I just made an account here because I saw this thread. First I would like to say thank you for standing up for what you know is right. I have 4 boys: 1 circumcised and 3 intact. With my first child, I was barely 18 years old and that's no excuse for not doing my own research and making a decision rather than just blindly saying okay. I wanted to share the story very briefly, nearly 22 years ago. When the nurse came in to talk to me about circumcising my son, she told me it was necessary that he would have all kinds of problems if I didn't agree to it. I asked, Will it hurt? She said, No, he'll be fine. I asked, Would he cry? She said, No, they usually don't cry. I asked, Could I be there with him? She said, Absolutely not. It's not allowed. I said, Can you at least tell me when you're doing it so I can pray during the procedure? She said yes. The next morning, another nurse brought him to me and he was asleep but sucking hard on his pacifier and acting like when a child cries hard trying to catch his breath. I didn't know what or why. I asked when they would be doing the circumcision and she told me it was already done. No one even came to tell me they were doing it as I asked. I was so sad, obviously he had pain.
Another quick story. A few months ago I sat with a mom in labor. I am not a doula, but I tend to end up in that roll several times a year. Anyway, this mom was at a hospital I wasn't familiar with, I drove 2 hours to get there. When I got there, the nurse had the mom talked into the epidural, told her that she needed it and it would be so much easier to deal with labor. Which part of that is true, but this mom wanted a natural childbirth without the epidural. So I talked to her about what she said she wanted previously, and how she would feel after her baby was born. I talked to her about how well she was coping and progressing. We hadn't talked long, the mom was riding the fence about having the epidural or not. Then it was shift change, and she had a new nurse. The new nurse was very matter of fact, told her she could totally do this without the epidural if she wanted to. She reassurred her that she was doing well and progressing well the same as I had. At this point, two of us said the same thing and she decided against the epidural.
The point I'm trying to make is that as nurses interacting with parents, can you tell your own story? Can you say you didn't circumcise your own boys. Here are the benefits that helped us make the decision not to circumcise? You don't even have to mention it from a medical stand point, just talking about real life. I can think of so many times in my life that one person said something that caused me to think and research and make my own decision, this too being one of them. We all get caught up in the norms around us, they become so second nature we don't even think to question it. What, or why, or anything else. We do it without thinking, just like brushing out teeth. No second thought. I always said that I wanted to be one to dare to judge the standards or what is right and wrong, because who made those standards anyway. But to do that, first I have to be aware. I'm thankful to the lady who first mentioned that circumcision wasn't necessary to me. I never would have given it a thought otherwise.
Keep standing up, I'm thankful for you and the changes you're making in our world.
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