Poor Lindsay at Suburban Turmoil. She is expecting a boy and is considering circumcision. When parents decide to circumcise, there is no doubt in my mind they make the decision out of love and concern for their child. Most are afraid their boy will one day be ridiculed or rejected if he is to remain intact.
I don’t think I had an opinion one way or the other before becoming an OB nurse. If anyone had asked me would I circumcise one day? I most likely would have answered "yes."
As a brand new nurse in an obstetrical unit, part of my responsibility was to assist doctors during circumcisions. The first time I witnessed it, I was in shock. I never recovered.
The thing that really puzzled me was the lack of pain control measures that were taken. If a parent requested it, a doctor might agree to put a topical anesthetic on the infant. Many refused to do so. Even those who agreed, seemed to do it just to appease the parents and did not wait the allotted time for the numbing to take effect. You see, circs are five minute procedures. If a doctor gets a break in his day, he makes a quick stop in the nursery, performs a circ or two and off he goes. No time to hang around waiting.
Make no mistake, this procedure is brutal. At birth, the foreskin is adhered to the head of the penis. Prying it loose is akin to sticking a knife under a fingernail and pulling it off. The babies are strapped onto a board with velcro and cry so hard once the clamping and cutting starts, they often wind up vomiting and pooping on the table from the stress.
Some say it is less painful to do this to an infant than to an adult. I question the logic here? Babies feel pain. Period. At least an adult would have the benefit of being properly anesthetized and could take a lot of percocet afterward. The fact that they don’t remember doesn’t make sense to me either? Any body worker will tell you that trauma is indeed stored in the body. Seems like a rude welcome to the world to me?
I believe every parent considering this procedure should be required to see a video of it and to know exactly what will be happening to their child. Only then can they make informed decisions.
I’m not even going to get into the ethics/cosmetic surgery question in this post and I am not attempting to shame anyone who had their boy circumcised without knowing any of this. You simply don't know until you know. You trust your doctor. Believe me, we've been there.
I just hope after reading this, expectant parents will hold their doctors accountable and insist on proper pain medication if they choose circumcision for their infants.
The following video is not an exaggeration. It is the exact procedure I witnessed over and over again at two different hospitals. If you are brave enough to watch, you will see what happens all over the country every day to our newborn sons. I don’t believe this baby received any pain meds. The doctor skirts around the question and I don’t see him applying any anesthetic here as he says he is? As you will see, circs are a looong five minutes.
Would a vet operate on an animal in this country without some form of anesthesia? I believe we owe our boys at least this much.
Thank you Lindsay for being brave enough to bring up this emotionally charged topic. I admire you for being informed, whatever you decide.
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16 comments:
And I thought the picture of Todd's appendix was gross. Yuck!
um um UMMMM ...
that is NOT the procedure Oscar had. YIKES! (I'm still shaking from that video. OMGSH that was BARBARIC.)
They must do them differently in Canada ...?
Oscar's circumcision was ONE cut - almost like a cigar cutter over the penis that clamps down on the skin and then the skin is peeled off. Oscar cried for about 15 seconds - no joke - from the initial cut and then he was perfectly fine. I don't remember whether we had him anesthetized ...?
Yikes! Glad I'll never face this decision. Thanks for the info, Michelle.
Yeah, I put my foot down about this, and we left Wyatt as is. here I was doing all this stuff to have a peacefull and gentle birth, and then I was going to put him through that?? Not so much. And it really seems dumb to me to do it then, when they can decide for themselves to do it later, and then sit on the couch with a nice pain killer later! It's not MY penis. I didn't think I should mess with it,and so something that can't be UNdone, when he can ALWAYS do it later. As a teen ager or adult.
I think you are right that people should see what it is they are agreeing to, and not just follow what they are told without checking into it.
I have heard more than once, that only about 50% of people are doing it, anyway, these days. So I don't think it is a big deal to leave it up to your boy.
:)
Youch!!!!
I was SOOOOO relieved to here "it's a girl" (twice) and not have to deal with this issue.
