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Discussion Starter · #1 ·
Best friend from high school just called me, she is having a schedules C-section next week (shes preggo with 3 boys
: ) and we've been going back and forth on circ'ing... she is on the fence and I am soooooo close to convincing her to do it.

Can I have a list of reasons why not to circ???? I'm sure it would help my cause... I only have a week!!!!
 

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You can always decide to have them circ'd later. But you can NEVER undo it.
It's not your penis. Let the child decide when he grows up.
Circumcision is extremely painful. Imagine having the most sensitive part of your body clamped and cut. And most doctors don't use anesthesia, and even if they do, how would they ask the baby if it was working properly?
Circumcision will damage and disrupt the child's sex life forever.
It can emotionally damage a child so much they cannot bond with their mother in the important early months of life.
There is NO medical reason to circumcise. The AAP has issued a statement that has backed this up.
The main argument for circumcising is that it's "cleaner" and easier to care for.
Believe me, there is nothing dirtier than getting urine and feces in a fresh wound. And the care for a healing circumcision includes changing a bandage and applying ointment at every diaper change. For three babies, that equals A LOT of extra work. My intact (not circumcised) babies have never required any more work to keep their penis clean than the rest of their diaper area. Just wipe with a cloth and you're done. When they hit puberty they will need to cleanse under the foreskin, but it's no more troublesome than brushing your teeth. You wouldn't pull out all your teeth because it's too much work to keep them clean.
The foreskin actually serves a purpose. It lubricates and protects the glans of the penis, keeping it soft and sensitive. It's been proven that intact men enjoy much greater sexual pleasure than circumcised men. And it's also been proven that women enjoy sex with intact men more than they do with circumcised men.

There are so many reasons not to, and no good reason to circumcise.
 

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Good luck to you, and to her! As the mother of twins, I have nothing but sympathy for a woman bringing home triplets!

My goal before I delivered was to simplify my life, and both breastfeeding and leaving my sons intact served that goal. I can't imagine dealing with ONE baby revocering from surgery; the thought of 3 is mind-boggling.

Please let us know what happens.
 

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Quote:

Originally Posted by nd_deadhead

My goal before I delivered was to simplify my life, and both breastfeeding and leaving my sons intact served that goal. I can't imagine dealing with ONE baby revocering from surgery; the thought of 3 is mind-boggling.


Yeah, I'd capitalize on this. She doesn't have to decide now. She can always decide to get them circ'd later.
 

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That's a really good point, nd deadhead. Having 3 babies in pain and recovering from surgery all at once, on top of recovering from a C-section and trying to establish breastfeeding??The thought makes my head spin.

Also, aren't multiples usually more fragile at birth than singletons? It seems to me that you would want to give those little guys, in particular, the most gentle, safe welcome to the world possible.

The big problem I could forsee is that some doctor would tell your friend that if her babies are born early or small, they may be more suceptible to UTI's and that she could lower their risk with circ. In that case, she just needs to undrstand that breastfeeding will provide all the protection they will need against UTI's.

Good luck! Have you sent your friend the link to the video yet?
 

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The AAP does NOT recommend it. It hurts! Almost half of the country is intact now! In fact, 80% of the planet has normal healthy intact genitals. Not one major medical organization in the world recommendeds circ either. Genital Integrity is a birthright. HIS body HIS Choice. Let him decide when he is old enough to weigh the facts for HIMSELF. It's never too late to circ, but it's impossible to restore something that has been cut off forever.

www.doctorsopposingcircumcision.org
www.icgi.org

Does she have internet access? If she doesn't I can send you the Free DVD version if you PM me or write to me at:

[email protected]

Here is the online version w/ video:

Forced genital cutting video footage. This has to end.

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/161143..._circumcision/

TURN YOUR SPEAKERS ON!!

alternate route:

http://www.intact.ca/video.html

Transcription of what is said during the Circumcision Video:

Doctor [drawing on paper next to the empty Circumstraint, and talking to the baby's father before the operation begins]: This is the penis itself... in the final look, there's a little groove and then there's the actual head of the penis like this, right? (Uh, its a little to big for this diagram...)

Father: Right...

Doctor: But basically, the foreskin comes all the way along here right over the top...

Father: Mmm-hmm

Doctor: ...and up like that. You're gonna take it back to about here.

Father: Okay.

Doctor: So. This is the natural skin, when we're all finished;

Father: Mm-hmm.

Doctor: This is healed where the skin was taken away; and this is completely one line, completely free.

Father: Okay. Okay.

Doctor: If that was your question...

Father. Yeah. Yeah. That's... that's what I want. [Laughs nervouslyl.]

Doctor: Okay? Alright! That's what you're gonna get!

Father: Yeah okay, good...

Doctor: We're gonna set 'im down right here.... [Undoing the straps of the Circumcstraint.]

Father, [to the doctor:] He's all yours....[to his son:] C'mere my boy....

Doctor [To the father :] He's GROWN!

Father: Yeah.

Doctor: Look at the size, eh!?

Father: Oh my!

