I'm the mother

I came home from work, had an hour and a half's sleep covered in three dogs then got up bleary eyed to face the rest of the day.
When I asked Chris if he had contacted the vets regarding Maddie, he replied,
"You're the mother, that's your job!"
In his way, he is correct.
I do assume the more motherly role between the two of us. When Chris or any of the animals is sick, it is me that does the caring, me that wipes the fevered brow and me that cleans up the piles of poo (or in Maddie's case no piles of poo)
The mother role, of course, is a little more complicated than just completing nursing duties with a little warmth and empathy (humm Chris seldom gets any empathy from me). I always think that it also encompasses those little thoughtful touches that makes home a little more , well, like home.
So I guess, it is those nurturing flourishes that make the difference.
The flowers in the vase in the kitchen; the cat being well fed and wormed and asleep on the spare bed, the old kilner jars on the sideboard being cleaned and filled with pulses,grains and flour and the garden borders all neat and well kept next to the cut lawn.
My own mother was not a warm motherly influence in our lives, she was too brittle and a little too bitter to be able to fulfil that kind of role. it was my grandmother who, I am sure provided us all with the ideal role model when it came to mothering.

Anyhow I must have got it from someone...as today, I slipped back into "being mom" and rang the vets to check up of old Maddie.

I caught Zoe, the senior vet partner when I rang, who gave me a brusque yet pragmatic outline of what was happening.
Maddie had passed a very small amount of poo, was still on the drip and and needed to stay at the surgery for at least another two days or so. According to the vet, she has a very narrow pelvic opening which doesn't help with colonic transit time and agreed with me ( and Nigel) that the recent hot spell might of pushed her into mild dehydration which complicated the issue.
The nurses were walking her regularly and letting her rest outside to encourage her to squat, they had realised that the old girl is fastidiously clean and would refuse to open her bowels in her kennel.
so it is another couple of days wait, and a couple of days worry......