Circumcision? - Kalamazoo,MI

We chose NOT to circumcise. And we have no regrets.
I did research this and felt that there was not a strong enough reason to sway us to decide to circumcise.

No judgement either way. Good Luck!

My son is and honestly, I never considered him not being circumcised.

I highly doubt when he is older, he will scream at me for having it done.

Did NOT circumcise.

Guess I'm the first to answer that did not.---> Elboe had not answered just yet. ♥

I don't judge those that make the decision to circ. Not my place.
My husband IS circumcised. I have friends and family that are not. I've seen a few that were that DID have BIG issues but most did NOT.

Here's my spiel on the issue of infant male circumcision....

1) All 3 of my boys were circumcised within days of birth

2) Hubby was NOT circumcised at birth, as his mom (a physician) was very against it. Over the course of his life he experienced frequent and severe urinary tract infections (despite her dilligence at tryint to keep it clean.) At the age of 7 his mom took him to a urologist and had it done. Hubby remembers the pain very clearly.

3) Hubby is a physician and has sent a few dozen grown men to have circumcisions done, due also to UTIs, or to concern with STDs.

4) Studies have shown that circumcision helps prevent the transmission of HIV. This is probably the most powerful argument in favor of it...You can search online about studies done in Africa showing that transmission rates plummet once widescale (adult) circumcision was done.

5) whoops...will write more soon...kids want a snack

We did for both boys at the hospital. It is a personal decision and you shouldn't be swayed by the women on this board either way. Discuss with your hubby and agree. Best wishes on the upcoming birth of your new little man!

**sitting back waiting for the circus to begin**

We did. Every man I have ever known in my life has been. So to me, that's the norm.

You're going to get ALL kinds of responses here, from being telling you it's mutilation and torture to people saying it's fine.

Whatever choice you make, do your homework and make your own decision. Please don't let other people pressure you one way or another!

I would vote against it as it is an unnecessary and painful surgery.
I wasn't going to have it done.
When my son was in the doctor's office, I felt talked into it (not so much by the dr) and felt pressured to do it (hubby, society) so we did it.
They wouldn't even let me in the room w/him.
It looked awful when he came out. It looked awful for several weeks.
If I could go back in time, I wouldn't do it.
It's sad, elective and painful. Poor babies.
I don't judge anyone either way but I was really sad after doing it. :(

So before I was aware of this site, I really didn't know circumcision was so controversial. Get ready, you will get some vehement responses. I had a son, and we did it. We even watched the torturous videos (in our birth class) of how they do it. But they use anesthesia and it's quick. It's really your call. I chose to do it just because my husband thought it was really important to do and I figured he had a better insight to this than I did. I do not regret doing it. We had a urologist do the procedure, and the way I saw it, it was like a surgery. Sure, if you watch videos of surgery, it's going to scare you. He was out of my sight for maybe 20 minutes and slept the rest of the day.

The biggest reason to have it done is peer pressure. I know, I know don't ever give in, but in this case it is really a good idea. Boys get no privacy at all in the locker room. There are sooo many things other kids find to pick on people for, take this one thing out of the picture. Your son will thank you.

M.

Yes. we did. We are happy with our decision. I don't feel the need to list every reason why we chose to, but we had more reasons for...then against. People get REALLY heated over this topic. I'm sure someone will be rude and nasty to you.

And...let the private messages telling me I'm abusive and barbaric flood my inbox...now.

Whatever decision you will make, it will be the best one for you and your family.

My husband has been, so we have done it with my son. I was traumatized when I saw it, but my son seemed ok. My husband said that my son slept through the quick experience. It healed the day we got home fro the hospital, but i wish I was prepared more about the visual. I was also extremely surprised how high the % is in the hospital for people to do it. In addition, in high school (NYC) there was a guy from Europe who hasnt been and he was teased about it a lot that he has changed schools.

