My Dog is Still My Baby Too

When we first got Fenway, I would joke about how having a puppy was the same as having a baby.  If you would like some crazy mother’s to bite your head off, say that line three times out loud and then duck.  But getting up with her as a puppy, in the middle of the night, and taking her outside, in the cold, was not fun.  There was hardly any containing her.  As every dog does, they soon grow out of the puppy phase and become your side kick that listens at least 95% 80% well, some of the time.

Before Cora was born, Fenway was spoiled rotten.  She went everywhere with us.  She has her own Instagram account.  People stopped over to just see her.  She went to daycare to play with her friends twice a week.  She sat on her own chair at the kitchen table with us.  She was our fur baby.  The last few weeks of my pregnancy, when I had already started my maternity leave, Fenway and I were inseparable.  She was more protective than ever of me and stuck by my side knowing something big seemed to be happening soon.

People warned us we wouldn’t feel the same way about her once the baby was born.  They would say how we would put her on the back burner and she would get in the way.  This would piss me off but I kept my mouth shut.  I had seen it happen to some people and was determined that wouldn’t happen to me.

I remember the morning I left to be induced, tears welled up in my eyes as I was saying goodbye to Fenway.  I knew I was going to change her world for forever.  Things would be different.  I can now say that yes, they are different but our love for Fenway hasn’t changed.  We include her in everything.  Is it harder with her some days than others?  Yes.  Isn’t it harder to bring a second child into your family? I would assume it is close to the same.

Fenway knows that she has to wait until Cora is asleep for us to go out and play in the snow.  When people came to see the baby when she was first born and brought gifts, they didn’t forget to bring Fenway something.  I have learned to get her in and out of daycare while hauling a car seat on my arm.  She is learning to walk politely next to the stroller.  We try to have special car rides with just Fenway to run to the store.  I think because of all of this, Fenway is learning to love Cora more everyday.  She isn’t seeing her as a threat.  And you know what, we don’t love her less, we don’t push her to the side, she is still our furbaby.

So if you are pregnant and worried about that furbaby curled up next to you, I will say, you can still love her the same.  Don’t let people scare you otherwise.