Shannon,
I hope you are right, but unless you or your husband witnessed, I would question. I observed many a nurse wheel the baby back to mom and say, "He did fine. Barely cried!" just to make the parents feel better. It was sooooo not true.
Perhaps they do it different in Canada. Lets hope so!
You've heightened our awareness again, Michelle. Thanks!
you're right this is a sensitive issue...it's also a religious one. there is a lot of pomp and circumstance that surrounds this (which I am sure you know is call a bris) in the Jewish faith...my parents chose to have it done to the boy in our family in the hospital, by medical professionals. however, my cousins chose to have the ceremony in their home - performed by a moil who is licensed in the practice, and it's my understanding that this particular moil had some pretty high profile NYC clients. they asked me (or gave me the honor, as it was posed) of holding their newborn son on his way to his grandfather's lap to have it done. his grandfather had a horrified expression on his face as he held his grandson. but what's done it done. it was momentary, the baby cried, and then it was over, and he stopped crying moments later. i am sure it was painful. but i highly doubt that it has any lasting effect on the infant and, this is just my opinion, it seems culturally antiquated to be uncircumcised. that might sounds strange and it might just be my frame of reference, but that's my take.
the doctor showed us the little cutter-contraption thinggie and we observed as oscar was put into the 'circumstraint' (that's the actual name of the machine). the room that they did it in was very warm - oscar didn't seem uncomfortable at all about being in it. then we waited literally on the other side of the door - we could hear everything.
The doctor who did the procedure is a 'circumcision doctor' - it seems to be all he does ...? He goes around from hospital to hospital, lines up all the baby boys and does them one right after the other. All the parents (who were able), carried their baby in, waited outside for not more than 5 minutes and then carried their baby back to their rooms. We could have elected to be in the room if we wanted to but I was hormonal enough already!
I know my doctor used a topical anesthetic. She said she wouldn't do it without one. In fact, I've asked around here and noone seems to do it without it. Perhaps it's a Canadian thing?
I don't know. Just one more thing to add to the long list of things to feel guilty about as a mother.
Oh my god. I am not squeamish. I have a high pain threshold. I made the mistake of watching this while at work, and I had to stop part way through - I think I almost fainted, no joke. Thank you for the education.
on the other hand...we chose not to circumcise Adam. We were exhausted after a difficult birth and Adam wouldn't breastfeed. Circumcision seemed far too difficult to contemplate at the time. There are times when I am very glad that we decided not to put ourselves or Adam through that. I am heartbroken that doctors can be so brutal with newborns and uninformed parents. Once in a while though, Adam gets a small infection. For a child with tactile sensory issues this is as bad as it gets. On those days, pleading with a shrieking, terrified little boy to let mommy clean his inflammed penis, I question our decision.
That was horrible!! I didn't make it all the way through the video (even peeking through my fingers).
I never understand why this procedure was 'routinely performed' before viewing the video ... I understand it even less now! Thank you for sharing (I think) ;-)
I am also Jewish, and I was right there as a Mohel, (in our case, actually a licensed pediatrician who performed home Bris' as a service to the community), performed the proceedure in our dining room, with my son held securely in the lap of his great uncle, the room was filled with family and friends. My son let out one cry during the entire 1 minute proceedure. I took him up stairs and nursed him for a few minutes, and then he was ready to come downstairs and be happily passed around the room. The proceedure in this video is clearly sadistic... I can't believe how long the doctor pokes around in there! I know from experience that it doesn't have to be like that!
I DIDNT WATCH YOUR VIDEO - CAUSE I already KNEW.. ITS AN OLD BARBARIC RITUAL and YET WE STILL MADE IT OUR CHOICE..?... very concerning.. MOST people are VERY uninformed.. I 1ST HEARD OF IT FROM HOWARD STERN SHOW YRS AGO SSSH! lol WHO WOULD HAVE GUESSED THAT COULD HAVE BEEN SUCH AN INFORMATIVE SHOW haha:)
Being uncut saves men like me from shallow women with big vocabularies.
Ignorance is antiquated.
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