To be 100% safe, have an actual urologist do this. Of course there is always a chance of a problem but I have 5 sons and all have been circumcised without any problems or infections. For ease and cleanliness we felt this was the best option.

We have 2 boys, and were definately against circumcision. So when our first son was born, we didn't do it.

Then when he was about 1.5 years old our pediatrition told us he might have an issue. He was not getting any infections or anything but the skin would not pull back. After talking to a specialist it was recommended we do it becasue it was very likely he would have infections when he was older.

We decided that we didn't want to risk putting a teenager thru surgery. At 1.5 years old our son was circumsized. At at this age it is a much bigger deal, and he did have general anesthesia and there are allot of risks associated with this also. But I tell you I wouldn't want to do that again. He was in allot of pain and cried everytime he had to go pee. It was just awful.

Long story short. When we got pregnant again with his brother, we got him circumsized right after birth. I had to fight with my hubby on this one. He was willing to just see if he ended up with the same issues his brother had, but no way was I willing to take the chance. Obviously he eventually saw it my way.

Do I agree with circumcision..NO...but there are cases where it needs to get done. We were told that in non circumcising countries, even about 10-15% get circumsized when older due to issues. I guess our son was just one of the smaller percentage who needed it.

I am pregnant right now and if we were having a boy I definitely would have done it. My hubby and I both agreed on it no question. After seeing my grandfather have to get circumcised 3 times at 87 years old, I didn't want my son to go through that. However this is a decision for you and your partner and if I were you I would research both sides and make an informed decision.

Good luck!!

we did not circumcise our son. That's the way God made him and it should be left that way. No reason at all to do it.

Erika, I was really on the fence about this. I have had several friends have issues with the careless job they do with this in the hospital. Many of them had to bring their kids back (including my nephew) for a correctional procedure that involved general anesthesia. Not cool.

My husband felt pretty strongly that DS have the procedure done, even though the latest stats on this are that the parenting population is split 50/50 on this. So theoretically, by the time your son would be in MS it would be less of an issue.

The compromise was this: although we are not Jewish, we sought out a mohel. This doctor, who specializes in circs, was EXCELLENT. He had an amazing track record - in 25 years of doing them, he never had to do a correctional procedure. Since we refused all medications at vaccines in the hospital, this route was much more consistent with our "natural" approach as the body's natural levels of vit K (resp. for clotting) are naturally high on the 8th day after birth. This significantly decreases the risk of excessive bleeding and related complications. The mohel was gentle, caring, careful and invested in the job he did. He even wanted to see him a week later to be sure all was ok. It was.

In the end, I was very happy with our choice. It still was not easy, though - I didn't know they would have us there in the room w/him and my "new mommy hormones/emotions" couldn't take it. I sat in the waiting room sobbing and wondering if we did the right thing. My husband stayed with him and was visibly shaken by the experience, too. In spite of this, he says we should do the same thing if we have another boy in the future.

I felt it was the best of both worlds if you are considering circumcision, although there are very good arguments for not having the procedure done at all.

I personally have never met anyone who had any residual feelings of violation, anger or resentment toward their parents who made the choice to circ. On the other hand, I have heard many accounts of boys who felt that way about parents who chose not to. A child has no memory of it and the pain did not last long at all, whereas if an adolescent or adult had it done, it would be far more traumatic.

Do some homework on this and trust your feelings as parents. It really comes down to what you want to do given all of the information that's out there.

Congrats on your boy - go team blue! =D

Yes, my son is circumcised, didn't think twice about the decision to have it done and I will never regret it either.

We had my son done at about 3 months old because he was early and we couldn't do it in the hospital. And the dr who did it messed it up...so now we have to get it revised because dispite keeping it clean and having him pull back the skin after he uses the potty he still gets irritation. So if i could go back or have another boy I'm not sure I would do it again...I know my son is worst case but it could happen...

