I Don't Know Nothin' 'Bout Birthin' No Puppies

A few weeks ago it came to my attention that our sweet dog, Daisy, was looking a little, um, bloated. It wasn't long before I was convinced that she was pregnant. We got her from an animal shelter and were under the impression that she was fixed, because our cocker spaniel, Abby, had that done at the shelter before we got her. Anyway, those of you who read my blog know that Daisy is quite the escape artist and on top of that we've had dogs IN our house and yard. I guess it was inevitable.

Well, I went into denial for quite a while. Besides, I was focused on another baby on the way. Josh was also in denial.  Well, I finally had to face the music. Josh and I began googling what this experience would hold and I'll be honest. I was scared. I came across words like placenta, mastitis, and postpartum discharge. I wanted to cry. Despite giving birth to 3 children, I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin babies or puppies. I know some women prefer the all natural do it yourself kind of childbirth experience. I prefered to be taken to the hospital as soon as braxton-hicks kicked in, be hooked up to the drugs and be handed a completely clean, well swaddled baby. That's just me.

So, all of this talk of birthing freaked me out. I had no idea what to expect. I was anticipating hours of labor, a big mess and me up to my elbows in puppy placenta. Yeah, that grossed me out too.  We had no idea when to expect this all to occur. I was planning a trip to the vet next week after VBS ended, as I had read that they would do an x-ray to see how many puppies were in there and give me a due date. Craziness. I started wondering if Hobby Lobby had an ultrasound picture frame for puppies?

I didn't get to experience my first dog ultrasound. Friday night I was recovering from VBS. I stayed up way too late. It was one of those nights I was desperate to just sit and stare at the wall in peace and quiet for  a few hours. About 2:00 I headed to bed. First, I stopped to check on the girls. When I opened the door I heard a whining sound. Both girls were fast asleep. I remembered Josh had told me that Daisy had gone into the closet when the girls went to bed. I should've known. I opened the closet door and Daisy was sitting there. I looked closer and found the source of the whining. Right under Daisy was a little furball that looked so much like her I almost didn't see it. It was so amazing y'all! Then, panic set in. I had read that Daisy could go hours between each puppy and I was pretty sure she would have more than one. I ran to our bedroom and yelled "JOSH! WE'RE HAVING PUPPIES!!" It was pretty exciting. Not once with my babies did I get to wake him up in the middle of the night to head to the hospital.

He tried to wake up and we headed to the closet. Daisy had laid down and I could see another puppy and what I thought was one of the kid's stuffed giraffes. (I'm so clueless). It wasn't a giraffe, it was another puppy! There were SEVEN altogether! She had had them all and we didn't even know it. She just went into that closet, popped out seven puppies and never even made a sound. It's probably good we're not planning to have any more babies. I could just hear Josh the next time I told him I needed a hospital and drugs. "Well, Daisy just went in the closet and she was fine!"

                                   Here are the newest members of  our family (for a few weeks :)

I was a little concerned when we realized Daisy was in the motherly way because the stuff I read said she would probably adopt a stuffed animal to practice on. I had tried to give her one and she would push it away. I didn't think this would go well. But the night the puppies got here this was in with the crew:

(Yes, this dog has my crazy eyes. Don't they say that dogs and their owners start looking alike??)

The next morning we had this visitor at our door....

We are having a little bit of baby daddy drama and are not sure who he is. This guy lives across the street and everytime Daisy escapes she heads for his driveway. My money is on him. It seems she called to give him the news. :)

I'm just so proud of Daisy. She has blown me away with her mothering instinct. She keeps those puppies so clean it has blown my mind. If we pick one up she gently paws it back to her. And when Kate decided to sneak off with one yesterday she didn't get mean. She just followed Kate until I was made aware of the situation. I feel so bad for her though. Those puppies never stop eating. I've nursed babies and I know the feeling. And that was just one at a time. And I could watch TV.

The fact that she chose the girl's closet has proven a little problematic. All of the kids are in Eli's room for now because we cannot leave Kate with the puppies. She tried to give one a bath in the water bowl. It's like I always need to up the difficulty level in life. Having an un-potty trained 2 year old isn't enough. Let's throw in 7 puppies!

Speaking of those 7 puppies, here they are with their very special names

This is Brownie

I said I was going to name one of the puppies after my VBS helper, Mrs. Ida. Problem is, we don't know if this is a boy or girl. So, for now, it's Ida Know. :)

This is Little Daisy. Unless it's a boy. Then it will be LD. Looks so much like Daisy!

Here we have Monkey. Do you need an explanation??? :)

Sarah named this one Mr. Brown

Eli named this one Softie

And I named this one Pokey. Doesn't he look just like the Pokey Little Puppy??

So, we survived getting the puppies here. Thankfully Daisy knew exactly what she was doing! Now.....to survive the next 6 weeks!!!!!