Great visit

Yesterday Anna had her (overdue--we've been busy, what can I say?) 2 year well-baby visit. I resolved ahead of time to try to ask the doctor about the boys' circumcision and Ezra's bloodwork, figuring it'd be easier to do at Anna's appointment (when the boys aren't wailing in my ear! My mom and dad came over and watched the boys.)

WELL, I am happy to report that the doctor was really great this time around. I think maybe last time he was really rushed, which was a bummer, but at least now I know he's not always that way! He totally knew who I was for one thing, which I'm sad to say is not always the case with doctors.

Anna's visit went well. She weighed in at 25 pounds, 1 ounce and was 35 inches long. She's tall for her age and a little below average, weight wise. They did a finger-prick test to test her iron levels and they were all perfect! She got her Hep A shot. The doctor also commented on the fact that she apparently has big toes! Hee, hee. She has Kevin's feet so we can blame him for that...

So I asked the doctor about circumcision, and what he thought I should do. First he said he'd tell me what the AAP says, and then he'd give his own recommendations (which I appreciate.) Now keep in mind that this guy is YOUNG, maybe early thirties, and not very doctor-looking. He fully couldn't use some of the, uh, "terminology" without smirking and almost laughing! Hee, hee! It was funny and I almost burst out laughing myself when he was smirking.

He told me that (he and his wife have four children, with at least two boys) none of his sons are circumcised. Interestingly he said fewer boys are circumcised on the West Coast than the East Coast nowadays. He explained the potential risks of non-circumcision, and also the issues with circumcision. The AAP no longer recommends routine circumcision I guess. He said that if we did want to have the boys circumcised, it would have to be done in the hospital and they would have to be put under general anesthesia. Recovery would probably be painful, and it's just harder once they're past the newborn phase.

SO, we have decided that the boys will remain uncircumcised. To be honest, neither of us ever had particularly strong feelings about the issue. Most of my mommy friends with sons seem to have it done, and I probably would too had I given birth to these little guys, just because it seems like the normal thing to do around here (or at least it was for boys in our generation but I think the tide might be changing.) But I cannot justify having them put completely under anesthesia (and all of the risks associated with that alone) for superficial reasons. The statistics in my opinion are not compelling enough to have it done. My sons are perfectly fine the way they are!

As for Ezra's bloodwork the doctor is really not concerned about waiting longer, being that Isaiah's was perfectly normal and he would not expect anything to be dramatically different. So we will wait.

All in all a good visit and I'm back to liking the doctor again. :) I felt comfortable presenting my questions and feelings, and he did a great job addressing them. I really liked the fact that when he was explaining circumcision to me, he explained things in such a way where it was totally open for me to decide. He didn't try to sway me, just shared his own experience and also what the medical community was saying. On a personal level I think it's cool that he and his wife have four kids, and they're all close together in age (I guess at one point they were all 5 years old and younger!), so he kind of has an idea of what we deal with on a daily basis. :)

So a big relief for us!