We did not circumcise our little guy, and we are fine with our decision. It really comes down to personal preference, usually from dad, cultural, societal, or religious reasons. Some people still believe that it's more hygienic or that it reduces the risk of STDs... bot of which are unfounded arguments. I've also heard people say that they didn't do it and then later, because of complications, they had to be circumcised and it was an awful experience. And initial circumcisions have been botched and additional surgeries have to be done.

More and more people are choosing not to circumcise. There really is no good reason for it, in my opinion, unless it's for religious reasons. But it is a very personal thing. I'd recommend doing your own research before making a decision.

Good luck!

We kept our boy as God made him. Whole.
Absolutely no regrets.
My DH and DS do not have matching penises.

Why did we make this choice? First of all, because I know that God loves my son no matter. And I really don't think God wanted me to have cosmetic surgery done on my precious son who only knew to trust in me.
Second, it does hurt. Just because So-and-so's kid slept through it doesn't mean it didn't hurt. Sometimes the babies cry themselves into what looks like a calm state, but really they are shutting down.
It can also interfere w/ breastfeeding.
Third, babies can and do die from this unnecessary surgery. Botch jobs happen more often than we are led to believe.

http://icpa4kids.org/Wellness-Research/new-study-estimate...

http://www.drmomma.org/search?q=momma+circumsi#uds-search...

For what it's worth my DH kinda wanted to have it done because of what God told the Jews...I decided to read my Bible and pray and seek my answer from God. I had peace. Read Romans if you feel the need/desire.

Thankfully, years ago his buddy told him all about watching his son's being circ'ed and I know DH was left disgusted by it-I am grateful that this softened DH's heart long before we knew our son.

Maybe your DH should watch a video of it being done...

I hope this helps!
Congrats on the boy!
Did I say anything that was bashing? ;)

Our son is not circumcised and has never had a problem (he's 7 now). My husband is not circumcised either (that made the decision easy for us) and he has never had a problem as well. Anyway, do whatever you think is best. There really is no right or wrong thing to do. A couple years before having our son Science magazine came out with an entire issue about circumcision and it taught me that there really is no real medical reason to do it...it's a cultural thing. That made me realize that I didn't want to circumcise if I ever had a boy bc it seems to me we are made a certain way for a reason and why mess with things. But if you do end up circumcising it's no big deal either. Good luck w your decision!
PS - My husband said he never was teased or ever had a comment made to him in the locker room. And he grew up in a very conservative city in Texas.

I didn't want to do it, but let my husband talk me into it.
He was with our son during the procedure. It took 2 minutes, my son had anesthesia and my husband swears it did not seem traumatic for our son. I'm sure he was sore in the days afterward though. I wish I had thought to give him infant tylenol - so I would strongly recommend that you do that if you do have your son circumcised. Make sure the doctor uses anesthesia as well.
Anyway I regret agreeing to it. The circumcision came out "perfect" and there have been no problems, but every time I change his diaper I feel sad. In my heart I know - we could have and probably should have just left him natural. There's no real, compelling medical reason to do it. Eventually my son is going to do his own research and, especially with the internet, he'll realize we permanently altered his body, without any medical need to do so. Every day I think about that and am terrified he's going to resent us.

Don't go removing healthy, functional tissue.

We was told our third child was a another girl. But the day of delivery we found out he was a boy. We both didn't ever talk about it and when we asked if he was going circumcise we both said yes. My husband is so, I guess it didn't bug us. We got his done the next day and he was pefectly fine. He was in a little pain but a few days he was alot better. Every parent has their own beliefs and things they do/believe,and it doesn't make them a bad parent. I had my oldest daughter had her ears pierced at 3 months old. Some probably thought I was wrong for that. Its mine child and she was ok afterwards laughing and now she's 5 and so now I don't have to worry about her freaking our or have her in pain to get her ears pierced. I say do WHAT YALL want to do. Its your child. Good luck.

They say the rule of thumb is: you do whatever your husband has....