Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Cirque de la Junk

"To Circ or Not to Circ - That is the Question" - Shakespeare, as interpreted by the JenStar


I've kicked this around in my head 1,000 times and until Mercer is old enough to tell me that we made the right decision for him - I'll probably still question it….THE CIRQUE or his circumcision.  We missed the window of opportunity at birth to have it done, mainly because they wanted to make sure that he peed straight and if he didn't, they wanted to correct that and circumcise him all in the same procedure.  Now that I've had about 9 months to think about it - I'm really apprehensive about the idea of someone operating on my son's junk.

This decision isn't about religion - you can practice whatever the hell you want whether you're cut or not.  This isn't about hygiene anymore - it's 2011 AD, not 1200 AD - we have soap and take showers daily.  I'm sure you could get some great videos on the internet of how to clean uncut junk….and on second thought, let's not Google that.  This decision is purely cosmetic.  It's about how we decide our son's junk should look.  I feel like we're making a very personal decision for Mercer - one that, if given the opportunity, he may not have chosen for himself as an adult.  I feel like I don't know him well enough yet to make this decision for him.  And I think that bothers me more than ANYTHING else about this procedure.  I guess that's just the hippie-parent in me.

I will say that ALL of my guy friends have been VERY supportive…ALL of them have said, "He'll thank you when he's older" or "I wouldn't have done it as an adult if it wasn't done for me as a child because of the pain involved".  My Dad even poisoned my mind by saying, "You don't want him to have stinky d*ck , do you?  Get it done."  (SHUDDER)  EVEN AFTER - all of that - I still have doubts.  What if Mercer is the kind of guy who wants to wear a "helmet" into battle? 

To backtrack - Just the surgical consult was a lesson in pure composure for me, the "Amish" person that I am.  I had to endure a 20 minute discussion about my son's future sexual function (which is HIS business and not mine)..with the pediatric urologist (note…what makes someone choose that field, specifically).  And I made it through without laughing, flushing or passing out after hearing the doc use words like:  "hard", "erection", "climax" and "urinate".

And a date was set, and then rescheduled because of work travel and then rescheduled again because of illnesses.  So, here we are, on the eve of the eve of the procedure (scheduled for 2/24) and I'm still waffling. 

And I can waffle all I want, but it's still getting done.  And I guess that is, in part, what parenting is all about - making the Hard (pardon the pun) decisions, in an informed manner, in your child's best interests.  Or…in our case…the parents' best interests.  This procedure will avoid having us explain to a potty-training-3 year old why "Daddy's" is different than his.  Yeah - Let's Cut and Run.

Good Luck Moosie. We love you.

2 comments:

  1. Well Jen, it sounds like you have done your research and are making an informed decision and that is all we as parents can do. I, on the other hand, did my research a little too late. I let my husband's opinion of "his should look like mine" make the decision for me. I made the *mistake* of watching a video of a baby circumcision AFTER and it made me cry. Granted, hormones had a lot to do with that, but it just seemed so traumatic for the boy! I wasn't there when it was done for my little man...and am thankful I didn't see it. I have regret, but I'm sure he won't resent me for the rest of his life because he won't remember what was done when he was 3 days old. I just wish I looked into it more before we did it to have more of a debate about it. Good luck to Mercer!

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  2. i to am freaked out by this since Justin and i are having our son in april i am concerned about the procedure and up keep. My gf waited till her son was 3 or 4 months old and they did it in the office while she held him and they didnt use any thing to numb the area ummm i would have killed someone! ya needless to say they will do it for our lil man when he is born and in they nursery so i dont have to be there and be tempted to hurt said doctor!

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