Lets start at the beginning...

I learned that I was pregnant back in January 2009, just after New Years.  And, as I am sure is the case with most expectant couples, my husband and I exchanged frequent expressions of sheer joy, fear, and "oh dear god, what are we going to do"-- about equally.

After the first few months and hearing a mini-heart beat every couple weeks at the Doctor's office, I started to gain a bit of confidence by relying on three factors that would enable me to "know what to do."  First, my highly skilled, incredibly capable Italian mother.  She practically speaks infant, and excels at getting them to burp.  Growing up, all her friends and neighbors would call her when they were having infant troubles. She was the baby guru.  Clearly, this had to be genetically passed down to the next generation, right?  

Second, my oodles of babysitting experience.  Every weekend night, every weekend, for years.  Years.  In addition to having an Italian mother, I also had a really, really, painfully early curfew and there was only one TV in the house with basic cable.  Oh, and one phone line, no call waiting.  No cell phones.  No email.  (Yes, we lived in NY, not Mars).  The families I babysat for-- THEY had HBO.  

And, third, I already had two (fur) babies, one of them being a Puggle, and I felt confident in my first two trimesters that there was nothing that a baby could throw at me that the Puggle hadn't topped.  "Oh the Joys of Puggle Puppyhood" will be the title of my third book.

So I rested in the belief that the puppyhood was pretty good readying material for me and Brian, but what about readying them?  

I still contend that my little Rat Terrier sensed the biologic change that came with Pregnancy either before or as I learned that I was expecting, and I will contend that both pups felt the need to remain by my side, day and night.

By around month 5, when I was proclaiming to anyone that listened pregnancy would be a whole lot better if it wasn't 40+ weeks long (and I still had plenty of weeks to go), my husband and I hunkered down on getting the pups fully prepared for baby.  They might have known he was coming, but I did not think they were ready. We needed to get them ready.  For those reading this and thinking that it must be such a daunting task-- I assure you-- it is NOTHING compared to car seat and stroller selection.  

We started shifting the dogs' food schedule to less hectic times of the day, knowing that it would only become worse in a few months.  We separated the dogs into a room without us for short periods of time, knowing that we needed to make sure they were comfortable when not by our side full-time, as there were going to be instances where we couldn't have them under foot.  This has become increasingly important now that our child is a year old.  We didn't want the dogs to feel as if they were being punished- we just wanted them to think it would be fun to hang out in their own room for a little bit.  

We also were more vigilant about having them walk politely on a leash, and less tolerant of in-house barking outbursts.  Did I mention that one of our dogs is a Rat Terrier?  They bark.  A lot.  

And, this was as good a time as any for a skills and command brush up.  So, we did more exercises, rewarding the dogs for good behavior.  They LOVED it.  And gained a pound each.  It was there version of "baby weight." 

I also sought the sage advice from dog professionals I know and trust, asking their opinions and perspectives on how to manage.  

Some women spend hours, weeks, even months mapping out their ideal birth plan and every possible contingency.  Not me.  I spent my time mapping out "introduction plan."  How was I going to introduce the baby to Bruschi and Kodi?  I tossed, turned, pondered and ultimately, planned.  I stopped short of articulating my plan in Powerpoint form, although in hindsight, that would have been one for the scrapbooks! I am actually really excited about blogging on just that, because in looking back and watching the intro video of our family all together for the first time is just way, way cool.  

I mentioned that believing in those three factors (Italian mom, babysitting and furbabies) kept my hopes high that motherhood would be fine.... however, my anxiety was off-the-charts for every other aspect of pregnancy.  I don't like to use self-depricating jargon, but I feel "basket case" is a fair description of me.   My dogs helped bring me back within normal parameters.  Waking up at 3 am and not being able to fall back to sleep isn't so bad when you've got four paws accompanying you to the kitchen.  Not being able to see your feet isn't so bad when you've got a cute little snout resting on your lap watching TV.        

So that's how things got started.  Forty weeks, one day, twelve hours and 47 minutes of pregnancy was as much about baby as it was about dogs.

And, now that our child is 13 months, I think that the title of my fourth book will be "All that I needed to know about parenting I learned in puppy class."