[RavenSong]

I relinquished my son 36 years ago, and things have really changed since that time. Most hospitals these days don't automatically circumcise newborns. It's often done after the baby leaves the nursery and goes home.

Back in 1972, circumcision was almost universally performed on male newborns in the United States. But I do remember being asked by the nurse in Labor & Delivery whether I wanted my baby to be circumcised if he turned out to be a boy. (They didn't perform ultrasounds back then, so it was always a surprise whether you had a girl or a boy.)

Although the L&D nurses, as well as my OB/GYN, knew that I was placing my son for adoption, I was still given the right to make that decision about circumcision.

I was also informed that I had the full legal right to name him on his birth certificate. Although I had already named him (I somehow sensed he was a boy in the womb), I didn't put his given first and middle names onto the certificate. So his name went down as Baby Boy MyLastName on the OBC. His adoptive parents named him on the Amended Birth Certificate. And now if you look him up on the California Birth Index, you'll find three entries for him: one listed under my maiden name; one listed under his birthfather's name; and one under his aparents' name.

This was a totally closed adoption, btw. Birthparents never interacted with adoptive parents back in those days, either before or after the birth. Everything was done through the agency, and adoptive parents weren't selected until relinquishment papers were signed. The baby was kept in a temporary foster home between the time of hospital discharge and selection of aparents by the agency. This was usually a period of 3 or 4 weeks.