Support thread for all the atheist, agnostic, non-religious, and secular humanists

[I Love Lucy]

See female circumcision is not practiced here in the states so the idea of anyone doing that just seems barbaric to me. Actually, in one of my Anthropology classes we did a survey of different practices in other countries, female and male circumcision were both on there. Just about no one (males included) found male circumcision offensive. It's interesting seeing how much our cultures effect our views on stuff.

I feel like I'm team pink too though so right now I don't really feel like circumcision is something I need to think much about.

 

[MrsSmartie]

How are you guys all feeling anyway? I am only a teeny bit pregnant but I am sooo tired! I'm on night shifts and finding it hard work! I also get nausea at about midnight on my night shift each night. I guess my body is doing a lot of work atm. I keep doing HPTs just coz I love seeing those 2 lines and seeing them getting darker! x

 

[mjemma]

My husband is American and circumcised, not for religious reasons. He was really shocked when I told him boys here (UK) generally aren't. To be honest, I think it is nicer but I don't think I want to inflict it on my son without giving him a choice.

 

[I Love Lucy]

How are you guys all feeling anyway? I am only a teeny bit pregnant but I am sooo tired! I'm on night shifts and finding it hard work! I also get nausea at about midnight on my night shift each night. I guess my body is doing a lot of work atm. I keep doing HPTs just coz I love seeing those 2 lines and seeing them getting darker! x

I have nausea 24/7. Unless I keep up with snacking on something every hour to two hours. But I'm having a difficult time keeping with the snacks simply because I'm having to force myself to eat them. Eating makes nausea better but I'm too nauseated to want to eat, go figure.

 

[Mrs. AJ]

I'm with you I Love Lucy on the sickness I've been sick non-stop since 6 weeks and I am ready for it to pass! I was like that with my first, too, and I think it finally eased at 13 weeks, so maybe two more weeks to go...

 

[TatorMom]

When parents ask me about circumcision before/after their baby is born, I(and other nurses) usually tell them to make sure it looks like daddy's, unless daddy's not in the picture. There's an increased risk of UTI's, infection, STD's and STD transmission later in life, etc. if the infant isn't circumcised. However, the increased risks are debatable and negligible. It does increase the risk of causing infection in their partners later in life though. In the U.S., and I imagine the UK, it's less of a religious decision rather than one that will allow the child to be uniform in his culture. In the U.S. a higher percentage of babies are circumcised than not. I had not seen an uncircumcised man until I was in nursing school, and it grossed me out a bit initially. He was actually in his 40's and came in for a circumcision because he kept giving his wife infections. All I can say when an adult man gets it done is OUCH! I had our son's circumcised because my father and brother were, my DH is, and everyone I know had their son circumcised, and for any future women they're with, as well as reducing the risk of UTI's/infections/etc. Kids can be cruel, even in locker rooms after gym class. It's a personal decision and I don't knock anyone who decides either way.

 

[I Love Lucy]

I'm with you I Love Lucy on the sickness I've been sick non-stop since 6 weeks and I am ready for it to pass! I was like that with my first, too, and I think it finally eased at 13 weeks, so maybe two more weeks to go...

I hope it eases up at 13 weeks. Having 2 more weeks to go would be nice. I had my scan yesterday and baby only measure 7 weeks, 6 days (8 weeks today) so I still have a bit to wait. My ob/gyn did right me a prescription for Zofran though, I just haven't picked it up yet since my appointment was so late.

 

[IrelandsOwn]

Neither my OH or I practice any kind of religion although we were both raised Catholic. We don't plan on baptising our baby but we face another big problem there. In Ireland, unless you manage to snag a sought-after place in a multi-denominational school, I hear it's almost impossible to get a place in a state school unless you're a baptised Catholic. This blows my mind but the state and the church are really closely linked. We figure that we'll cross that bridge when we come to it but we definitely won't be baptising out of choice. We may have to out of necessity though

 

[pbl_ge]

Neither my OH or I practice any kind of religion although we were both raised Catholic. We don't plan on baptising our baby but we face another big problem there. In Ireland, unless you manage to snag a sought-after place in a multi-denominational school, I hear it's almost impossible to get a place in a state school unless you're a baptised Catholic. This blows my mind but the state and the church are really closely linked. We figure that we'll cross that bridge when we come to it but we definitely won't be baptising out of choice. We may have to out of necessity though

Ouch! Do you know what you're going to do yet? That's a serious dilemma!

 

[Happy7]

My OH and I aren't really religious either. Were lucky in that area because none of our family really pushes it too much. His grandparents are traditional though and they wanted us to hurry and get married after DD was born. Were happy to not be married though lol. Now were expecting number two so im sure that whole subject will come up again. His whole family is on us now about it.
The only real issue we've come across religion wise is that the kids in our neighborhood all go to church and they make comments to my daughter about how she NEEDS to go to church. It makes me mad because I want her to make up her own mind and be her own person.

