I wish that all expecting parents would look at this website before having children. When my son was born I had him
circumcised because I thought all boys were.  Shortly after we were discharged from the hospital we began changing the
dressing and doing all of the things we were told regarding his circumcision.  On our next checkup to the pediatrician he
informed me that some of the remaining skin had adhered back to the raw head of his penis and that this needed to be
separated.  He then pulled with one quick jerk and the skin was separated of course not without my son screaming so load that
the whole office must have heard him.  I ask him if a lot of baby boys have this problem to which he replied “only circumcised
ones”.  He went on to say that if I had ask for his opinion prior to giving birth he would have discouraged me from having it done
as it is not necessary and then we would not be having these type of problems.  He said that with an uncircumcised penis there
is really nothing to do but rinse it off with warm water.  Needless to say I was not only mad at this doctor for not talking to me
about circumcision prior to having it done but was mad at myself for putting my baby through something that he did not have to
go through.

                                       Stephanie
                                       Kansas City, KS
Glad to see there is a website out there to inform parents about circumcision.
When my sister had her first son I happened to be at the hospital the day he was circumcised.  They nurse came into the room
took her happy little boy and left stating she would be back.  As it turned out her room was just across the hall from where they
did the procedure.  So as we begin to talk we were soon interrupted by his crying but our hearts really sank when we heard his
blood curdling scream.  Years later when I started to have children I ask many questions of my pediatrician regarding
circumcision only to come to the conclusion that it was not necessary.  I guess people are just to set in their ways to think that
they the parents must make this decision for the baby.  I am now the proud mother of 3 (two boys and one girl).  My two boys
were not circumcised and we have had no problems.
                                       Julie
                                       Cleveland, OH
My parents did not have me circumcised as a child and I am so glad.  I would have been really upset with them as it is my body
and I should have the right to decide what is done.

                                       Doug
                                       Salina, KS
I’m happy to see a website to help inform parents in hopes that they will question this practice and not just follow what others
are doing.  My baby was born perfect which is the way God created him and every other male baby born on this planet.  Who are
we to say God made a mistake which we must correct?

                                       Jennifer
                                       Tulsa, OK
Hi! My name is Cari and I and my hubby Jay have 3 kids (1 boy and 2 girls). My hubby is circ'd but is planning on undergoing
restoration.  Our son is NOT circ'd nor will any of our sons be cut. I am very much against circumcision and would never do that
to my child. He is now 5 and has never had any problems with being left the way god intended.
However his 5 year old cousin who is cut has had numerous problems with his. Anyway, we are fortunate to live in an area
where circumcision is the lowest in the country (Seattle) and I have never had any issue with anyone about it. My hubby's two
younger brothers are also uncut and have never had any problems either. I hope that one day we will make it to the point where
the cut ones are the ones who are abnormal.
                                       Cari
                                       Seattle, WA
When I joined the military in 1993 I was given a thorough physical. The doctor marked "abnormal" on the section of the form
regarding genitals. When I ask the doctor about this he commented that it was because I was circumcised.  I just thought it was
interesting that even the military considers a circumcised penis "abnormal".
                                       Jeff
                                       Offutt, NE
As for my sons, I feel terrible about what we have put them through by getting them circumcised; they both had complications
from the surgeries. When oldest was a baby (now he's three) the skin re-attached to the glans and the pediatrician literally
ripped that skin back on several visits making him scream and bleed and the doctor never gave warning about what was about
to happen, only that he would "fix" that. Our youngest has a hidden penis as a result of  his circumcision (he's one-year old.) Very
soon after the circ, his penis "disappeared"  and he was left with what looks like a doughnut. His penis only comes out if we
press on the area to make it pop out, but this causes him a lot of discomfort. When he was younger we thought maybe it was
because he was a chubby baby and just had a lot of fat in the pubic area, but now that he has slimmed down, the hidden penis
has not self corrected. Now I see on the Nocirc brochure that it is called a "buried penis" and may require surgery.

                                       Becky
                                       Chattanooga, TN
I had posted a request on a website forum about not being sure if we should have our son circumcised. We didn't have it done
at birth because I knew that he was made perfectly and I saw no reason to change him. However, lots of family pressure had me
second-guessing myself.  After finding some websites like this one, they really made me trust my gut instinct, and I am
absolutely NOT going to go through with it. I'm disappointed in myself for even considering it. I watched a video yesterday of the
procedure being done. I cried, felt sick to my stomach, and I actually couldn't finish watching it. I think it should be a requirement
that every pregnant couple should watch a video so they know exactly what is being done to their babies. I bet most of them
would change their minds about having it done.  Thank you so much for having this website. I never would have known there
was so much information out there about this :-)  
  
                                       Heather,
                                       Bangor, Maine
I had to fight the hospital staff to keep Jake from being circumcised. They actually implied that I was a bad mother for refusing.
Thank goodness I had a great OB that does not believe in circumcision and neither does my family doctor.

