Circumcision Decision

To start out, yes I decided to have my son circumcised, and yes he is immunized (I’ll be mentioning this briefly later on, which is why I bring it up). I’m well aware that there are different opinions throughout the span of mothers reading this, and I am fully on board with supporting you in those decisions. I ask you to please do the same as I briefly talk about some personal experiences from when my son was very young.

Circumcision

For a full Q&A breakdown on circumcision, read this post! For now, I’ll just give a brief description. Circumcision is an outpatient surgery, typically performed on very young infant boys, that removes the foreskin from the tip of the penis. This permanently reveals the pinkish colored glans underneath. This is a painful procedure that takes a few days to heal but is very rarely accompanied by further complications.

Different Doctors

Each pediatrician has his/her own method and preference for how, when, and where to perform a circumcision. It is recommended that a circumcision be performed after baby is 24 hours old, just in case there are any underlying health issues. Depending on the doctor, this could be done while still in the hospital, or a few days later at the doctor’s office during a checkup. There are also a few different methods and tools to achieving a circumcision, as well as different ways of wrapping or bandaging the fresh wound.

My Experience

I'll be honest, our decision to circumcise our boy wasn't a very hard one for us. Many people's religion plays into this choice, but ours was more of a cultural, traditional, and personal decision. We had done our research and came to the conclusion that it is what we wanted for our son. And even after experiencing some rocky roads in having this procedure done, I believe I would still circumcise again if I had another son.

Our boy was circumcised at the doctor’s office a couple of days after he was born. We were invited to join them in the other room while the procedure was being performed. My husband went with him and I stayed back in the exam room not-so-patiently awaiting their return. I could definitely hear the crying from down the hall, but he calmed down pretty quickly once he was swaddled back up.

Our pediatrician wrapped it in such a way that there was no wound showing. We were instructed to not put any ointments or anything else on it, just simply his diaper. The wrap was to come off after two days. When the time came, I drove to my mom’s house and made her do it. And I’ve never been more grateful for a decision in my life. It was horrible! She started unraveling the thin bandage, and after a few times around, when it was obvious it was the bottom layer, towards the bottom of the glans, it got stuck. A little bit stuck to him, but mostly stuck to itself. After a lot of patience, a call to the nurse, and many tears (from me and my little boy), she was able to get it away from him (with very minimal bleeding) and loose enough to cut the remaining strand of material free. Holy moly, it was awful.

After the wrap was off, I was amazed at how remarkably fast everything healed up! After a few days of Vaseline applications (to prevent it sticking to the diaper), he was completely in the clear. Or so I thought.

Regrowth

I remember being so excited for my son’s 9-month check-up because he did not have any scheduled immunization shots, which bring with them a rough couple of days afterward. Upon examination of my boy’s penis, our pediatrician informed me that the circumcision had begun to grow back slightly (apparently this is pretty common), and would need to be pulled down to prevent any further growth. I probably shouldn’t have watched what followed. As you can likely tell by now, I’m kind of a wuss--especially when it comes to my kids in pain.

But the next few days were even worse than the yanking down of this regrowth. He now had a wound that again needed Vaseline, and it needed to be continually pulled down for a few weeks and then sporadically to ensure it stayed put. Each time I hear of a friend circumcising their baby, I tell them about this because I wasn’t aware this could happen. Obviously. I wish I would’ve known to take the time to pull down on the skin every few days or so to prevent this regrowth from happening in the first place.

Non-Circumcised Friends

Speaking of friends, I have a handful of friends who have chosen not to circumcise their sons. In no way does this matter to our friendship or to the friendship of our young kids. And there is no reason for this to ever be the case. We have all owned the right to our own opinions and our own decisions, and that is something to be respected and celebrated. And this respect should be mutual and go both ways!

If a circumcision is in your near future, I wish you sincere luck in dealing with a sad little boy! But don’t worry, before you know it, it will be a distant memory and all will be well. If you have already experienced having your son circumcised, was it smooth sailing? Or did you have some hiccups like I did?