Decisions, decisions...

I've been thinking about penises a lot lately. How's that for an opening line? Well, in actuality, I've really been thinking about the circumcision issue. Now that we've had a boy in a European country, we've come face-to-face with the controversy and confusion over why or why not to circumcise. I'm not going to list all the reasons to or to not circumcise - I'm sure we all have our own. But that having been the decision we made for our first son - and were on our way to making for our second son - we now find ourselves in a bit of a conundrum.

Originally, we were totally set on the matter: circumcision was the way to go for our boys. Being Americans, we viewed it as a cultural issue, as well as a health issue. However, now residing in Ireland, having your child circumcised is way easier said than done. Upon Asher's birth we were looked at with a bit of disdain by the attending pediatrician when we asked about our circumcision options. We were told that it would be at least 6 months before Asher could be circumcised, he would be put on a waiting list, and then when it was his turn, he would be put under general anesthesia for the "operation." This did not sound ideal to me. I thought briefly about obtaining the services of a Mohel and having a psuedo bris, but this didn't seem like a particularly honest or ethical option, either.

So, our names have been sent to the local pediatric surgeon, and I'm waiting to hear from him with lots of trepidation... needless to say, I'm extremely hesitant now about circumcising Asher. I'm just not sure, in the long run, if it's really worth it.