Doctor [putting the baby in the Circumstraint]: Look at him! He is... [baby begins to cry] Now, you'll notice, that he was nice and quiet - he's already fussy. Why? Maybe he doesn't want to be in this position, maybe he doesn't want to move his arms or his legs. You'll find th at one of the things that they most don't like is being unable to move. Cuz, their legs are normally flexed, right? And what we do is we take their legs out and we put 'em in a position- see how much he's reisiting me just now?

Father: Right. Right....

Doctor: And as soon as he realizes that he can't move that he gets all... He IS getting chubby! Let's put his sox on....

Father: He's gained, uh, seven ounce now... [Baby cries again as the doctor straps his legs down.]

Doctor: See? If you were standing outside the door, and you hear that, you'd say 'Oh my goodness! What's happening?'"

Father: Yeah- 'what is that?'

Doctor: [Opening up the baby's diaper] Oh, he's actually... a good size! Now. Of course, we check that the penis is fully normal, right? We also check and make sure both testicles are okay. (We've checked this before on him.) But, he's a little bit pudgy here and I'll show you what I mean by 'pudgy'. [Baby cries again.] Now we've done nothing to him. LISTEN to him! And that's important because everybody gets all excited about how they...

Father: Is it okay if I put this in? [Referring to a pacifier/soother]

Doctor: Sure! By all means. By all means.

Father: Quiet him down a bit... [To his son:] Okay. son, okay....

Doctor; Alright. So, the first thing we do...

Father: [To the baby} Go to sleep... Go to sleep. Go to sleep....

Doctor [Putting Betadine, an anti-infectant, on the baby's penis and scrotum]; Now this doesn't burn on anything. Also just the wetness alone will get them all excited here. [Baby cries again]

Father: Okay son. Okay....

Doctor: But, If he's quiet and doesn't move his legs, he's quiet. You watch the hands and legs! (They hate this....)

[Baby begins to scream, then shriek as two needle-nosed glamps are closed on the opening of his foreskin, a bigger clamp is inserted into the foreskin's opening, and the foreskin is torn away from the penile head.]

Doctor: What we've done here is we've completely separated all of the skin from the head of the penis- you can see the outline of the head of the penis, right?

Father: Yeah...

Doctor: So we've taken the skin right down, here, right? Right down to that level we talked about.

Father [to the baby]: Okay. Okay... okay....

[The doctor makes the dorsal crush with the flat hemostats. As the baby begins to shriek over and over.]

Father: Is that the anesthetic?

Doctor: What?

Father: Is that the anesthetic, or?

Doctor: No that, that just crimps the whole thing.

[The baby begins to choke on spit in his throat while still shrieking- "gargling"]

Doctor; We'll let that sit for just a moment. K? What we could do is release his arms... [The doctor undoes the baby's arms from the velcro straps.] So he feels less.... [Baby continues to scream higher and higher.]

Father: I was aware that you'd use an anesthetic.

Doctor: What?

[The doctor makes the dorsal slit along the crush line with a pair of scissors.]

Father: I was aware that you'd uh use an anesthetic?

Dcotor: We mix into the mixure here...

Father: Okay.

Doctor: And that just takes the edge off it, okay? And uh...

Father: [To his baby] Okay, son....

[The baby continues to shriek and choke as the foreksin is laid back off the glans.. and the doctor wipes the blood from the glans with a piece of gauze, until there is no sound heard from him until he gasps and resumes shrieking and choking]

Father: 'I need your help'

Doctor: [In a soothing tone to the father.] Alright. We'll settle him down. [Baby's still sputtering.]

Father: [Neverously] Okay. No problem. No problem.

[The doctor assembles the Gomco clamp over glans and pulls the foreskin through the plate and over the bell with tweezers as the baby chokes and chokes and screams!]

Doctor: [To the father] Oh, he's gotten himself upset. [To the baby] I think Dadd'ys getting excited! Its okay Dad. We'll be okay....

[The baby continues to shriek and choke as the rocker arm is assembled on the Gomco clamp and the nut is tightened.]

[The baby keeps choking.]

Doctor: Nice big swallow he had there.

Father: Yeah

Doctor: ...now he got it out.

Doctor: We'll just let him sit a little bit.

Father: You're okay. You're okay.... Okay son. Okay..... Okay... Its almost done. Okay....

[The baby continues a bleating cry, alternating with occasional shrieks, while finally the foreskin is cut off in a circular motion with a scalpel against the bell of the clamp.]

[The baby stops crying and begins a quick, raspy panting as the ring of detached foreskin is cut off with scissors.]

Doctor: Okay now we let him sit for a little second.

[The doctor gets out some petrolium jelly.]

Father: Mmm-hmmm

Doctor: Just so that uh... what it does is stop all- any potential for bleeding. Okay? So he's sitting there with the clamp on... and he seems to be... reLAXING a little bit! So we let him sit for a few minutes and that's it. [Baby still is panting loudly through his nose.] And uh, there's a drop or two here and a drop or two here- and that's your total blood-loss.

Father: Mm-kay.

Doctor: Actually, at this point, what I do normally is go through the instructions with the parents cuz t gives a chance for that. So all we're gonna do is we're gonna change the diapers frequently, simply to keep the stool and the urine away from the area...

