The Maternal Instinct--The Story Begins...

In the fall of 2007, two things happened to me. I became pregnant and I took in a stray cat. The events that happened led me to wonder if the mothering instinct really took over or was I just a crazy cat lady?

It was a cool fall morning. I opened up my back curtains on the arcadia door and saw the stray cat asleep on our back porch. This was nothing unusual. She began occupying our yard a few weeks prior. I believed that she picked our house because we were one of the only houses on our street without a dog. We already had an indoor cat. He was not happy about the new visitor and hissed obnoxiously whenever she got too close to the house. I was not interested in having another cat. I was careful not to feed this outdoor feline. I was fine with her having a safe place to sleep but hoped that she would eventually just move on from our house.

Something about this morning was different. As I opened the curtains, she opened her sleepy eyes and looked at me. She had looked at me many times before. She was quite friendly for a stray. She was small in size and mostly gray in color. She had pretty markings and a sweet little face. She let me pet her and would actually run to be near my boys when they played in the back yard. Yes, she had looked at me many times before but today, when those deep green eyes locked with mine, I suddenly felt the urge to take care of her and protect her.

Maybe she did not choose our house because it was dog-free, maybe it was because she knew that I could help her. I couldn’t get over the overwhelming feeling that I needed to take care of her and protect her. Starting that day, I began to set out the expensive food that we buy for our cat, supply her with fresh water, and arrange soft towels for a comfy little bed. My husband thought I was crazy. “What has gotten into you? I thought you were waiting for her to move on?” I couldn’t explain it. The thought of this poor little kitten all alone with no one to love it or take care of it, made me nauseous. I didn’t yet know that there was another reason for the nausea; I would soon find out that I was pregnant.

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