Sam's Bris

He didn't have a bris, but several people have asked...
As noted before, we did have Sam circumcised.  The medical evidence for the benefits of it look to be overwhelming to us.
Yes, I suppose it is a form of mutilation, if you want to look at it that way, but that doesn't negate the documented health benefits.
We didn't have a bris because Sam's not Jewish.  He's half Jewish, and it's the wrong half at that.  I guess we could have asked for half a circumcision, but it wasn't on the menu.
By Jewish law Mom has to be Jewish in order for the child to be considered Jewish, so that means that Sam isn't Jewish.
As and aside, I think that law needs to be updated.
Anyhow, we did Sam's circumcision in the hospital a couple of days after he was born, without any of the attendant ceremony that goes along with a full on bris.  It was done by one of the pediatricians in his doctor's practice, but not his doctor.
It was an interesting experience.  Madison has a lower than average rate of circumcisions, mostly due to political correctness.  The doc that did the circumcision asked me a bunch of questions about why we were having Sam circumcised.  She seemed particularly bothered by the notion that I didn't think it was a big deal to hold and distract the boy while she preformed the procedure.  She kept pushing me on that one, explaining that even medical professionals sometimes have a hard time watching their own kids get circumcised. 
Finally I just told her "Well, I don't like him very much." That backed her off a bit.
What was also interesting was that what got her to drop the why did you decide to do this line of questioning was when I told her that a close friend of ours had to be circumcised for medical reasons when he was a teenager.  Her response to that was to tell me that anyone that knows someone that was circumcised after infancy gets their kid circumcised as early as possible.
While she was doing the procedure I was telling Sam mohel jokes (I've told them all here at one point or another).  I think she thought I was talking to her.  Needless to say, she was probably happy to see both of us go.
To top off the whole experience, while I was one taking him to be circumcised Kate stayed upstairs in her hospital room.  She is entirely on board with our getting him circumcised, but she was pretty upset at the notion of what was actually happening.  So, she stayed upstairs, and shortly after Sam and I left the nurses came by to take her vitals.  Not great timing, we weren't surprised to find that her blood pressure was pretty high.
Over all, I'm glad we did it, I believe that it was the right things to do.
Next time though, we might have to find a mohel...