Babies and Dogs Class

Last week I attended a Babies and Dogs class. There was some interesting information I thought I would share with you fine people.

1. Your dog knows you're pregnant
Campbell has not shown any change in behavior so I'm a bit skeptical of this one. I have heard of animals being clingier, but Cam just cares that he is getting food. They also said that dogs don't really associate the difference between people/dogs and that they will just think of your baby as a new member of the pack and because of this it's important that before baby comes home that you establish yourself as the pack leader.

2. Dogs go through a pattern of aggression
When dogs get mad they all go through the same pattern before you get to biting stage. First the curl their lip, then they growl, then they open mouth slap (have their mouth open and bop the other person or animal in the face and then finally they bite.) Dogs rarely ever go directly to biting. They said you should be aware of the lip curl and growl stage so that you can end a situation before it gets bad. Also, you shouldn't reprimand the dog for doing these signs because you want them to warn you.

This is helpful to me because when Cam has a bone Fern (the cat) will always come up to him and sniff what he's got. This basically pisses Cam off and he curls his lip and growls at her. Before class my instinct was to reprimand Campbell for being aggressive with Fern but I was taught that we should reprimand Fern and remove her from the situation because Campbell isn't doing anything wrong and that we was actually being good for sending out warnings.

3. Territory
Food:
We've always fed Campbell after we've eaten to mimic in the wild that the alpha dog eats first. But we've always been feeding him in the same spot. The recommended changing up the time and place you feed your dog to reinforce that you are in control of their food. We'll this has totally thrown Campbell for a loop. Each night we put his food bowl down somewhere int he house for him to eat dinner. Each night he goes back to the spot where he used to always eat dinner looking at us like we are weird. He eventually will go eat his food but always checks back to his old spot.

Sleep:
Same thing with the sleep as with food. You should move the dogs sleeping spot around so that they don't get territorial over a certain spot in the house. The funny thing is I always thought Cam associated us saying "Go to your house" with his dog bed. But when we moved his bed to the other side of our bedroom and told him to go to his house he ran to the spot where his dog bed usually is.

3. Before baby comes
Start prepping your animals for the changes that will start to happen in your house. If you have a baby swing or bouncy chair leave it out in the living room and sometimes turn it on so your pets get used to the sound and the motion. Leave a diaper out so your dog can get used to the smell and use the baby lotions and washed you have bought so the smells will become normal in your home.

4. Introduction:
They basically said to make it as big of a non event as possible. For those having a baby out of the home they suggested the partner coming home with a piece of clothing the baby has worn or a rag/blanket that the baby has been wiped down with. Before coming home your significant other needs to come home with this material. If you have a bigger dog walk in with the item in your pocket and for a smaller dog stuff it in your sock. Then walk in as you normally do, don't draw attention to the item just walk around so the dog will associate this new scent with you.

When you do get home show the dog the baby and just kind of go on with your routine. The key is to make the baby coming into the home a non-event.

Basically all the stuff learned in class was instruction on how to make the dog see you as the master so that when baby enters the home they behave the way you want them to.

Bit's Nursery

Here's Bit's nursery. The bizzare contraption above the crib is a tent to keep our cats out. They've tried many times in multiple ways to take a nap inside but it's worked like a charm and they've been denied each and every time. The circles on the wall are stickers that we can remove and put up again if we ever move. Only a couple more small additions and we're done!!

11 + Tums

So I failed my iron test again. Apparently low is 35 and I'm now sitting at a 30.5 (which is barely up from the 30 two weeks ago.) To get my levels up things are being kicked up into high gear and more pills are being added to my daily regime. The amount of pills was getting to be so much that I had to go out and get an old lady pill box to keep things straight. Counting all the vitamin, minerals and supplements I'm on, we are at a whopping 11 plus the Tums I take to keep the heartburn manageable. Keeping in mind that I take some of these 11 items multiple times a day.

My day consists of:


Morning:
Vitamin E - helps with skin and ligament stretching as well as placenta attach/detach
Vitamin C - iron absorption and immune system
Vitamin B50 - emotional balance and assimilate proteins
Floradix - extra iron supplement
Ferrous Glutamate - extra iron supplement
Evening Primrose Oil - softens the cervix

Lunch:
Ultramin - facilitates baby bone growth and aids in iron absorption
Ferrous Glutamate
Floradix
Evening Primrose Oil

Evening:
Vitimain E
Vitamin C
Floradix

Bedtime:
Ultramin
Flaxseed or Fish Oil - for DHA
Evening Primrose Oil
Ferrous Glutamate

Though out the day:
Dr. Christopeher's Prenatal - increase hormones and tones uterus
Liquid Chlorophyll - aids in increasing hemoglobin

I have officially become a walking GNC store.

Last Day of the Year

We spent this morning at the midwife's office for our regular appointment. Bit is doing well and I'm trucking along only major compliant is heartburn from hell. I've basically taken to sleeping sitting up. It's hard to believe that after our next appointment we'll be going in weekly to see the midwife. One of the women in our prenatal class had her baby and the rest are in line to have their babies soon too. It still seems pretty crazy that we'll soon be part of that group.

Everyone keeps asking us if we're ready for Bit. My response is always no we're not ready. That's both true and false. Speaking practically we are ready, nursery is more or less done (we'll post pics when we are done with the finishing touches), we have our wills done, have taken classes, had our home study for the second parent adoption and are on multiple daycare waiting lists. In reality we're probably ahead of the game. But the truth is no amount of preparation will get us ready for Bit and as much as the planner in me hates that I also acknowledge that it's probably for the best. Try as I might I cannot fathom all the ways our world is going to change by Bit's arrival. I figure that if I go into it without any preconceived notions or set standards of how it should be we will be better off.

It's hard to believe that in 5 1/2 hours it will be 2010 and in 43 or so days our Little Bit will be here. Happy New Year everyone!

Keeping Busy

We have been bad bloggers lately. Since our last post we have had a shower and a check up on Bit. I will start with the shower that was hosted by our friends in Austin. It was great to see all our friends and my Aunt Kathy was able to come from out of town. It was very nice. Melissa’s mom and sister surprised us with gifts ordered via Calgary. It was a pleasant surprise to have gifts from them included in our shower. We have enough blankets to keep an army warm and many onesies made by our friends at the shower. The onesies were our favorite gift because it was so personal. Both of us hated opening all the gifts in front of everyone but we survived. One shower down and 3 more left to go.




On Wednesday, we had another midwife appointment. It was a big one because we were going to find out if Bit had flipped and take the test to check for gestational diabetes. Because we are doing a home birth Melissa wasn’t required to drink the nasty mixture we have heard about. She had to have a breakfast of 1 egg, 3 pieces of bacon, pancakes with syrup, and a glass of orange juice. The results are in, the good news is no diabetes, and bad news is that she has low iron levels and is anemic. So we just have to add another vitamin to the mix Floradix.

During our appointment we discusses ways to get Bit to flip including propping an ironing board on the side of our bed and having Melissa hang upside down three times a day. We had a plan for our next appointment we needed to have Melissa drink a big glass of wine to relax so they would move Bit around. However, we discovered during the appointment that Bit has actually flipped! We were so excited even though Melissa was looking forward to drinking a glass of wine.

We are down to the wire and now we have to have our appointments every two weeks. I know that with the holidays it is going to fly by quickly.