homebirth and dogs?

[evjolin]

my dh and i are considering a hb for our first baby....and we have 2 dogs. just curious how your pets responded to the situation during your birthing time? our dogs are pretty chill, i'm not worried that they will freak out of anything, but i am just wondering how some of you who have birthed at home with pets handled things.

[moonglowmama]

The forst time I had a homebirth, we had a little poodle who was older and pretty "chilled." She just quietly followed us around, and hunkered in the corner when things got intense and I was pushing loudly.

This tome our dog- different one- is a more energetic dog, he likes to jump on people when they arrive and escape out the door. I was worried about him driving me nuts, and had told everyone to stick him on the garage in his crate if he acted crazy. But, he did fine. Once I was loud, he just laid down on the floor and was super calm. Before that, he apparently was his usual self with the doula arriving, but I didn't notice. Oh, and he did bolt out the front door while my mw was loading back up, but dh was able to get him back fairly quickly. lol.

[kittywitty]

My dog loved it! She was a 1 yo lab/border collie mix and sat and watched the whole time and was just in heaven.

[klocke]

I have two dogs, one who is about 27 lbs and a hermit and the other who is about 70 lbs and super clingy. I honestly can't say I really remember what they dogs were doing when I actually gave birth. I asked my DH and he thinks we put them in the backyard only because we had people coming in and out of the front and we didn't want them to be barking at strangers. But either way I don't really remember them acting any different. They are indoor / outdoor dogs and would have certainly been inside within a few hours of the birth either way. It was our third though so they were pretty used to babies by then.

Our first was a hospital birth and we had the same dogs only they were 5 years younger . I think they had a harder time with that than when we had our home birth. One of my dogs took a solid month to warm up to the baby crying and every time my ds would cry she would try to jump up onto the side of the bassinet to look in. I think she though he was a squeaky toy,LOL. But after she adjusted they have been great with they kids.

[dioramamama]

We had a dog and a cat at our homebirth, and both were decidedly uninterested! We did put the dog outside when birth was imminent, but that was mainly because we thought she might be too interested in the mess!

[laughingfox]

I posted a thread like this a while back.
I haven't had this baby yet, but I did have a decent bout of prodomal/BH/pre- labor a week or so ago, and my dog was pretty needy, but not in an annoying way. She sat next to me, facing away from me. I was scratching her behind the ears, and when I stopped during a contraction, she just looked back at me.
If she's like that at the birth, I'll be totally fine.

[Rodeo Mama]

Our dog is very hyper and clingy and I was worried about her driving me crazy. She jumped on the midwife and assistant when they got here, but then she chilled out quite a bit. We did end up putting her in the crate near the end, because she was pacing by the pool, but she did fine in there. Apparently me pushing and moaning freaked her out a little.

[frogautumn]

I was a little worried about our dog...she can be a bit of a busybody and I imagined she'd be a nuisance when the MWs were bringing in all of their equipment. I honestly wasn't aware of her at all...I don't even know where she was during the whole thing. But then, right after the baby emerged and started to cry, she came right up to the pool and sniffed us quietly. I think one of the first things I said after DS was born was, "Hi Rusty, it's our baby!"

[northerngirl]

My second birth was at home and I was slightly concerned about my 2 dogs being around. We have a small house and both dogs can get real spunky real fast and one is a super barker. Dh and I discussed that if need be they could go out into our garage and we would leave the back of the car gate open if they wanted to lay down in there. In the end they were super chill and super barker left his trap shut. When things really got going dh put them in our crate we have for them in the kitchen. When the doula and assistant arrived they walked right in a right by the crate and the dogs didn't freak or bark which was amazing. Later the doula said she thought the dogs weren't even there. I think the dogs got the vibe that something serious was going on bc I was moaning so loudly and probably though oh mom is not in a good mood stay back