Baby Questions
 

My wife and I are expecting a baby in a couple of months, and I'm curious to find out about the experiances of other Anglo-American families. We plan to register the birth with the British embassy,although the baby will officially be a US citizen. But, I'm wondering how other people contacted their relatives in the UK to let them know when the baby was born (I want to call my parents from the hospital if possible), and also how other people stand on the rather thorny subject of circumcision.

Re: Baby Questions
 

Ouch!!! Leave the poor little blighter alone! If it's there in the first place it must be there for a reason!

Re: Baby Questions
 

Personally I think circumcision is barbaric. I know from a cleanliness point of view it is supposed to be good but it makes my eyes water just thinking about it. My little 18 month old grandson's mother is Jewish, but thank God she did not have him circumcised. You should be able to call UK from the hospital I would have thought.

Re: Baby Questions
 

We're having a girl in the near future so we don't need to address the circumcision issue this time but if we were having a boy we've agreed that he wouldn't have this done.

Have you chosen the hospital your wife is going to give birth in yet? You should be able to arrange an advance tour of the delivery unit to see the facilities. The hospital we're going to encourages the new family to stay together for the whole birth experience. My wife will be delivering and recovering in the same room, it has a bathroom attached and a TV in it. She won't let me take my PlayStation 2 though! I think it's fairly common practice at US hospitals for each delivery / recovery room to have a phone in it. As well as the direct dial phone in our room (they stop incoming calls overnight), there are pay phones in the waiting area. I'm not sure yet with our hospital how the phone calls will be paid for - phone card or settle the bill when "checking out!"

We also have family living nearby so we'll get one of them to send an e-mail out to friends.

All the best!

There was a lengthy discussion about this back in June:
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...t=circumcision which got rather heated at times. Should be interesting reading for you.

My husband and I are also expecting our first baby in the very near future... we also decided no on the circumcision... I know it is an american way of life but I personally think it is a barbaric practise (unless for religious reasons) same thing for people who have their kids ears pierced when they are a few months old.

As for calling family in the UK... I have already given my husband a list of phone numbers he has to call (only about half a dozen) for my family in the UK. The hospital I will deliver at also have phones in all rooms for patient use with free local calls so we are going to use our big zoo account.

Ash :)

I loved getting calls after the babies were born too.... Give your husband the phone number to the hospital to pass along when he makes the calls!

Ummmmm, and don't ask for nappies.... They bought me a bath towel! ;)

Re: Baby Questions
 

LOL So's body hair!! ;)
(I'm sooooo not going there)!!!

Re: Baby Questions
 

It's such a load of crap about uncircumcised males being more prone to infections and penile cancer. To the best of my knowledge none of my uncircumcised British male relatives (including my husband and son) have had any problems with being 'intact'. It's just a matter of basic hygiene.

Muslim and Jewish male boys are circumcised for religious reasons but I guess this is because the religions are originally from hot climates where lack of water/sanitation causes problems in keeping clean. In modern Western society this is not a concern. I've heard that in the US circumcision became popular as a means to prevent masturbation...!! My friend had her little baby circumcised and the poor little soul was clearly in some discomfort for a couple of weeks afterwards - the gauze was stuck to dried blood at the end of his penis and every time he did a wee he cried in pain. I also thought that it was probably even more unhygienic having an open wound when he was doing a wee and soiling his nappies. There are some interesting views here:

http://www.mothersagainstcirc.org

Congratulations on the impending arrival!
We had our second boy here in January this year (no circumcision). I called the folks back home from the hospital on my mobile. There were landlines in each of the rooms, but they went thru the hospital switchboard - it was easier on the mobile. Then a couple of hours after the birth when my wife and the new son went to sleep, I nipped home to upload some digital photos to email to everyone. A digital camera is well worth the investment - or if you don't want to spend the cash, borrow one - theres little that the relations overseas will appreciate more than those early photos. Next best thing to being there...unless your wife will let you rig up a webcam from your laptop and take it into the delivery room!!! (Only joking, although on our hospital tour someone did ask whether 6 accompanying family members would be allowed in the delivery room!)

Best of luck with the new arrival

We're seriously considering getting a digital camera, just so my parents can see pictures of their first Grandchild very shortly after he is born. It'll also be usefull for sending them pictures too. They plan on coming over for about a month when the baby is about 6 weeks old. We didn't want them to come on the due date, because it's possible that he isn't born until a couple of weeks after that.
Good luck to all the other expectant parents on the board. Can I be nosey and ask when everyone else's due dates are?

Our baby is due on December 22nd. We've also arranged for my parents and sister to wait a few weeks before coming over just in case.

Digital cameras are the way ahead! We bought one a couple of years ago when our nephew was born and it's one of the most useful things we have.

You can create an account on www.shutterfly.com and upload images so that all your relatives can see them online.

Ours was due Dec 11th... and still I wait :(

We also bought a digi cam... well a digital camcorder with built in still camera and web cam. I have used it a lot already and that is before bubs arrival.

Ash :)