Ok, so this article explains why – 9 months pregnant – I was worried that I’d never love Maria as much as I loved my pup, Cy. And why, even when Ri was born, I sometimes felt a closer connection to Cy than to my newborn. Those first few months, all Ri did was cry and feed and poop. But then there was Cy who stared at me with sweet eyes, licked me, and jumped up and down every time I came near him.
I figured my feelings were all screwed because of hormones but this article confirms that dogs bring on the same positive, loving responses that children do. And I’m sure if the study would have went deeper, it may have found that your pup actually elicits more positive reaction from you when your child is a crying newborn and you are a first time mom…!
Now, I did eventually grow to wholeheartedly love and adore sweet Ri after I settled into the fact of being a mom to a human baby – not a canine one. She eventually looked up at me with adoring eyes and goo’d at me and I was forever gone – she had my heart over any four-legged creature (and yes, Mario, too).
Now, if I look at nine-year-old Ri or seven-year-old Mario and then at Rocco, I can confidently state that I am a thousand times more in love and dedicated to my human babies.
But I still do get a tingle in my soul when I walk in the house and Rocco comes rushing towards me with tail a waggin’ and tongue a lickin’. Especially when those human babes are fighting and screaming and carrying on like animals.