Oliver and Brain Damage

Oliver in all his glory...

As some of you know, Nat and I are really fond of our cats. We have a lot of routinized games we play with each of them (Maize loves hide-n-seek and magic carpet ride, Oliver does lion tricks with his sparkley cat dancer and a tube), Oliver gets a chair pulled up to the table for him at dinner (he likes to watch us eat), Maize has a special box at the foot of the bed and Oliver is usually in the bed, I often find him under the covers between us with his head on the pillow in the morning.

Though we appreciate Maize for her bravery and reckless cat-ness, for cuddles and laughs Oliver is sort of the star of the cat show around here. We adopted him at about 4 weeks from an over-run foster home and because he was so small he bonded pretty hard with us...especially with me. He would curl up by my head and try to suck on my ear, which was pretty crazy, but eventually he settled on my hand. He'll still grab my hand with his paws and try to suck sometimes. Let's just say he's a bit "needy." He's also very, very sweet and "lovey" (as we say around here.)

Yet, as a pregnant person, I'm supposed to be very wary of my cats as all cats are apparently suspect as carriers of toxoplasmosis, a crazy little parasite that can cause brain damage for fetuses. But, if the mother has been exposed before, there is pretty much no chance that she'd contract and pass the parasite to her baby. Cleaning the litter box is out (yay!), but so is (supposedly), excessive cat cuddling, sleeping, and cleaning. I've pretty much ignored the last three rules, while also asking my doctor for an immunity test. I've been around cats and cat poop all my life, and toxoplasmosis is pretty common, especially in barn and outdoor cats who like to catch little fuzzy things and leave their heads on doorsteps, a common population for me. And yet, I'm definitely a bit nervous. Though the risk of transmission seems pretty low, I still feel like I'm choosing my current babies over my almost baby. I've known people who've locked their cats out of rooms to keep them away, or kept them inside so they won't pick up anything. I'm being pretty laid back about it, besides taking the excuse to make Nat clean the litter (again, yay!)

But I foresee this cats vs. baby thing as an ongoing issue. There's not much likelihood Oliver and the baby will gracefully share the same place in the family bed. Nor do I want an infant covered in excess fluff and fuzz, as it is sure to be if the cats are allowed in and around anything baby. It'll have to work somehow, let's just hope there's no damage!