                                       Melanie
                                       Houston, TX
What do you think the benefits of circumcision are?
What do you know about the after care of an amputated foreskin?
What have you read about circumcision? Have you seen video of the procedure?

As a health care professional  these questions will open up discussion of areas that parents might not have thought about.
Many women who get educated about circumcision too late say "I wish my doula, nurse, midwife or doctor had told me about all
the harms of the procedure." Most parents do not know that a number of boys die every year as a result of this unnecessary
surgery not to mention the huge number of botched procedures leaving the child with a less than attractive scar. There are many
forums where you can read stories of women who regret circumcising - the stories are heart-breaking.
                     
                          Theresa
                          Florence, MO
                         
My reasons for not circumcising my son were simple: It horrified me when I thought of my newborn having
anything sliced off, and to eliminate the most sensitive place often with NO anesthetic was absolutely beyond
my sense of what was "right."   Fortunately, my research backed up my thinking, especially the long-term
studies done in England -- which stopped routine circumcisions in 1948. Second, I had been lucky enough to
have had sex with both intact and circumcised men in my happy youth, and all I can say as a woman is that
"moving parts are better!"
                     
                          Connie
                          Macon, GA
My youngest son is intact even though his father and older brother were all circ’d.  When he was around 15     
I asked him if he was okay with not being circumcised, and his emphatic response was “Why on earth would
anybody care what my genitals look like!!”  He’s had sleepovers with friends, Boy Scout camp, gym class, etc.,
yet when I asked him if any of his friends were also intact, he honestly didn’t know.  He had never bothered to
pay any attention to the matter one way or the other and totally could care less what anyone else’s penis looks
like nor had anyone ever said anything about his anatomy.  The fact that he wears glasses has been a far
bigger issue among other kids.  

                          Angie
                          Adam, FL
Being 7 months pregnant with a long awaited boy child has sensitized me to this particular subject. To cut...or
not to cut? Daddy is cut...will it make a difference if his son isn't? Will he suffer ridicule and scorn in the locker
room a few years down the road. I've read and read and read some more...but it boils down to something very
basic for me.  I can't wrap my head around performing cosmetic surgery on an hours old infant to conform to
some outdated "standard" of society. In my eyes...it would be exactly as the same as saying...you know...his
chin is a little too wide...can we shave a little off before we take the boy home? Nonsense! No one will
approach my child for a medical procedure without valid reasons. Especially not with a scalpel in hand! We
plan to leave that wee little penis alone. We'll deal with explaining the difference when he's old enough to ask
about it and explain that we loved him and couldn't stand to make unnecessary changes to his perfect body.

                          JoAnn
                          Baldwin City, KS
As an Intern I like surgery and usually like my rotations. I get to operate all day and then just come home. Our
patients are rarely seriously ill and have few post-operative complications. The only bad part about being an
Intern is that we have to do circumcisions.  Which I hate hate HATE doing. I think it's dumb that ob/gyns get
stuck doing them. We practice medicine and operate on the reproductive tracts of adult women. How the hell
did I get stuck slicing the foreskin of newborn baby boy penis?

First, I have to go consent the mother. I always take great pains to explain that this is an ELECTIVE
procedure, meaning NOT MEDICALLY NECESSARY, and we are only doing it ELECTIVELY. I also explain the
usual risks of infection, bleeding, blah blah complications, but the most important risk is the risk that what
looks like a good circumcision to me may not look like a good circumcision to them. Though, for most of the
circs I've done, I think we can all agree that I haven't produced some good-looking penis.  NOTE: This is a
cosmetic issue only. I know what I'm doing enough to take the foreskin off in a clean and safe manner with no
harm to the head of the penis.  These babies will urinate and have babies of their own in the future, but they
won't have the most attractive penis in the world. Sometimes I'm just a little uneven in the actual amount of
foreskin I remove from the front and back. There's a lot of that stuff to go around, and it's awfully wrinkly and
bunchy.

The best part about consenting patients (or in this case their moms) is that occasionally one will say no
and just flat-out refuse the procedure. In this case, where it's an elective procedure that I hate doing, I
am completely joyful and try not to show it. In fact, I would like to make every parent observe a circumcision
prior to them consenting for their own child.

