Not long after Jade Ambrose, 23, discovered she was pregnant, she and her partner decided to adopt a dog – Lola.
Lola was still fairly young when she was adopted, allowing Ambrose to develop a closer bond to her more quickly. For instance, as Ambrose’s pregnancy progressed and her son, Oliver, began to kick, Lola would get close to the bump and lick the spot where Oliver had kicked.
13 weeks later, when Ambrose was 33 weeks pregnant, she woke up in the middle of the night to Lola’s insistent barking.
“At first we didn't realize what was going on when Lola woke us and thought she must have been barking at something outside,” Ambrose recalled, “but then we realized she was barking at me. It was only when I got up to use the loo that I realized I was losing blood.”
Ambrose’s partner immediately took her to the hospital where doctors worked desperately to save Oliver’s life.
Thankfully, the doctors were successful and Oliver was born, on time, eight weeks later.
Ambrose was told, however, that if she’d arrived at the hospital any later than she had that fateful day, Oliver would have been born premature and faced “all sorts of complications, and certainly with Oliver beginning his life in an incubator.”
To this day, Ambrose still doesn’t know how Lola realized she was having a miscarriage. “…whether Lola detected a problem with the heartbeat or it was just doggy intuition - but whatever it was, we will be eternally grateful to her,” she said.
More recently, Ambrose entered Lola in a competition at their local pet store for “Pet Hero” – and Lola won.
“I am so delighted that Lola has won, she thoroughly deserves it… We will treat her to something special with her winnings,” Ambrose promised.
As time passes, she has high hopes that Oliver and Lola will form a strong friendship, much like the bond Lola had with Oliver when he was still in his mother’s womb.
“I can see a future where they will have lots of fun-packed days together, with them playing together in the garden,” Ambrose described. “We will let Oliver know what Lola did for him, because Lola is amazing.”
