CP: Circumcision?

MsAmandaPants · May 2014

We're currently wrestling with the decision about whether to circumcise or not. I've done a fair amount of research and talked to doctors and nurses. My nurse has told me that the rate of circs have fallen to about 50% nationally. It makes me curious if PGAL is representative of this trend (and absolutely no judgment either way). Sooooo . . . are you circumcising your baby boy?

[Deleted User] · May 2014

I didn't cast a vote because I honestly don't know! Plus I'm not sure whether we're having a boy or girl yet (if we're lucky we'll be finding out this afternoon!), but if I do end up being Team Blue, I'll probably ultimately let DH make the call. He's not circed so I'm pretty sure I know what way he'll lean. At this point I'm almost hoping to be Team Pink so I don't have to worry about this decision!

)

megbmeg · May 2014

I also didn't vote bc I don't know. I'm leaning toward not, but I also may defer to DH's preference. He's not sure either.

ksyknelvr73 · May 2014

I deferred to DH for this....he is circ'ed, we circ'ed DS1 and we will also be doing it for this LO.

longcat07 · May 2014

DS's story is long and convoluted. LH and i were team green technically, although i had a very strong suspicion we were having a boy (which turned out to be right). i was kind of a fence-sitter on the issue myself, maybe leaning toward leaving him intact, but i left the decision up to LH. he'd decided he wanted him circ'd so that he'd look like him. ok. fast forward to DS's birth (5 weeks after LH passed away). i still wanted to honor LH's wishes. my doc told me that i should wait a few weeks to have it done because he was "underdeveloped" and "that's one of the last things to finish growing", since he was born 3w early. i'd brought him in for an extra checkup when he was 2 weeks old because he'd had jaundice for a while, and she said not yet. then at his first regular checkup/my PP visit, she gave me the green light, but told me that he was too big for newborn restraints at that point, so a urologist would need to do it and they won't touch him till he's a year old and can have anesthesia more safely. by the time he was a year old, i wasn't going to put him through it.

in retrospect, i'm sure my doctor was actually manipulating me because she was opposed to circumcision (she'd told me that when i asked and had said that she could find someone to do it for me but she wouldn't do it herself). that upsets me, but now i'm kind of glad i didn't have it done...if it'd been entirely up to me in the first place and i didn't care about honoring LH's wishes, i probably wouldn't have had it done regardless.

DP is also intact, and if little bean is a boy, he'll be intact too.

kimmyberly26 · May 2014

I'm not having a boy but DH would vote circumcision.

SandSunBliss · May 2014

We are team green, but I deferred to my DH on this one. He strongly wants LO circumcised if we have a boy. He says it seems so cruel to do it when they are older and he feels that he would have been upset with his patents had they not circumcised him. I was on the fence, but he was so adamant, I really felt like there would be no common ground.

MsAmandaPants · May 2014

Birch113 said:

I listened to a really great podcast with a pediatrician about circumcision and did some follow up research. I was on the fence but leaning towards not going it. I asked DS and was shocked by how adamantly he was against it. I assumed he would want his son to look like him. Obviously we are way too early and don't know what we a are having yet, but if it is a boy, we are Team Skip the Snip!

If you happen to remember the podcast, I would be interested in checking it out!

rmpar29 · May 2014

I deferred to DH as well. There was no question in his mind, and both boys were circ'ed

[Deleted User] · May 2014

DS1 is circ'd and this little guy will be, too. I let DH make the final call and he was adamant about it. Aside from the general reasons for it you usually hear, another factor for me was seeing how difficult it was for my elderly grandfather to take care of his personal hygiene and how many elderly men end up getting circ'd late in life due to infection.

Just gotta do what you and your H think is best!

ETA: I should add that if we'd had some sort of traumatic experience with DS' circumcision I'd probably reconsider for this one, but he didn't even cry and wasn't fussy after. Hoping it goes as smoothly this time.

carlsonbaby2014 · May 2014

SandSunBliss said:

We are team green, but I deferred to my DH on this one. He strongly wants LO circumcised if we have a boy. He says it seems so cruel to do it when they are older and he feels that he would have been upset with his patents had they not circumcised him. I was on the fence, but he was so adamant, I really felt like there would be no common ground.

