Intact

I love my boys. I love them to death. I never thought that I would be a mama to two boys. I thought I would definitely have girls, and really girly girls at that. Thankfully God had different plans for me.

Bear was born in the early Spring of 2006. We had decided almost right away to keep the sex of the baby a surprise. For the first bit of my pregnancy I thought I was having a boy. Then everyone who saw me told me I was "SO having a girl". From gut feelings, to dreams, to that stupid Chinese Astrological chart - it all said GIRL GIRL GIRL!! There was only one reason I wanted a girl - because my husband and I already had a name sort of picked out. We absolutely didn't agree on any boy names. I'm more traditional, he's more..... well more...... he likes the top names from the 1970's. We still didn't have a name for Bear when I was in labour, with completely different tastes. He was convinced a boy named William (Will) would come out donning a sweater vest, and a thick English accent. A few minutes after Bear was born, as they were stitching me up (thanks for coming out with your hand over your face!) I suggested a name, and it fit.

Squirrel is a different story. We knew he was going to be a boy. They gave us this little picture of a stork to give to the ultrasound tech. I guess it was a fun way of saying "Yes, please tell us the sex of our baby." We wanted to know - for planning purposes, and just to see what it was like to know all along if we were having a boy or a girl. The tech. said "Wow, you're going to have a lot of testosterone in the house." My husband's response was - "huh?" Right over his head! Our poor little dude didn't have a name for nearly 48 hours. We had 5 months and STILL couldn't agree!

The one thing we did agree on is that our boys would remain intact. There was no way anyone was going to be cutting the foreskin off my baby's penis.

I just don't understand how someone could put their baby through something so harrowing. For what? Because it's easier to keep clean? ppft. So they may have to exert a bit of effort and pull back some skin when they soap up in the shower? When he is an infant, you don't pull the skin back. There's no wound to keep clean, no risk of infection.

Or my favourite - "so he can look the same as his dad". OK - by the time the boy has a penis that is the same size of his dad's he won't be seeing his dad's penis. He won't want to even know if his dad is cut or uncut. I mean, do women wax themselves hairless so they look the same as their little girls? One woman said that she did it so that he wouldn't have a weird looking penis. Nope, make that "funny looking pee pee". She said that cut penises look better. Getting your child circumcised because *it looks better* is called plastic surgery. To do this to a child is just reprehensible. Imagine if some man was on the news because he made his daughter get a boob job, because big boobs are nice. He'd get lynched (rightfully so).

Circumcision is no longer routine in Canada. There are two different stats. that I came up with, both for circumcision rates in the province that I live in. One was 6%, the other was 20%. It is no longer free in Canada either. Some doctors won't even tell you where to get it done, you have to do the research yourself. This is a step in the right direction - but just a step.

It shouldn't be allowed. Period. I understand that some families do it for religious purposes but I still feel that it is wrong. Leave an infant's body the way God created it, and let him decided what he wants to do himself.