What a day!

So we had an exciting day here today.

I went back to bed after the kids had gone to school, and Austin woke me up about 30 minutes later to tell me that Elphie was acting weird.  She was panting heavily and whining, and when I came out to check on her she was shaking.  I jumped in the shower because we suspected she was going into labor and I wanted to pick up a few things at the store first.  The book I read said that labor can last anywhere from 6 to 12 hours.  

Well I got dressed, walked down the hall, and Elphie was walking towards me... with a puppy hanging out of her, still in it's sac.  She was dragging it down the hallway.  (She's a first time Mom, I guess she was freaking out too and came looking for me).

We threw down some towels and Elphie delivered her puppies right on the living room floor.  She wasn't sure what to do with them at first, I had to tear open the first sac and tie off the cord with dental floss and cut it myself.  The other puppies Elphie did better at cleaning them up and chewing off the cord.

Here's Elphie's first baby, a little boy.  She learned fast how to clean them up good, and the puppies learned fast how to find the food source :)

 

The next two puppies were girls and Elphie handled these much better.  By now she was a pro!  Puppy 1 and Puppy 2 were born within 15 minutes of each other (starting at 9:30 am) so I was expecting puppy 3 to come out quickly.  Elphie calmed down, quit pushing, and seemed to be totally relaxed while her babies nursed.  I thought we had a liter of two.  Then 45 minutes later she started pushing again, and out pops baby number 3!  I was so surprised and pleased.  Elphie is very nurturing, she snuggles and wraps her arms around her puppies while they're nursing.

 

We got Elphie all settled in her whelping box (a lot of good that did us... the living room floor has been mopped SEVERAL times today).  I checked on her every once in awhile as I was cleaning things up and everyone was eating and snuggling nicely.  Then I looked in on her about an hour and 15 minutes later because all the puppies were crying, and there was a fourth puppy!  Elphie was busy cleaning it up and the others were crying because mealtime had been rudely interrupted.  But they had another sister!

 

Now we have three girls and one boy. When Elphie goes outside to stretch her legs and other things, they pile on top of each other to stay warm.  Elphie had to visit the vet for a while today to get a shot because we delivered four puppies but only two placentas.  Just wanted to prevent any kind of infection, but boy did they miss each other while they were separated!  The puppies cried, Elphie has never been so anxious and whiny at the vet before.  She kept pulling me towards the door.  Mama missed her babies!

The coolest part (well, one of many) was seeing the kids faces when they got home from school.  Grace was first because she has half day Kindergarten.  She didn't react at first, just stared and stared at Elphie until she processed what she was looking at.  Then she got super excited!

They all couldn't wait for their turn to hold one of the puppies.

 

 

Here's Elphie with all four kiddos bedding down for the night.  Like any new Mom, I'll be getting up several times to make sure she hasn't rolled over on one of them and that everyone is still ok.  One of my friends today asked me, "how are your grandpuppies?"  It sure does feel like they're part of the family, and I feel a huge responsibility.  I love them already, and it's going to be hard to let them go in six weeks.  This has been an AMAZING experience, I got to witness the miracle of life and literally hold it in my hands.

 

 

We're happy to have visitors, just give me a call first and make sure I'm not outside or at the store.