Baby's first trim

From the "Baby's First Outing" entry...

Donald:

"One of your first outings was when we took you to the hospital to be circumcised. It was customary to have it done just after birth. It took us some time to decide. We had pressure from our parents to have it done. I would have rather you made the decision, but circumcision is more risky later in life. We made a difficult decision for you. We are sorry that we hurt you. As I watched, it was as though I was watching my own circumcision. Forgive us and use it wisely."

Helen:

"11/30/1979 - Not exactly a religious ceremony according to our religious beliefs but definitely a procedure of great seriousness and importance. On this day, Nov 30th 1979, Friday at 12:45 pm, you were circumcised. It was not an easy decision, but with the doubts I had concerning my decision not to have the procedure done, I and your father thought it might be better to get it done. it, at this time, is a procedure that is done without much thought - a procedure that is for the most part considered routine by most parents. There was much thought and consideration involved, and we decided to have it done. it was done in the OR room of the ER at Williamsport Hospital, done by Dr. Byler." [She later added "Took 10 days to heal but no problems"]


Reading this, you can feel my dad's pain in the clipped sentences, the desperate rationalization, the multiple apologies. It's like he is writing with an ice pack on his crotch. Meanwhile, it's my tiny baby penis that just got the tip lopped off. And then you get to the last line, which just makes the whole thing pretty funny. I don't know how it was back in the 70s, but I think if you were to take a poll of women now, most prefer the "crewneck" look so Dad...you are forgiven. I doubt I'd be able to willingly walk into a doctors office and have that done now, so thanks.

It is pretty brutal though, I can't imagine how the baby screams when that happens. Do you cry for the next week?

I do appreciate that they clearly deliberated over the decision to have it done, and hey, having it done at that age is good because a) no memory of it and b) you don't need to use any vacation days. I'd much rather be snowboarding than gingerly walking around in loose sweatpants for a week.

That being said, I'm putting November 30th on my calender for next year. I don't know what I'll do yet but...turtlenecks not invited.