IrelandsOwn-- Thats rough. I would hate to have to do something I wasnt comfortable with just so my child could attend school :/.

 

[whispersof3]

This always catches my attention, this is my third pregnancy so this is the third time I have read through forums about circumcision. Its pretty amazing actually to see everyone's responses. you always have the two sides, one side is definite on there decision and nothing in the world would change their mind, on the other hand you have people like me where one way is the norm and don't give it much thought. Again, I live in the US where circumcision is normal, my son had it done in the hospital and really he cried less then when he was given a shot. But again to each there own, and I am just happy no one is forcing me to do it one way or the other I just love reading people's thoughts on controversial subjects. If I agree or not, its still nice to see people have such strong feelings on making sure they do what is right by there child.

Just wondering if anyone else is having a c-section? My bones are misformed so I can't have a baby vaginally, which kind of sucks but on the other hand there are some positives I guess. Any one else thinking of names? My husband and I have an easy time coming up with girl names but boys on the other hand are so so much harder for us.

 

[pbl_ge]

Any one else thinking of names? My husband and I have an easy time coming up with girl names but boys on the other hand are so so much harder for us.

We're in the exact same boat as you! We actually have a fantastic girl's name all picked out and ready to go, but can't agree on one for boys. Apropos to this thread, I'm set on picking names unrelated to the Bible, which is actually fairly tricky, and harder for boys I think.

 

[whispersof3]

We go with nature names. My daughter is named willow our earth name my son syrus name means the sun so thats our fire name now we want a water or an air name. I hate most of the boy names that come up in searches. So far for girls we are thinking about morgana or celeste.... Boys are just so darn hard. We didnt even have our sons name before we had him we hurridly named him a few hours after we had him. Plus when your all doped up from a csection its very hard to think but i do love his name and it fits him just dont want to go through that again.

 

[MrsSmartie]

We really like Caspar Beau for a boy and Isla Marie for a girl. But we don't want to have anything decided until baby's born. Xx

 

[drsquid]

im jewish and into the cultural stuff not the religion part of it. i more consider myself an apathetic cause it just doenst have a role in my life. id always figured id circumcise then i dated an uncirced guy and changed my mind. it has been a few years and i think im back to circ.. though i dont know what im having yet and dont plan to find out. as i like the cultural stuff id likely have a bris as to me that is a family party rather than doing it at the hospital (which ive watched lots of times and.. baby doenst like being held down, the circ part they dont seem to react to very much). still hoping for at least one girl (though my dad keeps dreaming about his grandsons). im single but they are thrilled cause ive talked about it for years but only finally just done it (im 39). these will be their first and only grandkids.

ms- ive been pretty ok. only occasionaly queasy.. but last 5 days or so ive felt horrible. headaches etc. thought it was supposed to get better towards the 2nd tri not worse. checked on the boogers today and got some nice pics but they werent bopping all over the place like i like watching, i swear they move more when i scan them myself standing up than when im lying down with a tech.

 

[Mrs. AJ]

We've got a girls name ready to go that we came up with ages ago, before we were even married I think. Last time it took us forever to come up with a boys name (Connor Maxwell) and if we have another boy I'm sure it will be a challenge again.

 

[Katy Bug]

Very nice thread I was dropping in from third tri when I saw this. I'm also agnostic but my whole family and DHs family are Christian. So I'm going to have a lot to deal with :/ especially since for some reason DHs family thinks I'm Christian too..never gave them that impression! Anyway it's going to be hard raising my boy in the religious south of America. My parents know I'm Agnostic and have already asked me if they can bring him to their church, which I responded with, "I don't know". I don't want my boy going to the church they attend because the denomination really messed me up and I don't want him going to a church like that so pretty much no..I just don't know how to tell them. Basically probably the only person I would want him to go to church with is DH if he decides he wants to go, even though he seems a bit Agnostic himself and doesn't seem to like the idea of a "loving" god allowing bad things to happen to people. So he's basically just not religious like me. Eventually I'm going to have to tell his family about me not having religious beliefs and how I won't be teaching him the Bible. I'd rather him grow up in a secular, non-religious home. Just hope they can respect that!

 

[pbl_ge]

Hi Katy! Thanks for dropping in, and GL for a healthy birth!

These are some great names, folks! Hope everyone is doing well!

 

[readerwriter]

The discussion about circumcision is interesting. I hadn't thought about it much myself until getting my BFP and reading some books. Circumcision is the cultural norm in the US, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't question it. We'll see.

I don't know what I'll do about a baptism or christening. My family is very religious (Catholic), and they don't know how non-religious I am yet. It's definitely going to be a tough situation. Part of me wants to stand my ground and then part of me says well, what harm is there in doing it if it means so much to them?

For those of you with kids already, how are you teaching them about religion outside of a religious setting?

 

[pbl_ge]

Apropos of our conversation:
https://www.npr.org/blogs/health/20...npr&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=20120827

I'm interested in your question, too, reader!