Uncut.

Shortly after Esai was born -- like many boys, he was circumcised. We didn't put much thought behind the decision. We wish we had. The next 12 hours were miserable for my baby. To say he screamed would be an  understatement. He could not be soothed. He didn't want to nurse. Eventually, after some Tylenol and hours of rocking him, he was fine. Nothing went wrong with the procedure. It was just painful after the anesthetic wore off. Come to think of it, why wouldn't it be painful?

If you've never witnessed a circ, let me set the stage for you: Your sweet baby is strapped down to a table -- his arms and legs fastened and spread out. He's screaming. At this point, it's not pain. It's fear and discomfort. The procedure itself is not pretty to watch. Though, at least the baby receives a topical anesthetic; so there it's unlikely there's any immediate pain.

In a word: Horrible. Mostly for the baby. But heartbreaking for a parent.

But, we thought this was the normal thing to do. Rene is circ'd. Everyone we knew said it was normal.

Well, it's not something we wanted to put our next son through. We did some research. Wow. How times have changed. Circumcision isn't what it used to be. With only 56 percent of U.S. boys being circ'd in 2006, there really isn't concern about locker room teasing. We'd heard that there was a hygiene issue. Nope. Esai and Matias require the exact same amount of maintenance in the bathing department. And though it used to be thought that caregivers needed to retract the infant's penis, that is no longer the case. The boy will retract his own penis all on his own through the course of self-exploration (if you have a boy, you know what I mean) -- usually by the age of 4. Additionally, health concerns are minimal. There is a very, very slight risk of UTI's'; however our pediatrician there are plenty of health risks for circ'd boys, too.

We had some family members question our decision. We told her that it should be Mo's decision to make when he's old enough. Her response was: "Well, that would hurt! Why would he do that?" Bingo! If an adult wouldn't choose to put himself in pain that way, why would a parent choose to harm her child?