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mary theresa
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| Posted: Oct 15 2007 at 12:40pm | IP Logged
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I have a question for those of you who have your boys circumcised.
Have any of you had the circumcision done at home by a Jewish mohel?
Maybe this is an odd question. See, my mom had three boys in a row and hated the way the standard precedure was done for the first two, so she called a mohel in the area to come do the third. She says it was amazingly faster, cleaner and less painful then the others.
Well, those bros of mine are 16, 14, and 12 and so she doesn't know much about what they do these days.
The thing is, (IF we have a boy -- this is all irrelevant otherwise  ) I want to wait the eight days until the coagulating agent in the baby's blood is at the highest levels (isn't that cool that God told the Jews eight days? -- b/c He knew that?). I know that Vit. K is supposed to help with that, but I don't want my baby to get the synthetic Vit. K shot.
All this is a long way of saying: I want to wait eight days and I think to do that I'd have to say "no" at the hospital and then have a mohul to it at our home -- but is this something any of you have ever heard of or done?
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Mary Theresa
mother to 3 little girls --March '06, Dec '07 and Jan '10
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Lisbet
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I have not heard of this before. (besides Jewish families doing it.) May I ask, though, why you are wanting to circumsize in the first place?
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Lisa, wife to Tony,
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Gabe, 13
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Matilda
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We have not had it done at home, but I did take my son to a homeopathic nurse to have it done because I also wanted to wait. I don't think it was exactly 8 days. We had no problem telling the hospital that we were going to wait a few days, in fact, a lot of people choose to have their pediatricians do it in the office later so the hospital shouldn't give you a hard time!
A friend of mine had a Jewish mohel and she agrees that it was a better experience. I was also happy with the experience at the homeopathic place. He did not cry or even flinch, unlike my older son... I still have residual guilt over that. His was in the hospital and the reason we said "NO" when son #2 came along.
I say, go with your gut and don't worry about the hospital. They don't need all of the information, just tell them you have it scheduled for later somewhere else.
Hope this helps!
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Charlotte (Matilda)
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with bookend boys and a double girl sandwich
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amyable
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Well, I didn't personally do it, but I was a nanny for a Jewish family during the time that their first son was born. I think I just *caved* and went the easy way out with our own son that was just born, because I let the OB in the hospital do it even though I had strongly considered a mohel at 8 days (I just didn't know how to go about finding a good one). I have heard that there are mohels that will do it for non-Jewish families. I personally think its a great idea if you can find one with experience willing to do it - it seems to me to be doing it the way God designed it, if I am making any sense. 
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Amy
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mom2mpr
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Mary,
If we decided to circumcise our baby boy a mohul was the way we were going to do it too 
A close cousin(practically my big brother) married a wonderful Jewish woman and they are raising their boys in the Jewish faith. We went to both bris's(not sure I did the plural correctly)and they were beautiful, peaceful ceremonies. So different from the babies I saw circumcised in the hospitals during my Ob rotations.
We ended up deciding not to circumcise and just told the hospital not too and took our little guy home. They were fine with it. That was almost 10 years ago and a major medical center.
There are so many different choices nowadays your idea of waiting 8 days and using a mohul is not strange to medical personnel. I can't imagine you'll meet much resistance to leaving without having him circumcised.
Do what you feel is right and good luck with your decision.
Anne
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aiereis
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A Catholic friend of mine used a mohul because it was far cheaper than doing it at the hospital and they didn't have insurance. She said that it was very traumatic for her to watch that happen, see the blood and hear her son cry. However, I think she probably would do it again if she has another boy.
Christina
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LisaR
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I think www.catholicsagainstcircumcision.com
had a link or some info on the 8th day mouhul performing it...I DID just hear on NPR? Or some public radio that there is an increase right now on Orthodox Jewish babies in highly populated areas in the US (somewhere in the NYC vicinity) who have herpes (gross, I know) because many Mouhul's are carriers (basically anyone is who has ever had a cold sore before) and it gets passed on to the baby boys because they use their mouth to stop the bleeding...
there is some public education/compromising talk that was going on recently as a result.
I have the first two circumcised and the last two are not: I know this was not the purpose of your post but I am curious as to why you want to circumcise?
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Lisa
dh Tim '92
Joseph 17
Paul 14
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Maria Gianna 5
Isaac Vincent 9/21/10! and...
many little saints in heaven!
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MarilynW
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We moved from Europe where circumcision is not the norm. I am not sure what the current position is?
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Marilyn
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lapazfarm
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We had ours done at the pediatrician's office at approx 2 weeks. It was very quick and easy.
As for the why, we did our research, weighed the pros and cons, and decided that in addition to the cultural issues, there were significant enough health benefits to warrant it.
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Theresa
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hylabrook1
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When my oldest (daughter) was born, one of the local hospitals was in the middle of a staph outbreak, so they didn't want to do any circumscisions there. Every baby boy whose parents wanted him circumscised was referred to the mohel, who had no issue with taking care of that for non-Jewish parents.
Peace,
Nancy
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mom2mpr
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LisaR wrote:
highly populated areas in the US (somewhere in the NYC vicinity) who have herpes (gross, I know) because many Mouhul's are carriers (basically anyone is who has ever had a cold sore before) and it gets passed on to the baby boys because they use their mouth to stop the bleeding...
