TRADITION

They had him suck on some sugar-water, it seemed to do the trick

Yesterday our baby had his circumcision. In the past our boys received their circumcision in the hospital, shortly after birth. Obviously this was not the route we were going to take.

In the Cleveland area, circumcisions are performed by the OB, but I really didn't feel like going to an OB and saying, "I didn't trust you to deliver my baby, but will you please do this - and not botch it?" I was going to call my kids' pediatrician and ask if he performed circumcisions, but then I figured that if he didn't routinely perform them, he wasn't going to be very skilled at it, and the last thing you want is an amature performing on your boy.

My midwife told me of a Jewish mohel from Columbus that traveled to your home and would perform circumcisions on non-Jewish boys. After some thought we decided that this would be our best option. A mohel is a Jewish Rabbi of sorts, that performs circumcisions. We decided that he would definitely have the experience, and also he is use to performing in front of the parents (which does not happen often at the hospital) so he could do it in front of us and not panic. I also liked the idea that it would happen in the home.

It is Jewish tradition to perform the circumcision on the eighth day after the birth of the baby, unless there are special circumstances. Grant's eighth day was actually Tuesday, but because Tuesday was a Jewish holiday, he had to perform it on the ninth day. When the circumcision is performed in the hospital, it is required to give the baby a vitamin K supplement because their clotting factors don't take effect until the eighth day - interesting.

So our mohel came last night. Unfortunately (and fortunately) I had to pick my dad up at the airport, so I missed the actual circumcision. But Todd said that Grant was a sport, only cried for a little bit. When the mohel arrived at our house he informed Todd that we are supposed to have an empty chair for Elijah, Todd should have told him that Elijah has already come.

Todd has actually witnessed all but Mikey's circumcision. He said that the mohel performed it differently, but that it was actually more effective and seemed a lot better. Afterwards the mohel stayed a bit and told us about some of the Jewish traditions. It was really cool. He was very friendly, and very open with sharing his beliefs with us. Also, how many boys can say that a Jewish Rabbi circumcised them?

Another side note, today my sister LeNae was watching the boys as I took a shower. William fell on the stairs outside and scraped up his head. He is quite accident prone at times, but we'll keep him.