Life After IVF: 17

I have heard from several friend’s experiences that when they are pregnant they begin to have little followers. One friend went for a walk outside and came back with the dog, 3 cats, and 2 chickens following her. I am not sure how many weeks pregnant she was when this started happening. This has happened to me but on a smaller scale inside my home. Trooper has started following me around. He used to just make sure I was in his line of vision or if he had to go to the bathroom he would come sit next to me. But now, he follows me into whatever room I am working in. It is actually quite comical because I will usually hop from one bedroom to the next when I am upstairs working on stuff. The other day I looked down and realized he had followed me into each room. I am not sure why animals do this? I wonder if it’s like a motherly instinct that they sense and feel the need to be near. Or, maybe he knows something is up and just wants to make sure I am ok. Either way, it’s pretty cute. He definitely knows something is up. I mean, they can smell my hormones….(sorry, it’s true). I know bringing home baby is going to be such an adjustment for all of us. We are used to it just being us for quite some time now. It’s fairly easy for me to think about all the changes because, well, I am reminded of it constantly. I think about what my day to day, running errands, out and about will be like. Mostly how it won’t be just a quick run to here or there like I do right now. Even so, going to the dog park or casino are things you don’t exactly bring a baby to. But, I haven’t really thought too in depth about what my daily activities at home will be like. I’ve thought about it a little but it’s harder for me to imagine. Now I think about all the little things like the dogs barking; will that wake the baby up? How will the dogs respond to the baby when we first come home I have thought about plenty. I think Trooper won’t be phased at all. I think the worst part for him will be the baby crying in the middle of the night because it would disrupt his precious sleep time. I think Bean will probably think it’s her baby. She typically sits on my lap so I feel like she will try to sit on the baby’s head or try to cuddle him or lick the air around him. Not lick him, lick the air. She’s nuts, I know. As for Shadow, I go back and forth on. Shadow is more unpredictable than my other 2 dogs. She can be very calm, not phased by something that you would typically think would bother her. But then there are other things that do bother her, like when someone sneezes. She always jumps and leaves the room when someone sneezes. With the baby, I can see her being a little “too interested” and in his face which is why boundaries will need to be set immediately. She is usually pretty good once a boundary has been set and stuck to. Sometimes she has anxiety and paces back and forth between the front door and back door, and sometimes she will just lay on the couch for hours. For her, I think it will be getting a schedule and routine figured out so that she knows what to anticipate. Just with any big changes in life, we will adjust, and we will take it on together.

And for now,

Xoxo