The Unpleasant Topics

So now that we know it's a boy, we're able to focus our planning and prep. Everyone keeps telling us that we're lucky; that boys are so much easier than girls. Not that I know, but I tend to agree. However, that doesn't mean that boys don't come with their own set of issues that will have to be dealt with.

Like circumcision. I hadn't given this a lot of thought until recently. When Claire and I were in DC last year, we encountered a group of anti-circumcision protesters outside of the capitol. Like most DC protesters, they were a bit on the crazy side, but it was interesting to hear them articulate their stance. Now that we know that our child will have man-parts, we've begun to discuss this more seriously. According to the research, there's no medical reason to circumcise. In the past, it was done for hygienic reasons, but in today's society, we're open enough that we can tell our little boys that they need to clean their penises. (Oh, and apparently you're supposed to always use the accurate terminology, penis and vagina, when talking to your kids about their genitals. And here I was ready to break out the countless slang terms for penis that I've learned in my 29 years...). Anyway, this is probably a lot more information than anyone wanted. We're just learning so much and confronting a new set of decisions and it's very cool to be informed.

We recently attended a baby class at the hospital that covered some of the basics: dealing with a fussy baby, cleaning a newborn, the umbilical cord, etc. It was very interesting, and enlightening in a lot of ways. Without expressing a bias, the instructor covered the facts on a lot of issues related to newborn care, and the overwhelming message seemed to be that doing things the natural way is easier. If you don't circumcise, you don't have to change a baby boy's penis dressing every time you change the diaper. If you breast feed, you don't have to burp your baby. Since I'm very much in favor of doing things the "natural" way, this was music to my ears.