I am petrified of how the dog will react when baby arrives. She still hasn't gotten over her, "I'm going to jump on you and smell all over you" phase. Our dog has little to no concept of personal space at times, and with an infant, then a baby learning to crawl... yeah, it freaks me out big time. When we adopted her from the SPCA our only situation that would result in us giving her back would be if she was not compatible with a newborn baby. As cruel as I am going to sound, that still stands. My husband and I have discussed at length what we will accept from her in terms of behavior around a baby, although I REALLY don't want to give her back to the SPCA, they can stay there for so long sometimes, it's awful. If she's bad around an infant what I'll likely go back to the woman who trained her and ask if there might be anyone willing to take our dog from us. Someone kind who can be around a lot and would have the time and patience for a dog so high energy. I would really hate to do it because we've made such huge strides with her since we got her and she's a sweetheart, just energetic. I fear the steps we've taken to get her trained and keep her trained aren't enough though and it worst comes to worst my baby comes before anything else.
You can start training your dog now to get ready for the baby. We are doing this with our dog and if you do not feel comfortable doing it on your own, hire a dog trainer that has done baby training.
Our dog is skittish and over protective of people he considered part of the pack. He is scared of strangers and esp scared of kids. We have already started training him to get use to the baby. We started doing all of our walks with the stroller to get him use to it. We also started him getting use to being in the back of our car with a fence, so he cannot get to the baby in the car. With dogs it is all about training, some dogs are easier than others, but if you start now, your dog should be okay with the baby.
I'm not sure we would be able to do it on our own, she hardly listens to us as it is(won't come when she's called, hardly stays in one place even in a down stay), and we work with her a lot, continuous with our routine; it just doesn't get through. I could see if the woman who trained her the first time would be able to do any kind of baby training, but she was expensive, almost to the point of being ridiculous. When she first trained our dog she only took her for half a day at a time, but still charged us as if it were for a full day. I would have to check google to see if there are any other dog trainers in my area, but I live in a small town and there really aren't that many options. This is what makes it so frustrating. The one thing I know my husband and I have to get our dog used to again is car rides. Hubby and I don't take her too many places by car so we have to take her on short little trips to make her less excited about it all. Where did you find a gate for your dog though? Does it separate both the seats and the floor in the back I suppose? I've never heard of doing something like that to be honest.
Google dog barriers, they come with a lot of different types for different types of cars. It works great so that way your dog will not be crawling on the baby. Our dog has anxiety in the car, so it will keep them safe and separate It is important to introduce this to the dog before baby, so dog does think the baby brought this gate on. https://www.amazon.com/WeatherTech-60010-Tubular-Pet-Barrier/dp/B0007TJ7GW/ref=zg_bs_3024182011_4
FTM here and have enjoyed reading everyone's responses!
1) Anyone here tried acupuncture to prepare for labor? My goal is to do it once a week for the month leading up to the due date (I'm a huge fan of it). Also hoping the twice weekly yoga I'm doing helps.
2) I am not so scared of labor pains and would like to do it naturally, but I'm afraid if I tear and have to get stitched up, I won't be able to handle that pain. So probably wanting an epidural for that part.
3) My husband cannot deal with blood (he faints at the sight of it). I'm very concerned that he's not going to make it through this, so I guess the best option is for him to have a chair available close to my head. Anyone else have experience with that?
@emilykathryn86 for #3, try having husband chew on some mint gum or have some altoids handy. It can often help with the wooziness of seeing blood and just help regulate his blood sugar and focus. Also, make sure he is sipping on water the entire time so dehydration doesn't add to it and helps to keep his blood flowing well. Have the chat ahead of time that if he starts feeling faint, just sit immediately and put his head between his knees to get the blood flow back and not try to stand it out, even if it's a very crucial moment. I don't have specific experience with this in childbirth, but I have low BP that drops frequently causing me to get woozy or black out. Often times just the sterile smells of hospitals can really get to me too. Deep breaths, plenty of water, something minty to focus on, and knowing to sit and take it easy immediately if he's feeling even the slightest bit off will make things much easier ahead of time. If he can have a zip-up sweatshirt or something easy to take on and off would be helpful too, as I notice often I get super hot then super cold before regulating back to normalcy when the dizziness comes and goes.
@skiingstark Thank you for the link, I'll be sure to check that out @PerraSucia Just a spaz. Well, okay I say she's just a spaz, the woman who trained her said she shouldn't be allowed little dogs or smaller animals because she has the potential to kill them. Though she didn't say if that was because she thought our dog had any aggressive tendencies, or just didn't know her own strength. She adapted to our cat and isn't aggressive with him though, she just doesn't know when to leave him alone. I don't ever think our dog would hurt our baby, I just don't want her to be hyper to the point of stressing the child out. I think the only way our dog would hurt a baby is just by being too excited and jumping on the child with out warning. She's never growled or bared her teeth at anyone.