Father: Right.

Doctor:...- something that you'd do anyway; you'd be changing him frequently. The big trick [the baby begins a plaintive cry.] is large amounts of Vaseline to that area.

Father: Okay.

Doctor: Okay? And this prevents the penis from sticking to the diaper.

Father: Right.

Doctor. So each diaper change, just a great big glob. Now I put it on a piece of gauze here- just some people lift it into place, but when you're changing him, you can put it directly onto the penis, okay?

Father: Okay... [The father continues with various "Mmm -hmm's" and "Okay..." 's and "Rights"...as the doctor continues his explaination.]

[The baby still is crying and complaining off and on with the clamp still on his penis.]

Doctor: If he DOES soil himself with stool all over the cut area, right? You're gonna wash with a warm water, but you're not gonna use any soap until its heal cuz the soap will be hurting, right? You're also not going to rub it hard- just to remove the stuff, right? And the child remains, you know, settled on... comforatable or whatever his normal position is- usually on the back, right? After a few days or so, there's a white-yellowish, yellow tissue- like you burnt something? If you've ever burnt yourself or grazed yourself, you have this scab-like material that forms? Do not attempt to rub that off; its a normal part of the healing process, okay?

And then, the healing itself usually takes about 3, 4, 5 days, and at that point, after about 3 days or so, they can go straight into the bath. K? You don't want to dump him into the bath while he still has the open cut, right? Here's an important point, it says - "Keep the skin down"- This is particulary importnat point for HIM, because [Baby's Name] has- ummm ... uh.... he's kinda chubby in that area. So what happens is- is we've removed the skin to here- there's quite a bit of fat around the base here and sometimes what happens is the skin will push up over the head of the penis. So today or tomorrow while its still MOVEable -It won't be moveable AFTER that- but today and tomorrow you just watch- and you make SURE that it stays at the level it is. It should. It should. Just in case is does go up, we take the four tingers [uses the thumb and index finger of each of his hands as he demonstrates in the air] and push that skin down to its normal position so it HEALS at the level we want it to. Okay? That's what we mean by "Keep the skin down" over here. And once he's completely healed, there's no special, you know- ANYthing! - just wash and bathe as normal. You don't have to retract to clean cuz there's nothing there!

Ummm. ... I've never had an infection, but I have to tell you about it. Obviously if you have a foul odor or puss draining from that area or it gets all red, there's a possibility that there is an infection. Uh, what CAN happen at times is excessive or ongoing bleeding. Umm... Again: Its not something that happens USUALLY. Uh, you can apply a little bit of a cloth with some pressure; that usually stops it; if you can't stop it, it needs attention. And there shouldn't be any problem with him passing urine immediately after the procedure. So you'll know from that he's passing urine. This will go with you- [he hands him the instruction sheet he was just reading from[. so you don't have to remember ANY of that and we'll give him just a minute more and we'll take that off and you'll- you see that its the way you want it to be.

Father: So... there WAS some form of anesthetic...?

Doctor: A topical sort of things, yeah., yeah.

Father: Okay...

Doctor: Not MUCH- it just takes the edge off. And you see he's sitting with the clamp on, munching away.

Father; Mmm-hmm...

Doctor: Now, there's a big debate, of course, about injections or others or whatnot... Its been done for thousands and thousands of years without ANYthing and it doesn't seem to be a problem.

Father [laughing nervously]: Yeah....

Doctor: Although, there's some recent research that comes out CLAIMING that there's... you know... [sarcastically quoting] "irreVERSEable damage done!'....
 

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Discussion Starter · #10 ·
I didn't even watch the video, but I read the transcript and I threw up. Oh god, I am so queasy now.

That should work on her. She said she's going to talk to her DH tonight and they'll make their final decision then... right now I'm hopeful, but she didn't take well to my last few arguments.

Call me a bad person, but after reading that transcript if she circs that will end our friendship.
:
 

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Discussion Starter · #11 ·
Imagine (my friends name) read the transcript. She just called me to let me know, Dh and her talked it out and there will be no circ'ing.

I am sooooooooooooo thrilled. My little godsons will be intact. Thank you ladies for the info... you rescued three little boys!!!!
 

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Quote:
Call me a bad person, but after reading that transcript if she circs that will end our friendship.
I did watch the disturbing video & this issue has put a wedge between me and many people. I can't help it...I just lose respect for people who get the info. and still do it anyway.
 

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Quote:

Originally Posted by paminmi
HOORAY!!

Not now, but later, make sure you provide proper intact baby care so that they can STAY intact...

Best of luck to her and her husband

(does she have other children?)~
The Fleiss article from Mothering magazine is perfect for this, and is available online as well as from Mothering's reprint order page.
 

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Discussion Starter · #18 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by paminmi
HOORAY!!

Not now, but later, make sure you provide proper intact baby care so that they can STAY intact...

Best of luck to her and her husband

(does she have other children?)~
No ma'm, her and her DH had finally decided that they'd like one baby, she got preggo in the first month and lo and behold... now they're gonna have Trips!!!!
 
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