Child Prep

My new secret ambition is to be like the guy on Marley and Me who writes columns on nothing but the behaviors of his dog. If only I had become a Journalist (Columnist?) instead of a Medical Laboratory Scientist...

Alas, I think I will stick to my day job. It seems to be working for me. 

Anyway, onto the point of my post. One of the tech's that I worked with who is now on maternity leave repeatedly said how much preparation her dog had given her for her soon to be child. She would say things like "he gets into the trash, eats onion, then we have to take him to the vet when he is violently ill" and "he poops and pukes all over but I still can't help but love him".  

I have come to appreciate those sentiments so much more after this past weekend. Jimmer got horrible gastroenteritis - sparing you all the details, that means that he had it coming out of both ends and there was a lot of blood involved. We took him to the vet and after a slew of tests including stool cytology, parvovirus, and blood chemistries (we had to stop ourselves from asking the vet if we could have the leftovers to run other tests of our choosing, haha, yes, we are nerds), we got our diagnosis. She gave him a subcutaneous pack including water for rehydration and meds to lower his fever and cure his nausea. $300 later and a large tumor-like hump on the side of Jimmer's little body, we were on our way home. By that night he was showing signs of improving and was back to his normal happy self within a couple days. 

Through this experience, I came to realize how much I really love having our little Jimmer. Even though we have only had him for a couple months, he is an integral part of our lives and I don't know what we would do if something happened to him. I far prefer coming home to Jimmer than an empty house when Hunter is at work. His little personality is soooo fun! He has us wrapped around his little puppy finger, but don't tell him that, I'm not sure how much more attitude he could handle. 

We love our little Jimmer so very much. I never would have thought such a bond would have formed in so short a time. I can only imagine how much deeper that will be when the time comes for us to have a baby. When that time does come, we will be all the more prepared compliments of our puppy.