Bumped into a colleague earlier today. She was very excited to see my now bulging baby belly.
She asked the usual questions:
“When’s the baby due?”
“Do you know the baby’s gender?”
“Do you have a name picked out?”
I replied politely to all of her questions.
Then she said, “Are you going to circumcise him?”
I was a bit taken aback by this. The only other people I’ve had this conversation with are Zel and Our Good Doctor.
Not even my Jewish Mother has broached the subject with me. She probably presumes I’m just going to be a wee-wee choppin’ parent.
My colleague said she didn’t circumcise her son and she thinks it’s important that parents don’t make that decision for the child.
I told her we haven’t made a formal decision yet, but as a Jew, I feel the need to uphold some of my people’s practices.
She looked at me over the rim of her glasses and said, “I’m a Jew and I didn’t do it.”
“Well,” I said, “it’s quite a personal decision and Zel and I are confident no matter what we decide, it will be the right decision.”
A great point that Our Good Doctor brought up: we can’t choose our child’s religion. If the kid decides to be a Muslim or a Jew, he’ll need to be circumcised.
Our Good Doctor also told us that the older the baby gets, the harder it is to circumcise him. And, as he gets older, the more involved the procedure is…like in a hospital…with a urologist…considerable time under general anesthesia...and lots more pain…increased chance of complications...increased recovery time...a
If we do it pretty soon after Baby Kaos is born, it will be an in-office procedure that Our Good Doctor can do…won’t cost a foreskin load of money (if you will)…a local anesthesia will be used…he’ll have a decreased chance of contracting a UTI during the first year of life…he’ll have a decreased chance of contracting STD’s and developing penile cancer as an adult.
Regardless of our decision, I think she has ovaries the size of coconuts to ask me something so personal.
1 comment:
I hate this woman. I want to stick pins in her.
Post a Comment