I had a CS with DD. I'd been laboring for 12+ hours and when my water broke at that time, it was green. That, coupled with the fact that I was 1) not dilating more than, what, 6cm? 2) DD apparently felt no pressure to go down the birth canal anytime soon - I was already 1 week late and she was still nice and high when contractions started 3) at the blood draw at admission they had detected elevated infection markers
The decision was made to whisk me off to a CS. The CS itself was great. The scar healed amazingly, recovery was awesome, bla bla bla. But SO and I want 3 kids, so we're really hoping to go the VBAC route so there's not more even more scar tissue in round 3. I don't know if "really really wanting" a VBAC will jinx it, but aside from hoping this LO will actually drop this time I don't know what I can do to skew it in my favor.
So.....I guess any soothing words about how a VBAC is definitely possible and any tips to make it more likely are certainly appreciated.
I think you'll find labor pains much much worse than getting stitched up down there. If you don't have an epidural I'm sure they could use a local numbing medication (lidocaine, etc).
Oh the stitches are nothing compared to the labor pains, and for me at least they did give a local numbing agent before stitching. This coming from someone who almost faints every time she gets a flu shot :-) They really weren't a big deal at all.
Oh the stitches are nothing compared to the labor pains, and for me at least they did give a local numbing agent before stitching. This coming from someone who almost faints every time she gets a flu shot :-) They really weren't a big deal at all.
Interesting! Do you think it depends on how badly you tear? I have a friend who didn't make it to the hospital in time for an epidural and she said the stitching was the worst part...they had to hold down her legs while they stitched her up. She's also TINY so maybe she tore more than others?
Well like everything else in pregnancy it's hard to make an across the board claim, I just know what my one experience was like :-) I also made it too late to the hospital to get an epidural (not that I wanted one anyway) and I actually had an episiotomy instead of tearing naturally (also didn't feel much of anything when they did that). Frankly, once baby was out I was just so focused on him and the euphoric sense of relief of it being over lol I barely felt any of the stitching or even passing my placenta! The labor pains seriously win here :-) But even they were manageable, like I said, I didn't have an epidural and I never had a moment where I felt I needed it. But again....that's just my one experience.
Re: Birth Plans & Labor Fears
https://www.amazon.com/WeatherTech-60010-Tubular-Pet-Barrier/dp/B0007TJ7GW/ref=zg_bs_3024182011_4
Married to my Soul Mate since 09/06/09
1) Anyone here tried acupuncture to prepare for labor? My goal is to do it once a week for the month leading up to the due date (I'm a huge fan of it). Also hoping the twice weekly yoga I'm doing helps.
2) I am not so scared of labor pains and would like to do it naturally, but I'm afraid if I tear and have to get stitched up, I won't be able to handle that pain. So probably wanting an epidural for that part.
3) My husband cannot deal with blood (he faints at the sight of it). I'm very concerned that he's not going to make it through this, so I guess the best option is for him to have a chair available close to my head. Anyone else have experience with that?
@PerraSucia Just a spaz. Well, okay I say she's just a spaz, the woman who trained her said she shouldn't be allowed little dogs or smaller animals because she has the potential to kill them. Though she didn't say if that was because she thought our dog had any aggressive tendencies, or just didn't know her own strength. She adapted to our cat and isn't aggressive with him though, she just doesn't know when to leave him alone. I don't ever think our dog would hurt our baby, I just don't want her to be hyper to the point of stressing the child out. I think the only way our dog would hurt a baby is just by being too excited and jumping on the child with out warning. She's never growled or bared her teeth at anyone.
I had a CS with DD. I'd been laboring for 12+ hours and when my water broke at that time, it was green. That, coupled with the fact that I was
1) not dilating more than, what, 6cm?
2) DD apparently felt no pressure to go down the birth canal anytime soon - I was already 1 week late and she was still nice and high when contractions started
3) at the blood draw at admission they had detected elevated infection markers
The decision was made to whisk me off to a CS. The CS itself was great. The scar healed amazingly, recovery was awesome, bla bla bla. But SO and I want 3 kids, so we're really hoping to go the VBAC route so there's not more even more scar tissue in round 3.
I don't know if "really really wanting" a VBAC will jinx it, but aside from hoping this LO will actually drop this time I don't know what I can do to skew it in my favor.
So.....I guess any soothing words about how a VBAC is definitely possible and any tips to make it more likely are certainly appreciated.
I think you'll find labor pains much much worse than getting stitched up down there. If you don't have an epidural I'm sure they could use a local numbing medication (lidocaine, etc).
Well like everything else in pregnancy it's hard to make an across the board claim, I just know what my one experience was like :-) I also made it too late to the hospital to get an epidural (not that I wanted one anyway) and I actually had an episiotomy instead of tearing naturally (also didn't feel much of anything when they did that). Frankly, once baby was out I was just so focused on him and the euphoric sense of relief of it being over lol I barely felt any of the stitching or even passing my placenta! The labor pains seriously win here :-) But even they were manageable, like I said, I didn't have an epidural and I never had a moment where I felt I needed it. But again....that's just my one experience.