Wow, this is pretty much exactly how the cards played out between myself and MH when this topic came up. My thoughts were that I didn't necessarily want to agree to circumcision just because it's widely practiced and more common than not circumcising (though that seems to be changing somewhat) and I haven't had time to research whether or not it's medically necessary and, finally, that I felt a little odd making that decision on behalf of my son, if we end up having a boy. It's kind of one of those things I'd like to ask about first, but I realize that's now how this works

. However, MH feels very strongly that if we have a boy we should circumcise him as a newborn. It seems to be much more black and white to him than me.

I think that if it was entirely up to me I'd lean towards not circumcising rather than for circumcising.

MsAmandaPants · May 2014

LeaLupins said:

DS1 is circ'd and this little guy will be, too. I let DH make the final call and he was adamant about it. Aside from the general reasons for it you usually hear, another factor for me was seeing how difficult it was for my elderly grandfather to take care of his personal hygiene and how many elderly men end up getting circ'd late in life due to infection.

Just gotta do what you and your H think is best!

ETA: I should add that if we'd had some sort of traumatic experience with DS' circumcision I'd probably reconsider for this one, but he didn't even cry and wasn't fussy after. Hoping it goes as smoothly this time.

The elder care issue is actually one of the most compelling reasons I have for doing it!

2ndGeneration · May 2014

My dh is not circ and neither are our 3 sons. At ages 21, 17 and 16, none of them have ever had any issues (nor has dh) and they are glad we did not circ them.

ToriGirl2014 · May 2014

Definitely not. I wouldn't let someone cut my lady parts ... I'm not going to let someone do that to my kid regardless of gender. Just seems like a simple choice.

Junebug060609 · May 2014

We skipped the snip for DS. No regrets thus far (he is 2.5)

[Deleted User] · May 2014

noonandj04 said:

I didn't cast a vote because I honestly don't know! Plus I'm not sure whether we're having a boy or girl yet (if we're lucky we'll be finding out this afternoon!), but if I do end up being Team Blue, I'll probably ultimately let DH make the call. He's not circed so I'm pretty sure I know what way he'll lean. At this point I'm almost hoping to be Team Pink so I don't have to worry about this decision! )

Soooooo turns out we're Team Blue after all (!). I really don't know what to do! DH and I just got into a discussion about this tonight, and of course he's Team "Skip the Snip". My concerns are the elderly personal hygiene issue and the possibility of my son being pissed at us someday for making this decision for him if he's unhappy about it or feels different. I'm hoping, though, due to the drop in overall circumcision rate, that he won't feel so different from the other boys as he would if he were in my generation.

My DH said he was angry at his parents for not circ-ing him for all of 5 minutes when he was a teen. He doesn't see the point of having it done, and I get that. This is a no-brainer in his eyes, but really not an easy decision for me at all!

amwangel · May 2014

andrea ri 80 said:

We didn't have DS circ'ed and it's not even a thing that we think about in the least day to day (he'll be 3 in July), MH is circ'ed, and I don't really think it'll be a thing if their stuff doesn't match.

Same here. It was a tough decision (we AGONIZED, so I feel your pain), but in the end not being "different" wasn't enough of a reason for us. Son is 3.5 and it's no big deal that's not circ'd.

megaddie · May 2014

I'd kind of like to skip it but my husband seems in favor of it--though he hasn't done any research and thinks his own was slightly "botched," as he puts it.

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CP: Circumcision?

CP: Circumcision? 106 votes

Re: CP: Circumcision?

Began trying for a baby January 2012BFP 4.25.2013 EDD 1.3.2014 MMC 6.3.2013 D&C 6.19.2013BFP 11.3.2013 CP 11.6.2013BFP 3.31.2014 EDD 12.10.2014 Baby boy Carlson born 12.19.2014

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Began trying for a baby January 2012
BFP 4.25.2013 EDD 1.3.2014 MMC 6.3.2013 D&C 6.19.2013
BFP 11.3.2013 CP 11.6.2013
BFP 3.31.2014 EDD 12.10.2014 Baby boy Carlson born 12.19.2014