Pets?

[BubbleMa]

What did you do with your pet(s) while you were laboring/birthing? 

We have a 60lb dog.  She's great around friendly strangers, so I'm not worried about that.  I just don't know how she'd be with the birthing process.  She's highly intuitive (like most dogs) and very protective of our pack.  I'm not sure how she'd react to me being in pain and all that goes along with birthing.

Thoughts?

[Ola_]

We have two dogs and I'm thinking I'll ask my  mom to come by and pick them up while I'm in labour.  One of our dogs is especially sensitive to emotions, she gets upset and comes to comfort you if you're upset and hides if someone is angry (completely unrelated to her).  I'm worried that she'd be really upset the entire time.  The other dog will just sleep through anything but they'll feel better hanging out together and they love going to my mom's.  We might also see how they do, I don't know yet...

[mdnaturalmama]

We have one dog....she's very clingy and annoying but I don't anticipate her being a problem. If she is I'll be giving her a good bit of Benedryl and letting her sleep in my bedroom. Lol. I really don't think that'll be the case tho.  ;)

[kcparker]

We have a VERY sensitive dog (wants to leave the house if one of the kids starts crying or an adult talks back to an annoying news report), and when I was in labor, he was totally mellow. He actually came and sat on the bed with me, totally of his own accord, when I was in the most intense part of labor. DH was madly scrambling to fill the pool, my sister was upstairs distracting my son, and the midwife was in transit. He was very calm, not freaked out at all, and it increased my already very deep love for him that he came in to be my 'doula'. He was in the room when DS2 was born, and after the birth, he came into the bedroom when the midwives were checking my placenta and checking me for tears (I thanked him and shooed him out at that point because it seemed vaguely unsanitary for him to be up on the bed with me). I bet your pup will be a supporter in the birth process or will ignore it all.

[Eman'smom]

We have two dogs, our smaller dog (corgi) just hung out in her crate in our bedroom (the room I gave birth in), she was totally chill didn't make a peep and was fine.  Our 75 shep/lab mix.  was fine with everything dh and I were doing, and with family roaming around.   When the midwife and others showed up she didn't do well, but we kind of expected that.  She gets VERY excited when people come over, so we put her outside for a bit to calm down.  But really it went like I expected or better. 

[starrlamia]

petting animals actually helps to alleviate stress! If I ever decide to have a kid, I would want my dogs there, and if they couldnt handle it Id just stick it out with the cat.

With my sister's homebirth last year we had 3 cats come in and out during her labour. At one point her one cat kept harassing one of the midwives to pet him, it was pretty comical and we all have a good laugh about it (and he was happy with getting attention) Another cat kept trying to sit in the tray of sterilized stuff when they were preparing for delivery. Again, we thought it was funny, silly guys.

[Stayathomemommy]

my dog, though i love her, creates for stress for me.  nothing she does so much i just in general would not want her around while laboring, we will just put her in her kennel when things get serious.  sometimes she barks at the front door and that would totally bother me!

[Meganlove]

I love my dog she is a mini schnauzer. She is always at my feet or next to me. When I went into labor she flipped. She wanted to be on top of me and I couldn't handle it, so my sister took her home with her. 

[summermommy2004]

Our dog and cat were left to roam during the birth. Both instinctively kept their distance when they're usually all over me. They weren't a problem at all :)