A whelping box, what's this for???
Check out the puppy spines! I wonder, how BIG is a "boatload"???
Thursday July 21 (Day 56): I went for an xray yesterday to see how many puppies I'm carrying. My Dr. said "a boatload" - well, that's no surprise to me since I've definitely ballooned (oops, I mean "blossomed") in the last week. :-) My Dr. also said that she's seldom seen a bitch come in just a few days from whelping who's as fit as I am - guess those early morning walks paid off. Wonder when I can go to the park and RUN again?!?! But the best place to be right now is stretched out on my side trying to move the babies back to where they need to be to be born. Luckily Mom continues to feed me four meals a day - *that's* the good part!! I've checked out the whelping box a couple of times now and rummaged around in the newspaper - looks like a fine place for my babies!
Snicker, Sunday July 10, 2005 - Day 45
Snicker, Sunday, July 17,2005 - Day 52
Snicker, Thursday July 14, 2005 - Day 49
July 17, 2005: I'm getting a little tired of this pregnancy thing - it's been in the 90's all week, too hot to play outside and even too hot for my morning walk. I've found that the BEST place to be is stretched out on the ceramic tile floor in the entry way. That way I'm cool AND I can make sure no one sneaks in the house without me knowing about it. Mom keeps giving me my stuffed Kong in the "whelping box" - not sure *why*, but it seems to make her happy when I'm in there! And, what's a PuppyCam???
July 10,2005: I went to an agility trial this weekend, but I could only watch. And, I had to come home early each day to have lunch. The temperatures are in the mid 90's, way too hot to be pregnant. It's lucky my whelping box is air-conditioned.
Snicker, Sunday, July 3, 2005 - 38 Days
July 1, 2005: Names for my puppies!!! They tell me that they've decided on a "theme" for my litter. The theme will be song titles from the 1960's. All of my pups will have AKC registered names that start with Flashback (or Flashback's) with a song title to follow. My puppies' new owners will get to choose the name they'd like to use. I've got a couple of suggestions - how about....Flashback's Light My Fire (call name Coal or Ember) or Flashback's Break the Spell (call name Magic) or Flashback's Lady Madonna (call name Lady)......should we have a contest? I'm SURE I'd win!!!!
June 30, 2005: (35 days) - I'm beginning to "thicken" through my mid section just a little which is most obvious when I'm lying down. My appetite is beginning to increase - normally I'm not a counter surfer, but ANY food that someone leaves on the counter is starting to look awfully tempting! Mom's increasing my food and as I get bigger I'll get to eat THREE times a day - how cool is THAT???
Snicker, Sunday, June 26, 2005 - 31 Days
June 23, 2005: I went to see Cindy Hickey (www.suprememotion.com) today to make sure that I'm staying in good condition throughout this ordeal - oops, I mean pregnancy! Cindy checked my gait and topline to make sure that I'm not compensating for my changing shape by tensing muscles, etc. since that would put extra stress on my tendons, ligaments and joints. Mom also takes me to a veterinary chiropractor routinely every 6-8 weeks - she says that's important for performance dogs. I don't know, but Cindy gave me a wonderful massage today & I felt A LOT better when I left. It's 97 degrees outside today, so I've spent most of the day inside lying on the air conditioning vent!
Snicker, Sunday, June 19, 2005 - 24 Days
June 17, 2005: I was sort of quiet today and didn't eat my breakfast with my usual gusto, so Mom decided she'd take me in for my ultrasound today. I guess she was worried that I was sick instead of pregnant! Guess what??? I'm definitely pregnant (which I could have told Mom if she'd just asked….)!!! The puppies' official due date is July 25.
June 13, 2005: Morning sickness seems to be settling in. After my walk this a.m., but before breakfast, I vomited some yellow bile. I was truly surprised by that whole process. Looks like I will get some saltine crackers today and I will probably get a couple when I get up in the morning. Just as with people, if I can keep a small amount in my stomach, I'm less likely to feel sick.
June 8, 2005: Snicker here, I'm still being leash walked for a mile or two every morning. Since I’ve been in heat, I've been leash walked every day to keep myself in good shape. Of course, I'd MUCH rather be going to the dog park with Meg & Kona where I would have the run of a 34 acre fenced field. I seem to be a little slower this week….either I'm bored with the leash walking or I'm pregnant!!!
June 4, 2005: Sutures came out today – I'm completely healed. Now it’s just a matter of waiting to see if the breeding took. Why does EVERY DAY seem 96 hours long??? I will have an ultrasound at 25 days – June 20. I could ultrasound at 21 days, but at 25+, we should be able to see actual heartbeats!
May 27, 2005: I'm feeling much better today – still a little slow, not quite as quick to run as usual, but I'm obviously feeling better.
May 26, 2005: We arrive at Inver Grove Heights Animal Hospital at 7:40 a.m. I'm sedated at 8:00. Mom waits with me for 10 minutes or so to let the sedation start to work. They take me to surgery at about 8:20 and tell Mom I'll be out in an hour. Sure enough – at 9:15 Mom and I are walking out the door of the Clinic, hopefully with a litter due around 7/24!! The rest of the day I laid around quietly – I’m sore from the incision as well as a little groggy from the sedation/anesthetic.
May 11 – May 23, 2005: I'm in season!!! The repro vet says we should do progesterone testing to time the breeding. So we test on 5/16/05 (day 6) = .4, 5/18/05 (day 8) = 1.8, 5/20/05 (day 10) = 2.8, 5/21/05 (day 11) = 3.1, and 5/23/05 (day 13) = 10.2. Vet says I probably ovulated 5/22 or 5/23. With a frozen AI, we need to go 4 days from then, so we’ll breed on 5/26 (day 16).
