On Being a Pregnant Dog Mom

Last night, I was at a class at the hospital on the topic of bringing a baby into a house with dogs. One of the class participants asked the trainer whether she thought that our dogs understood what was going on. I'm pretty certain that my dog Lucy knows what's up. First off, she's a mammal with nine nipples. She just gets these things. Second, she was the first one (after me) to find out about the pregnancy (since she has a propensity for following me in to the bathroom, the place where one finds out things like this).

We've also had a few very sweet baby-related interactions. A few weeks ago, before I went to work, she was sitting on the floor in front of the couch just looking at me, sort of the way she looks at Adam when she wants a walk. I knew she'd already been walked, treated, and fed breakfast, so I wasn't sure why she was staring. So I started rubbing my belly in circular motions and she immediately started wagging her tail (quite forcefully). I'd stop rubbing and then start rubbing again, and she would stop and start wagging in reaction. She only did it that one morning, but it was extremely cute.

And then last night, after we got back from the class, we were all upstairs snuggling and Lucy felt the baby move! It was almost as exciting for me as when Adam felt movement the first time. She gave me this look of pure love as I said inane things like "Lucy, that's the baby." Maybe the baby is already trying to pet her?

Another Pregnancy Milestone

Today was the first day that a complete stranger came up to me and asked if she could touch my belly. (Hey, at least she asked first!) I should probably qualify the "complete stranger" part. The person and I had been in the same 6-hour training session, and this was towards the end of the session. Still, there were 30 other people there, and I didn't even know her name or specific work affiliation, so I think it still qualifies as "first belly rub from a stranger." It's only been pretty recent that the belly has been really asserting itself in a way that attracts this sort of attention.

I think it would be fun to go into Lucydog mode when people touch my belly...I could lie on my back, with my tongue sticking out to the side, and wag my tail profusely. Oh wait, I don't have a tail...and it would probably be hard to get back up.