                         Valerie
                         Kansas City, MO
Here in Europe, boys don't get circumcised, unless they are Jewish or Muslim. Since there is no real health
issue there is no reason for doing it.  I view it as a rather barbaric custom.  I was very surprised to learn that
in the US, it has been the norm to do it until pretty recently as it is viewed by some as unhygienic (smelly and
totally disgusting). Things are changing and medical authorities are now recognizing that there is no real
need to "snip", but parents continue the practice by using some pretty crazy excuses. My favorite is of
course that "He has to look like his Dad". Do these people live at home constantly naked and comparing
their anatomical parts? Or "It reduces the rates of HIV infection". What sort of parents tell their kids "we got
you circumcised because we thought it would protect you from AIDS if you sleep around"? Have they never
heard of safe sex? And what about the hygienic excuse, as if boys don't have access to running water and
soap?

                         Katrina
                         UK
I'm appalled when I hear parents say they want their son to look like the father. 1.  Was it the fathers choice
to be cut or is this the look he is grown accustom to?  2.  How often does you husband compare our think
about his father's penis?  3.  Do they really want their son's penis to have the same ugly scar?
As parents we raise our children by teaching them that everyone is different in looks and in actions so how
someones privates any different?

                       Rachel
                       Emporia, KS
I’m a mom of 3 kids - 2 boys and a girl - and I’m also a nurse.
My advice on the circumcision is don’t do it. I had my first son circumcised and he almost bled to death from
the surgery. He had to spend a few days in the intensive care nursery to monitor him. He’s fine now but it
was very scarey at the time. Complications like his are rare but they can happen.
I went back to college and became a nurse before I had my other two children. I learned that circumcision
caries no real medical benefit but it does carry some risk (which I had already seen firsthand). The best
thing circumcision can do is lower the already low risk of male urinary infection. That small percentage of
boys who get urinary infections can be effectively treated with antibiotics just like little girls.
My second son was left intact (uncircumcised) and never has had a problem with health or hygiene. Neither
the circumcised or uncircumcised son was any more difficult to keep clean or teach to use the toilet than the
other one or even their sister.  It was all very easy.

                       Wanda
                       Hutchinson, KS
I'll never forget when my brother was born as he was circumcised by the doctor without my parents
permission.  My parents were so upset and my mother cried for days.

                    Theresa
                    Fargo, ND
Right before my son was born, I watched some videos on the procedure and nearly fainted. I consider
myself tough but that was too much. I researched it a little and came to the decision that his parts are not
mine to decide to hack apart. If he wants to do it when he is older, that is his deal.
In the meantime, it is pretty low-maintenance and no biggie.

                     Jill
                     Arcadia, AR
I have just had my boy done on Monday. I wish I had followed my own feelings and not done it. He is in so
much pain it is unreal. He also slept a lot after the procedure as if he was in shock.  They gave me Tylenol
for him which seemed to help but now all he wants to due is sleep.  I do not mean to scare you but I have
never seen a child in so much pain.

                       Glenda
                       Casey, AR
I didn't circumcise my son at birth, just like I wouldn't pierce my daughter's ears at birth. It is the child's body
to do with as they will. It is my task to keep their body as healthy as possible until they are mature enough
to make their own decisions about their own body.

                       Grace
                       Adams, MO
My two sons, ages 10 and 7, are not circumcised - I thought, why put them through surgery if they don't
need it? When they were old enough to notice some are different (although most of their friends are not
circumcised either), I gently tried to explain some parents choose to have the foreskin removed - both were
horrified and said "But mommy, that would hurt! I'm glad you didn't do that to me." Kids tend to get it right
off, it's easier to explain you left them just the way they were born than to explain you had part of their penis
removed. Besides, if you lived in Europe or anywhere else, you wouldn't be making a "decision" because it
simply isn't done (unless you have religious reasons). Boys and men in Europe seem to be just fine with
their foreskins (in fact, their rates of STDs and HIV are far lower than the US).

                       Heather,
                       Alden, IA
I decided long ago that I will not circumcise a son. My mom is a nurse who had to assist with circumcisions
once in a while, and she said it broke her heart to see newborn boys in so much obvious, excruciating pain.
I recommend watching video of one being performed: http://video.yahoo.com/watch/163488/562046             
                     
                       Randy
                       Hays, KS
We just had a baby boy and we chose not to circumcise him despite the fact that my husband is
circumcised. Before I got pregnant I assumed that I would definitely circumcise my baby because I thought
the benefits were huge -- surely they must be since so many people do it, right? Once we knew we were
having a boy, I decided to do some research about circumcision and I subsequently changed my mind. It
seems to me that this decision is essentially a cultural one (and this did not come into play for us, since
we're neither Muslim nor Jewish). It seemed to me that from a medical point of view it makes no sense to do
it -- the evidence is so thin. But the most important issue for me was a question of ethics. The more I
thought about it, the more I became uncomfortable with the idea of removing a part of my baby's body. If he
wants to be circumcised for whatever reason, then he can have the procedure done himself. Sure it's more
painful later on, but a little pain does not trump autonomy over one's body.

