance for that. So all we're gonna do is we're gonna change the diapers frequently, simply to keep the stool and the urine away from the area...

Father: Right.

Doctor:...- something that you'd do anyway; you'd be changing him frequently. The big trick [the baby begins a plaintive cry.] is large amounts of Vaseline to that area.

Father: Okay.

Doctor: Okay? And this prevents the penis from sticking to the diaper.

Father: Right.

Doctor. So each diaper change, just a great big glob. Now I put it on a piece of gauze here- just some people lift it into place, but when you're changing him, you can put it directly onto the penis, okay?

Father: Okay... [The father continues with various "Mmm -hmm's" and "Okay..." 's and "Rights"...as the doctor continues his explaination.]

[The baby still is crying and complaining off and on with the clamp still on his penis.]

Doctor: If he DOES soil himself with stool all over the cut area, right? You're gonna wash with a warm water, but you're not gonna use any soap until its heal cuz the soap will be hurting, right? You're also not going to rub it hard- just to remove the stuff, right? And the child remains, you know, settled on... comforatable or whatever his normal position is- usually on the back, right? After a few days or so, there's a white-yellowish, yellow tissue- like you burnt something? If you've ever burnt yourself or grazed yourself, you have this scab-like material that forms? Do not attempt to rub that off; its a normal part of the healing process, okay?

And then, the healing itself usually takes about 3, 4, 5 days, and at that point, after about 3 days or so, they can go straight into the bath. K? You don't want to dump him into the bath while he still has the open cut, right? Here's an important point, it says - "Keep the skin down"- This is particulary importnat point for HIM, because [Baby's Name] has- ummm ... uh.... he's kinda chubby in that area. So what happens is- is we've removed the skin to here- there's quite a bit of fat around the base here and sometimes what happens is the skin will push up over the head of the penis. So today or tomorrow while its still MOVEable -It won't be moveable AFTER that- but today and tomorrow you just watch- and you make SURE that it stays at the level it is. It should. It should. Just in case is does go up, we take the four tingers [uses the thumb and index finger of each of his hands as he demonstrates in the air] and push that skin down to its normal position so it HEALS at the level we want it to. Okay? That's what we mean by "Keep the skin down" over here. And once he's completely healed, there's no special, you know- ANYthing! - just wash and bathe as normal. You don't have to retract to clean cuz there's nothing there!

Ummm. ... I've never had an infection, but I have to tell you about it. Obviously if you have a foul odor or puss draining from that area or it gets all red, there's a possibility that there is an infection. Uh, what CAN happen at times is excessive or ongoing bleeding. Umm... Again: Its not something that happens USUALLY. Uh, you can apply a little bit of a cloth with some pressure; that usually stops it; if you can't stop it, it needs attention. And there shouldn't be any problem with him passing urine immediately after the procedure. So you'll know from that he's passing urine. This will go with you- [he hands him the instruction sheet he was just reading from[. so you don't have to remember ANY of that and we'll give him just a minute more and we'll take that off and you'll- you see that its the way you want it to be.

Father: So... there WAS some form of anesthetic...?

Doctor: A topical sort of things, yeah., yeah.

Father: Okay...

Doctor: Not MUCH- it just takes the edge off. And you see he's sitting with the clamp on, munching away.

Father; Mmm-hmm...

Doctor: Now, there's a big debate, of course, about injections or others or whatnot... Its been done for thousands and thousands of years without ANYthing and it doesn't seem to be a problem.

Father [laughing nervously]: Yeah....

Doctor: Although, there's some recent research that comes out CLAIMING that there's... you know... [sarcastically quoting] "irreVERSEable damage done!'....So there's a LOT of people with a LOT of irreversable damange running around!

I didn't watch the video but I read the text and it made me queasy. It almost makes me wish I would have a boy so I don't have to make the decision because I know I'll have to argue for no circumcision with my partner and we usually like to find some kind of compromise on things. I guess I'll just have to have him with me when I talk to the doctor about it and hope he changes his mind. That is, if we have a boy, thank god they don't do that to little girls too!! ( I've heard about what they do to girls in some countries ) It just seems like they wouldn't have that part if it was harmful to them.

my sons not cirumsized, neither is his daddy... i didnt get him done because well shawn isnt done and wellshawns never had a problem with his so i dont see why reese would

it is around 35-40% that receive anesthesia. A lot of docs don't bother with anesthesia because the anesthesia that is commonly given doesn't work that well.
regardless, i see it as a totally barbaric act. most of the world does not circ.

to the op, please watch the video before deciding, and here is a direct link to web resources:

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oh and, here is a slideshow
"This eye-opening slide show has been updated to include the latest attemtps to medicalize genital cutting using the HIV epidemic as a ruse.

Circumcision was introduced into the United States at a time when medicine wasn’t yet science. Since then, circumcision became routine, but it is now being questioned as medically unnecessary and unethical. This presentation takes you through that history while showing infant circumcision rates in the United States, United Kingdom, and the world."

http://www.icgi.org/medicalization/#Page_1

We did have our son circumsised. I asked his daddy what he wanted to and he wanted it to be done. Mike isn't circumsised and has had issues with it, so he was adament that .Jaylon be done.

We were not present for the procedure, but he was given something to help with the pain. He didn't wake up for it, nor did he show any sign of discomfort while it was happening, or during the healing process. After a week we were not longer using the gauze and petroleum jelly and it looked good.

I think most people have it done if the baby father is done. (opposite in my case). If I had another son (which I am not) I would have it done again.

I have never heard that it desensitizes the penis if it's circumsized, but I'm not arguing, as I don't do as much research or reading as others. I know that I have had sex with men that are circumcised and men that are not, and I do not see that they enjoyed it any less or more either way.

oh and one more thing..many doctors tell parents they give anesthesia, when in fact all they give is sugar water. it is a full out lie that they tell, to make people feel better.

There are studies that show that uncircumcised men have a higher incidence of contracting HIV, but scientists are not sure why. I am not not not saying that one causes the other by any means, though. I was so glad we did not have to make that decision since we had 2 girls.

You can check out: http://www.doctorsopposingcircumcision.org

There's also a study that the Langerhan cells, which circumcision eliminates, could be helpful in fighting HIV.

http://www.cirp.org/library/disease/HIV/va nhowe2005a/

http://www.nocircofmi.org/AIDS.pdf