Day 2 - Circumcised

By the looks of things, Jameson's second day outside the womb was much like Savannah's - lots of sleeping, a little more expressive, a lot of sleeping, people coming by to visit, a great deal of sleeping, parents more relaxed, a lot of sleeping, etc. But Jameson's second day had a painful interlude that Savannah's did not have - a circumcision.  Ouch!

In the Jewish faith, babies are circumcised on the 8th day.  As it turns out, that is the day when a baby's blood begins to coagulate and can handle the bleeding involved.  However, modern medicine has allowed this procedure to be moved up quite a bit - in Jameson's case, to the 2nd day.  Just before 4:00, while Mommy and Daddy were visiting with friends, Jameson was wheeled away from the comfort of our hospital room into the "operating room" for an examination followed by the "surgery". 

One of our room guests, Mason, had mentioned that he was able to see his son circumcised.  So with that in mind, right after Jamey was taken out, I mentioned that I wouldn't mind going in with him.  At the urging of Mason and his wife Heather, I was urged to go and ask the doctor if I could go in. So I got up and left.  Unable to find the doctor, I asked one of the nurses where she was and was told she was in such and such room. I asked if I could go in and she said they don't normally let people in but would ask anyway.  I was given the clear but was told "no fainting".  I would need to sit in a chair during the course of the proceedings "just in case".  Sounds good to me.

View from my bed when I woke up.

So I watched the examination, then took my seat to watch my son be circumcised. Now, why exactly did I want to do this?  I wasn't particularly interested in watching the procedure and I definitely was not interested in watching my son suffer.  I was there for two reasons.  No. 1, this was a significant moment in his life.  I was taking part in a tradition that has been around for thousands of years, starting with God commanding Abraham and his household to be circumcised, and while it doesn't hold the same emotional weight with me as it would for a religious Jew, it is still a significant event.  No. 2, I just wanted to be with him in there.  I wanted him to have his father with him.  Also, in a room with three females, I felt he needed a male representative in there to oversee everything :-)

So how did it go?  Great!  No problems.  I didn't faint.  I didn't feel like fainting.  I did avoid watching the doctor administor the needle to numb everything though.  Not into needles.  I probably would have done okay but if I lost it right there, I would have just reinforced the rule of not letting fathers watch, and would have effectively slammed the door on any future fatherly inquiries like mine. But I take pride in the fact that I kept the door open for any dads wishing to accompany their sons while they have this procedure done. As a sidenote, I was standing by the end of it.

Savannah's cameback to say hi.

How did Jameson do?  He did great. No unusually loud cries.  He cried when he was being examined (babies don't like to be exposed).  He cried being poked with the needle.  He cried louder having iodine put on him because it feels cold.  During the actual circumcision however, he did okay.  If he cried, it wasn't anything memorable.  Being numb helps. After they were done, he was handed over to me to hold him.  I then wheeled him back to our room to the safety of Mommy's arms. After a few minutes, Mommy handed him over to me and I held him for a very long time while he slept and slept and slept.

Mommy and her babies.

And that's all he has been doing since.  Mommy tried to feed him but he just could not keep his eyes open.  Finally, about a half hour ago, with the nurses help, they got Jamey to eat and he is doing well now. 

Our first family photo.

Wow, I was only going to spend a paragraph or two on the circumcision.  But there really wasn't much else. Jamey did a lot of sleeping.  But I guess it is the Sabbath, right?  A day of rest.  And he got circumcised........and it's Yom Kippur! This was a very Jewish day :-)