Now, I am a midwife, I have been a midwife for approx 19yrs. I have gained amazing amounts of insight into being a new parent and I have given countless new mums advice on their newborns, dealt with their anxieties and answered their endless questions no matter how trivial they may seem to me, in a professional manner which gives confidence to new parents and makes sure that they in no way feel that I think their enquiry is trivial. I was a midwife when I became a mum and so I approached new baby motherhood in the same way as I did being a midwife. In other words I was confident most of the time and felt like I knew what I was doing.
Yet being a new mum to a puppy has introduced me to a new world of anxieties, tiredness and obsessions with puppy's bodily functions which has lead me to searching the internet and telephoning the vet search for reassurance that everything is okay. In other words I have gained amazing insight into what it is like to be a 'new mum'.
Bart is cute and gorgeous. We have had him now for two weeks. For the first few nights I put him in our bedroom.
Night Time Sleeping
Like any new mum, I don't do well with frequent disturbances of sleep. I tried to just put him in his little basket next to the bed. He didn't stay there, he wandered and cried in the dark when he got lost around the bedroom. So I tried the bean bag next to the bed, every time he moved I heard him and put him back down to sleep I also 'toileted' him 3hrly during the night. Going out into the Aussie darkness can be scary! There are strange noises and very large ants wondering around and I kept forgetting to put on my shoes which meant as he wandered off I was worried I would come across a spider or two. Night three I thought I cracked it, he slept from midnight to 6am and he did it for the following night, I was laughing! I was also patting myself on the back and boasting to another puppy owner who was getting no sleep how we had it sorted (just like mums at coffee groups do). I was very soon knocked back as the following night I was rudely awakened every 2hrs, Bart had diarrhoea. We had created a 'crate' out of two large packing boxes (we have plenty). This was due to research on the internet that recommended an actual dog crate for their own sense of space but rather than shutting him away I fashioned these two boxes together. So in the night when he wants to wee or poo he wakes up and cries to go out because dogs hate to soil their 'beds'.
I then became obsessed with his bowel functions, every time the girls took him out side during the day I found I was asking, "did he wee? Did he poo? What was his poo like?" Much like all new parents who find themselves discussing how many dirty nappies there have been during the day, I began to realise I was now doing the same thing.
Diarrhoea
Following that night of diarrhoea, I was very anxious about Bart's health, he has had one set of injections so I messaged hubby at work to see what he thought. He was obviously busy because he didn't get back to me immediately and of course I was so wrapped up in my anxiety I was looking for an immediate response and so I telephoned the vet. This is much like some of the phone calls I used o receive as a midwife. Bart was happy, bright and just as bouncy with no vomiting and my 'sensible' head said he is fine. Yet my 'anxious' head kept creeping in. The vet receptionist was slightly condescending and actually seemed to like delivering her lecture.
New puppies, when they go to a new home and have a change in diet often suffer diarrhoea. I needed to feed him very bland diet of chicken and if it didn't sort itself out in 24-48hrs then I could take him in to be checked over.
Well, actually it lasted 72hrs. I had 4 nights of 2hrly disturbance by the end of the weekend I felt like I was ready to hit my knees! It wasn't just a matter of getting up taking him out to do his business but because obviously his tummy was a bit sore he wasn't settling down again straight away and needed a tummy rub before he would fall asleep. One of the nights by 4.30 am I was so anxious, I actually put him in the bed with us ( much like most new breastfeeding mums do!).
Last night I actually found I was dreading night time, as I turned out the lights this feeling of depression came over me. How much sleep would I get?
Last night was a good night!
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