Circumcision Desicion

Having a little boy left us with a really tough decision to make.  I think for a long time people in our society just circumcised their children cause that was just what you do, but now days the American Academy of Pediatrics says that it is not medically necessary.  So Jason and I had a decision to make.  We did a lot of research to try and make an educated decision that we (and Kruz) would be happy with.

As we were weighing the pros and cons(and there are many)  There was nothing that gave us a really good reason to do it or to not do it.  We were completely split down the middle!  In the end it came down to social reasons, we wouldn't want our son teased in high school or "looking different than daddy", and hygiene for him later in life, it would be nicer, not having to deal with smegma(seriously? the worse name for that stuff!)

It came down to the last minute we were getting discharged from the hospital and we were still undecided what we were going to do.  And if we were going to do it I wanted to do it before we left the hospital. We decided to do it, so the nurse from the nursery came to get him and as he was wheeled out of the room Jason turns back and looks at me with a sad face as he walked out of the room and I immediately started crying and feeling like I still didn't want to do it and was not completely sold on the idea of doing it.

When Kruz came back I could tell he was in pain and even though he would sleep fine, when we changed his diaper it hurt him. :(   Jason said watching the procedure was awful and he wanted to cry the entire time.  He said when they ripped back the foreskin and when they put the needle in his penis to numb him is when Kruz cried the most and then he didn't cry when they actually cut off the skin.

What's done is done, and if we were to do it again, we probably would still do it, I think we needed to experience that to know that we really DO NOT want to do that ever again! We still feel bad and are a little mad that it is socially acceptable to have that done.  Especially after seeing both sides of the spectrum.  We talk about if we lived in any other country like Europe where circumcision is not the norm we would not have done it.  Plus it completely goes against what I stand for which is I think god designed your body to make it work the way it is intended to and that surgically altering your body for no real reason but social, status etc.. Is vain and of the world! (that being said, I would love a nose job,mine is getting more and more crooked as I get older! ha!)  But really, if he ends up having my personality, even being teased in high school wouldn't effect him and he would have been completely fine uncircumcised.  And the risks of infections and problems are just as great of risk of Kailah having breast cancer, and we aren't going to just cut off her boobs at birth just because of the chances...

Anyways that is our stance and we support every parents individual choice for what they do to their children because circumcision is not  a horrible thing but for us it wasn't something I think we will do again.... I guess we will see when and if I have another boy in the future.

I took a picture of his penis to always remember what it looked like before getting cut.  I hope he is happy with our decision in his future.  I hate making decisions that are so big like this for my kids, I wish they could just decide for themselves.

Wikipeida has great information on circumcision and is probably the least bias.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circumcision

Kruz Jason Raleigh 7.17.11

Sunday, July 17th 2011 I woke up at 9am and had my first contraction.  As I was doing our daily morning routine I was noticing these contractions were coming every 10mins.  They weren't completely steady but enough so that I told Jason "I'm pretty sure we are having this baby today, so get ready."  I then started getting ready like I was going to go to the hospital, not church that afternoon.  I arranged to have our friends and neighbors Brad and Mandy take Kailah for the day to church and then If needed have her sleep over.

We arrived at the hospital around 1:30pm I was really nervous that they were going to check me and send me home because my contractions were just not steady enough.  We got all checked in and around 2pm they checked me and I was completely effaced and dilated to a 4 and my bags of water were buldging.  The nurse thought for sure with the next strong contractions that my water would break, so they admitted me.

Because my contractions were still so far apart I wanted to be able to labor on my own for a while and walk around and move.  so I told the nurse I was going to wait to get the epidural until one my water broke or two my contractions were so bad I couldn't handle it anymore.

Jason and I hung out in the labor and delivery room the rest of the afternoon and it wasn't until around 5ish that evening that I finally started feeling my contractions start to pick up.  I was so  bored with my contractions being so far apart, cause I would have a really bad one and then I had to wait ten minutes until the next one so those hours at the hospital were very boring... but I am glad we went when we did, cause when they did finally pick up I was in a lot of pain.

At around 7ish my contractions were really painful and a 1-3minutes apart so I decided I wanted my epidural.  The anesthesiologist was in with a c-section that ended up taking a really long time.  My contractions got bad enough where there would be 3right after another almost seeming like no break at all for several minutes.  I was in a lot of pain and kept telling Jason to go find the anesthesiologist.  At this point I was so worn out, I wanted to cry, but didn't have the energy to even cry or talk or breath through my contractions!  Finally after what seemed like forever, the anesthesiologist came in and gave me my epidural.  After it started to kick in my doctor came in to check me and surprise I was already dialated to a 10!  The only reason I hadn't had this baby yet was cause my water still hadn't broken!  So I told the doctor to let my epidural sit for a little longer just to ensure I didn't feel anything when I had to push.  After I was numb my doctor broke my water and my nurse helped assist me in pushing and after 10 minutes of pushing baby's head just started sliding out.  Everyone told me to stop pushing and wait, and I said "I'm not doing anything." and I just sat as still as possible as if to stop this baby from coming, but he just popped right out. My doctor barely had time to throw on his gown and gloves. They didn't even have time to take the bed apart.

Kruz Jason Raleigh weighted in at 8lbs 7oz. and 21 1/2inches long.  He has just a little hair on his head which is blonde but the ends are a little darker from the amniotic fluid(It's looks just like Kailah's color did).  He has two different nostrils...We can't figure out if one is Jason's and one is mine, but they are different and he seems to have his own little mixture of a nose.  He looks a little more like me, with a round face and those slits for eyes.  He has Jason's ears and toes.

Kailah came to the hospital the day after Kruz was born to meet him.  She came right over and pointed to my belly and then pointed to Kruz and said baby brother.  She knew exactly who he was when she saw him and she just wanted to hold him and look at him. She pointed at all his features and said eyes, ears, nose etc...  Kruz even opened his eyes and looked up at Kailah for a little while. I think he knew her little voice and was finally seeing the face to that voice.
Since we have been home Kailah absolutely loves Kruz and wants to help out with him all the time. she always wants to do a "diaper change" and put him in his blanket or give him all her toys.  She is so helpful but she also will only drink milk since that is what Kruz drinks, and she likes to give us cuddles a little more than normal.