Sorry I haven't posted in a couple of weeks. I'm in the thick of two projects I want to complete before my birthday in September: training for a 5k walk/run (you can sponsor me and help fund breast cancer research and treatment here; and finishing all six of Jane Austen's novels. So far I can make it around the park a couple of times without collapsing, and I'm in the middle of book number 3. Two months to go, wish me luck!
Since we last spoke, I attended the bris/baby-naming for my twin niece and nephew. If you haven't been to one, a bris is when a Jewish baby boy is circumcised by a mohel, and then everyone sings, schmoozes, and eats bagels. A bris traditionally happens on the the 8th day, but since Quentin was less than five pounds at birth, it was put off for a few weeks. When my brother and sister-in-law were looking for a mohel, they waded into a debate that echoed one of the biggest questions about childbirth iteself: drugs or natural? Most mohels perform the bris with no anesthetic, just a few drops of red wine or grape juice (in the baby's mouth, that is, not on the part being circumsized). One of the many arguments against anesthetics is that ritual circumcision has been performed for thousands of years with no dugs. The same is of course true of childbirth. But does that mean we shouldn't take advantage of modern medical methods of pain relief? There are also the questions of whether the anesthetic does more harm than good. I found it fascinating how such similar questions came up with both childbirth and circumcision. In the end, my sister-in-law decided to use a mohel who is also an MD, who injected a local anesthetic before he did the snipping. Quentin was a champ. We ate bagels, we schmoozed. So, tell me what YOU think of this debate.
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3 comments:
We had our son circumcised by the ob who helped us bring him into the world. He was about 18 hours old, and was given a local anesthetic. Interestingly, not one family member or friend said anything to us about not having a bris, and I had spent 4 months rehearsing my arguments in my head! We had a naming ceremony when he was 4 weeks old, and it was a wonderful opportunity to schmooze and celebrate :)
As the sister-in-law in question here, I feel obliged to respond to this post.
I think that the question of drugs-vs-natural takes on a whole new meaning when you are making the decision for someone else. In the case of a circumcision, you are deciding for your son, and not yourself. So I wouldn't exactly compare it to the decision a woman makes about childbirth.
One argument I heard from a mohel who does not use anesthesia is that "we don't KNOW if they child feels pain." This is clearly B.S. - of course he does! This was confirmed to me by my pediatrician and my OB. I also did some internet research on this topic, and it turns out that there have been studies done that confirm that the child does indeed feel pain. I just could not justify doing this procedure without the anesthesia.
In the end, I am happy to report that Quentin has fully recovered and is thriving... although my husband and I are still recuperating!
We have been through this three times, and this is how we handled it: the first time we got him good and drunk on wine. For the second and third ones, the pediatrician gave us a prescription for EMLA cream, which my husband applied liberally 45 minutes before the procedure. My youngest hardly even made a peep when the mohel began his work, and then almost slept through the whole procedure. My husband joked that he EMLA'd the baby from his knees to his elbows, but it was very effective.
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