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The bris's we went to the mohul was in surgical garb, using sterile instruments and never used her mouth. She also was a physician though. She said the prayers beautifully as she worked and it was really nice. If I had seen anything like this I would have never considered it.
Anne
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folklaur
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Our family Dr. is Jewish, and is also a mohel, and he did our son's.
~Laura in AZ
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Lisbet
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Interesting, I would never have thought a mohel female.
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Lisa, wife to Tony,
Mama to:
Nick, 17
Abby, 15
Gabe, 13
Isaac, 11
Mary, 10
Sam, 9
Henry, 7
Molly, 6
Mark, 5
Greta, 3
Cecilia born 10.29.10
Josephine born 6.11.12
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kingvozzo
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My sister used a mohel for her oldest (but he's 19). There was some reason the docs wanted to postpone circumsizing him, but the mohel was willing/able to do it.
I know there's a lot of debate about circumsizing boys, and I'm not trying to fan a debate--this question is definitely tangential. I can understand considering the procedure medically unneccessary and choosing not to do it. we are certainly not bound to it. However, since the Jews were/are bound to circumsize their boys, it makes me think that it can't have long term negative consequences in terms of function etc, as one might be led to believe from the website Lisa linked to.
Am I missing something in thinking that God wouldn't require something that would be haremful?
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Noreen
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Lisbet
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Noreen, isn't it a moot point now, as God no longer requires it? (let's call it a discussion, not a debate!  )
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Lisa, wife to Tony,
Mama to:
Nick, 17
Abby, 15
Gabe, 13
Isaac, 11
Mary, 10
Sam, 9
Henry, 7
Molly, 6
Mark, 5
Greta, 3
Cecilia born 10.29.10
Josephine born 6.11.12
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LisaR
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kingvozzo wrote:
My sister used a mohel for her oldest (but he's 19). There was some reason the docs wanted to postpone circumsizing him, but the mohel was willing/able to do it.
I know there's a lot of debate about circumsizing boys, and I'm not trying to fan a debate--this question is definitely tangential. I can understand considering the procedure medically unneccessary and choosing not to do it. we are certainly not bound to it. However, since the Jews were/are bound to circumsize their boys, it makes me think that it can't have long term negative consequences in terms of function etc, as one might be led to believe from the website Lisa linked to.
Am I missing something in thinking that God wouldn't require something that would be haremful? |
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from what I could gather (and it has been quite awhile) The authentic Orthodox Jewish circumcision is NOT for any health reason at all, it is a symbolic snip to show obedience to God. We, as Chirsitans, do not need to follow this, or any other Jewish law. (reason obvious!) I do not think it was originally "harmful" at all, but puritanical times intervened....
not a big deal to me, or my family, although in hindsight, I'm kind of glad we had the opportunity to have 2 uncircumcised to "match" like the 2 who are- ....and...my boys just think some boys look like each (which is true, actually) and they have never questioned or felt "different" -either way!
we also have never had any issues with infections, etc...
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Lisa
dh Tim '92
Joseph 17
Paul 14
Thomas 11
Dominic 8
Maria Gianna 5
Isaac Vincent 9/21/10! and...
many little saints in heaven!
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Martha
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um, OR you could just take him into a urologies when youa re ready to?
this is what we did with most of ours and how we would do it in the future should we be blessed with another boy.
they work with ummm that equipment everyday for a living and did a great job, imho.
also there are at least 4 different types of circ's and it usually depends what the DR prefers as to what you get, so ask what methods will be used and how much they will leave behind. If you do not ask, they do NOT tell you. And you could end up with one son whose privies do not look like all the others. Which is not THE most important thing of course, but still... dh and I looked at that 3rd boys privies, looked at each other, and said, "OMgoodness! did the dr cough while cutting or WHAT?!" 
fwiw, we prefer the pastibell method around 2 weeks or right after the cord stmp falls off.
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LisaR
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Martha wrote:
um, OR you could just take him into a urologies when youa re ready to?
this is what we did with most of ours and how we would do it in the future should we be blessed with another boy.
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we took ds number 2 (and circumcised) to a ped. urologist group because of an unrelated issue but in the vicinity . The group actually would not do circ's anymore, except to correct "botched" ones, which we found VERY intriguing. Leaving their office after speaking with two of them, and with a few handouts they gave us, is actually what started us on the road to not having the last two boys circ'd.
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Lisa
dh Tim '92
Joseph 17
Paul 14
Thomas 11
Dominic 8
Maria Gianna 5
Isaac Vincent 9/21/10! and...
many little saints in heaven!
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Angie Mc
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*Moderator's Note*
For those new to this message board or new to the topic of circumcision, please note that this can be a very passionate topic of discussion.
Thank you all for your careful replies and for answering the original question which is "Have any of you had the circumcision done at home by a Jewish mohel?" 
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Angie Mc
Maimeo to Henry! Dave's wife, mom to Mrs. Devin+Michael Pope, Aiden 20,Ian 17,John Paul 11,Catherine (heaven 6/07)
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chicken lady
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I have never used a mohel, though I did investigate using one during one of my pregnancies. I just called up different Rabbis asking for info. It was quite entertaining when I would explain that I was a Catholic having a home birth etc., they had interesting responses. All in all I would consider going that route.
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4Real Forums : Mothering and Family Life
Topic: Circumcision
