Dang.

Absolutely nothing new to report from the doctor. Actually, that’s a lie. I have one thing to report. But the jist is that I have not progressed at all with the dilation (or “dilatation” if you would like to use another word that’s spelled differently but means exactly the same thing). Apparently, though, that whole bleeding thing from a couple of weeks ago is because of a small polyp (I hate that word for some reason, maybe it’s the “y”) on the edge of my cervix. Even her just touching it with a Q-tip made it bleed. Why did she touch it with a Q-tip? Good question. Maybe to see if it would bleed?

I asked if it would interfere at all with the labor and delivery process and she said no, that I would probably just know that I was dilating because it would bleed. So there you have it — a built-in labor warning system. No more sleepless nights! The pregnant body is a miraculous thing!

I must admit that even though I have a week until this guy is officially due, I’m discouraged. I mean, I’ve been walking every morning (while restraining four rowdy wiener dogs), sitting on the floor and squatting (which is really comical to watch, I’m sure, with my big belly and all) and Tim and I have been acting like it’s our honeymoon again. What is the freaking holdup?

Did I mention that the baby is getting really huge now too? It feels like he’s about to fall out everytime I go to the bathroom. One of the nurses today recommended lots of walking. Of course, there’s a “spontaneous combustion warning” everyday now, so anything other than my morning walk is kind of out of the question. Maybe I’ll drag Tim to Union Station tonight and we can walk around there, acting like tourists in the air conditioning. Yippee.

Anyway, other than my non-exciting, non-productive doctor’s appointment today, I actually have a topic to discuss! Yay, topics! My old friend Chris emailed me yesterday with a not-so-subtle hint that we should consider leaving our son intact (i.e., uncircumsized). I thought, ‘Hey! That’s something interesting to talk about. And, some day, our son will be so embarassed that I even brought it up!’

So consider this the first in a series of discussions of “Things That We’re Doing That My Mom Doesn’t Understand” or something to that effect. (Sorry, Mom.)

We’re not circumsizing our son.

Why? Well, I’ll tell you. You see, circumcision is really hard to spell, first off. Second, it is truly one of those things that is still done to babies out of tradition. There’s no real medial reason for it. Any medical benefit that was once touted has been refuted. For example, boys who are uncircumsized do not have any higher instances of penile cancer or urinary tract infections. There are no “cleanliness” issues if you just make the proper hygeine a part of your child’s bathing routine. And, hey, you’re not subjecting your brand-new baby to pointless pain and suffering simply so he will “look like” other boys or his father. Plus, since the circumcision rate is way down in the past decade (like only half of all boys are now circumsized now), he will have comrades! And, as Tim so eloquently put it one day, ‘When you’re in the junior high locker room, the last thing you are looking at is some other guy.’

Well said, Tim!

And this is an issue we’ve really discussed a lot. I was worried that my own anti-circumcision feelings had made Tim feel that he didn’t have a say. Turns out, though, that once he thought about it, he wasn’t thrilled about the prospect of the surgery either. (Perhaps Tim would like to post about his feelings if he gets the chance as well.)

So that’s the deal. Sometimes I find it hard to believe that I have to think about these things now. You can breathe a sigh of relief that you do not, I guess.

Tomorrow: Why I want to exclusively breastfeed my child, and why we’ll keep breastfeeding until he wants to stop (well, before he can say, ‘Yo, ma, boob me’).