Thank you for all of your T&Ps! DH took Norton to the vet today and he is not on his death bed (yet). His kidneys are not functioning as well as they should (which we already knew), and they've started him on a second medication to make his urea bind to his poo rather than his urine, which will take some of the stress off of his kidneys.
With that and a reduced protein diet, we should have him for another year or more. It is a relief that we won't have to put him down right away, and DH also found out that our vet offers classes to help us through putting him down when the time comes.
For now we are just going to be grateful for the time we have left with him and try to make it the best we can for him (trips to the beach, VT to see my parents - his favorite place to be, and anywhere fenced in since he loves to run around off his leash).
On another positive note, we booked our birthing classes today! We start on Sunday (the most convenient schedule for us)...this whole baby thing just keeps getting more and more real!
Re: Doggie Update
I'm so glad the report from the vet was better than expected and that you will have another year to make memories with Norton!
Awww I'm so happy to hear that Norton is doing okay for now! And Baby Juangela will get to meet him! :-) I've never heard of pet grief classes - who is your vet? I am fairly positive I will need them when the time comes (hopefully in the far distant future!)
SO EXCITING about your baby classes! How many weeks is it? Does it include the whole hospital/maternity ward tour? (Where are you delivering, by the way?) Let us know how Juan handles it... I think as girls we take for granted the stuff we know about the, er, more unpleasant parts of the reproductive process... :-P
OH and when do you find out the baby's sex? It's gotta be coming up, right?
I am so glad to hear that Norton is doing better than originally thought! Continued T&Ps for him, you, and DH. I'm sure you'll be able to make his time left full of fun and great memories!
And yay for the classes, that's so exciting!
We go to Takoma Park Animal Clinic, they are super great (and in such a crunchy granola hippie area, I'm sure that is why they have resources like that
). Norton had only been on the new meds for like 12 hours by the time we went for our walk this morning and he was feeling SO much better...little spunky ball of energy took off down the stairs and ran to his favorite pee spot, taking the leash with him (because fortunately I dropped it rather than falling down the stairs!). So he still has some life in him...pain in the butt, freaking DH and I out this weekend!
Our baby classes are separate from the hospital because I wanted to take classes in the Bradley Method, so we are going to a certified instructor's home in Clinton, MD. It is a husband-coached birthing method, so Juan will have to be very involved. He is ready for it (I think) but the class is VERY thorough - 12 weeks long (although our instructor is condensing it into 6 classes since it is summer and she wants to accommodate vacation schedules) - and it focuses on natural childbirth and learning your body's cues...so we'll see how he'll handle it. Up until now, it hasn't really felt real to him, so hopefully this will make it more real!
We find out the sex on June 16th...and I also get to have the "how flexible are you going to be when I'm laboring" talk with my OB that day...so we'll see how that goes! Oh, and I'm delivering at Sibley (unless the OB tells me I have to be flat on my back in bed for the entirety of my labor attached to machines. Then I'll be seeking alternative care!)
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Glad to hear your doggie will be around for a while and hopefully will remain pain free.
Congrats on the birthing classes! I think it's a great thing to do- people seem to handle stress better when they are mentally prepared and you are definitely preparing yourself well! And I think it's really neat that Juan will be leading the charge on helping you with the birth!
I was born at Sibley! My mom loved it, she had all four of us there. She says it's the only hospital she loves because she never went without coming home with a baby :-)
That sounds awesome, I'd be really interested in hearing how the class goes! It's still a few years away for us (knock on wood) but I really really really want to go all natural. I'm already researching OB offices that also have midwives. Let me know how your talk with your OB goes, too. I don't have an objection to having a traditional Western doctor, but I've heard some horror stories about how they try to speed up labor, etc. which is definitely NOT cool.