                       Alice
                       Lincoln, NE
My son (now 4) was circumcised. I did not have any doubts as to whether or not we'd have it done. We did
it for many reasons...everything from possibly reducing the risk of STD's to looking like daddy. However I
would do it again due to complications and problems my son has had to go through.
I thought I was tending it properly afterwards (pulling the skin back, applying vaseline/antibiotic cream,
changing the gause), but my poor little guy ended up with an adhesion (where the remaining skin healed
back to the glans) which in time as he grew, restricted his normal range of motion for those little erections
all little boys get. Therefore we had to re-circ him at the tender age of 6 months, involving anesthesia and
the whole shebang. If I could do it all over again, I would not have had him circumcised.

                       Rebecca
                       Bixby, OK
I am a maternity RN so I am always around circumcision.  I choose not to help with circumcisions and I
refuse to be responsible for the care of a freshly circumcised penis although I will care for its owner and
his mother.  Last week I was caring for a boy who was circ'd 2 hrs before I came on.  He had big clot on it
so it needed to be watched longer than the usual 2 hrs.  I brought the baby to the nursery so another
nurse could check it for me and when she did the clot had fallen off and it was bleeding.  I obviously had
to help at this point b/c the baby was kicking around while the other nurse was holding pressure on the
wound.  after it had stopped bleeding we put some stuff on it that helps stop the bleeding.  This
worked...kind of...until it fell off.  The baby started to bleed again and it turned out to need 6 stitches to
stop the bleeding.  Needless to say I was horrified. He lost quite a bit of blood, cried a lot, and the mother
was very scared.  She said, "I should have just left it the way it was"

I don't care that there is a "small chance" that complications will happen.  A chance is a chance.  Are you
really willing to gamble with your baby boy's penis and/or life?

This was not the first time I came across a problem.  Sometimes the block doesn't work and the baby
screams through the whole thing.  One time the baby managed to kick out of the circumstraints even
though they were tight.  This could have been deadly.  The baby was kicking the doctor who had just
made the dorsal cut and was about to place the clamp.  This baby laid there kicking and screaming on the
table while he bled waiting to be restrapped  so the doc could "safely" finish the procedure all while
keeping everything sterile.  I have seen foreskin cut too long so they don't get the benefit of either world,
and some so short the cut line is 1 inch down the 1 1/2 long shaft.  Really it is sad for those little boys who
will pee themselves in pain everytime they have an erection and when not aroused they have a belly
button where there penis once was.  And for what reason?  I just don't get it.

I remember another incident in which there was a little baby bleeding so bad that the nurse had to put
direct pressure on his freshly circ'd penis. The poor baby :-(  All the parents kept saying was "he's so
brave" RIGHT...because he totally WANTED this to happen.

I also work in a pediatrics office and i see little boys ALL the time that come in because of complications
due to their circumcision. Its really sad and it makes me want to scream. Before i was educated about
circumcision i used to think intact boys looked weird, but now i cant even look at a circd little boy without
feeling physically ill...it just looks so wrong.

                       Erin
                       Dayton, OH
My stepdad is a urologist. I asked him before my son was born whether or not he saw any difference in
his practice between circd vs uncircd with incidents of infection or STD or penile cancer. He said no. He
also said his three sons are uncircd. That made up my mind right there. I figure we are born the way we
are supposed to be. If we weren't supposed to have foreskin then it wouldn't be there. Why mess with
perfection?

                       Wendy
                       Anaheim, CA
I have two sons both of which were circumcised.  The first one cried but not like the second one which
cried for over an hour and every time his diaper was changed for the first couple of days, he winced.
Both procedures were essentially identical but after I saw the pain my youngest was in I regretted our
decision. Their temperaments are so different that circumcision didn't seem to bother my first but it was
terrible to see my infant cry from something elective that I had done to him.
If I am fortunate enough to have another boy, I doubt I will circumcise him. I don't want to hear one of my
children cry like that ever again.

                       Michelle
                       Salem, OR
I live on the West Coast and I don't know anyone who circumcised their (recently born) sons. None of my
friends' sons have ever had any problems at all and they go all the way up to pre-teen age.

My husband is not circumcised and has never had any problems whatsoever. My husband is extremely
grateful that his parents left this very personal decision up to him (since it is HIS body). He also considers
the "look like daddy" argument to be wholly ridiculous since he says that baby penises and adult penises
look so different whether or not they're both intact (not circumcised) or circumcised. Mostly he noticed the
differences of size and hair and knew that everyone's body is different.  No big deal.

                       Betsy
                       Los Angeles, CA