Tuesday, November 29, 2005
A Little Q&A
My dear friend, Amy asked me a few questions that I thought (actually - she mentioned) it would be good to answer here.
1. Was Dylan circumcised in Guatemala?
No. Guatemala is a Catholic country and they, typically, do not circumcise their boys.
2. In the event he was not circumcised - how is it handled here (from the religious standpoint as well as medical).
When Dylan is a little older - we will have the procedure done in a hospital. We will also have a bris for him. Instead of the Moyl doing the actual procedure, Dylan will have his finger pricked to symbolize the bloodletting. These will take place several months from now for two reasons. First of all, doctors prefer to wait till a child is at least, I believe, 8 months old to do an older baby circumcision. Second, we don't want to overwhelm him with the procedure and the bris celebration. We want him to adjust to being home first.
We will also take him through a conversion which will include bringing him to the Mikvah.
So.... who has questions?
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I do! I do! At the risk of setting off a firestorm... we've been discussing the circumcision question for months. There's (obviously) strong religions tradition at play (which my partner and I share with you), and there there are also the people who say it's an unnecessary risk, done for cosmetic reasons and tradition. We're feeling really torn about it. Julie, do you mind sharing what was behind your decision to do it? Religious tradition? Health reasons? Something else altogether?
ReplyDeleteDad chiming in here - on a serious note first - a little bit of everything you mentioned - religion plays a big part of it, and hey, if it was good enough for me, y'know? On a less serious note, is it wrong that I chuckle a little every time I read "little prick"?
ReplyDelete~snickering at Marc~ I'd be upset if you didn't my dear :)
ReplyDeleteUgh....what a topic...also I too cracked up at the "little prick" comment!! While we are what..only 7 weeks along..the "clip" or not "clip" topic came up a while ago...if we have a boy, my DH refuses to circum; he was born in Italy and as J. mentioned, the Catholic tend not to clip...I don't care...I alwasy think of my DH's as a "jack-in-the-box", wind in up and out pops a surptise!! LOL
ReplyDeleteChrissi
Ha ha Chrissi is cracking me up! And I can kind of relate to that, being married to a man from England, where they also don't typically circ (and who is also adamantly against it - but I personally believe that whatever anyone wants to do is just fine and most certainly not up to me).
ReplyDeleteAlthough in this forum I didn't mean to set off a circ debate. I assumed that you two would circ for religious reasons and wanted to know what you two were planning on doing. I think it's very interesting. Can you explain to us what a Mikvah is?
Thanks!
I always think of that Seinfeld episode when I hear the word 'bris'. What a great word!
ReplyDeleteMy Dh is not circed an he doesn't want to circ if we adopt a boy. Obviously if the bmom wants to, than we have to abide by that until the papers are signed. But if we have the choice, than it's no circ for us. We are not Jewish though, so I totally get Marc and Julie deciding to have it done. I too would like to know more about Mikvah.
ReplyDeleteI hope you won't cut any pieces off his penis. There are no really good reasons to do this. There is no reason to mutilate his little body like that. Poor little chap, I am sorry for him I really am.
ReplyDeleteHi Julie,
ReplyDeleteI just checked out your site. Totally spirited. I love it! All I have to say about the circs is, "I'm glad I'm adopting a girl!" What is a Mikvah? What is the religious purpose of having a circumcision? My best friend is a fam practice doc and she told me once that many docs don't give anethesia because it takes too long for the meds to take effect. It is a painful procedure. My friend doesn't like doing it because of the pain the babies experience. The good thing is, most men don't remember when it was done.