Just a quick update.

Here are three pictures I took this afternoon. The puppies are starting to really move about and the little red girl escaped from the box last night, I found her at the end of my bed wrapped in a fleece, cozy and warm. Now I have to figure out a barrier to keep them all from escaping! Tomorrow they'll be three weeks old, where does the time go.

Monday Update.

It's a bit blurry, but here is part of the pile of puppies taken a few moments ago. They are all getting bigger and bigger, and yesterday they began to play a bit. One of them tried to bite another on the back, and did the head shake, but it was all in slow motion, so quite amusing to watch. It's hard to believe they are 2 1/2 weeks old already.
Mom found this frog while she was out in the rose garden doing some weeding. It so closely matches the wood chips in color, it's really incredible. I think we'll have lots of frogs this year as we've had almost 20 inches of rain so far, well above our yearly average.
The bird is a green heron, according to Brian. He's perched on the edge of the pool out back which is now a Koi pond. It's actually the third type of heron we've had out back. First to appear last year was a night heron (we think he was a young one) and we have a great blue heron who routinely visits. So far they have left the Koi and gold fish alone, preferring to focus on the mosquito fish (and there are hundreds of those).

A Change of Pace.

I decided to post pics of these roses since they are so pretty right now. We have close to 40 rosebushes here, and Mom spends a lot of time each year working on them. The red one is Veteran's Honor and the bud is just about perfect. Next is Diana, Princess of Wales, also a very pretty bud. The third is California Dreamin, still in its tub as I just got it for Mom for her birthday on Thursday. It was Sunset magazine's rose to buy for '08. Now to figure out where to put it!
On a puppy note, all is well, they are getting cuter each day. I'll post more pics later.

Two Weeks Old Today.

Two weeks old today, how can that be!
Everyone but one has his/her eyes open, the bigger red girl and the biggest boy (r/w) had their open yesterday, and almost all the rest today.
Everyone but the little r/w girl has doubled in birth weight, and she's getting close.
Next thing to watch for, teeth and getting up on all fours.

Mama Decker

I took this pic last night, 11 days old.
Decker's got the feeding part down, but she still isn't into cleaning up afterward!
Hmmm
Three of them weigh over a pound now, little chubbies.

Sad news

We lost the little brindle girl today. She started to fade on Saturday, and left us today. I worried about her when she was born since she only weighed 3 5/8 ounces, but she seemed to be hanging in there and gaining along with everyone else.
It's always hard to see them go, especially as I bottle fed her every day.
On a happier note, the others are all doing well, one of the red and white boys is just over a pound now and another is just under. The biggest brindle boy is also just under a pound.
Eyes and ears should open soon.

Pictures at one week.

Here are some pictures I took today. All are doing well. You can see the little girl in the middle of the pile of all the puppies.

Finally a moment!

I finally have a moment to post some new pictures. First is a picture of Decker, feeding her puppies very early Monday morning, (4 am to be exact). This is the first time she fed them in her box, and the most she fed at one time. She still looks a bit uncomfortable (more on that later) but I was thrilled she was finally taking an interest. Later during the day I took one of one of the red puppies snuggled up to Decker, they like to rest by her head after they've eaten. Monday afternoon we loaded Decker and the puppies up in the van and headed back down to the vet's in Woodland Hills. I was worried about her as she was having very strong contractions each time the puppies nursed, and this was causing her to not enjoy nursing them. I've never seen such strong contractions post c-section and she was behaving as if she was still in labor. One of the docs did a quick ultrasound and then gave her a shot of oxytocin and some calcium, both of which helped her almost immediately. Once we got home she was much more relaxed as she nursed, and her fretfulness had stopped as well. The next picture is of the tiny brindle girl, who weighed 3 5/8 ounces at birth, and one of her brindle brothers, who is almost twice her size. She now weighs 4 5/8 ounces which is great, a 27% increase in weight in 4 days. The next picture I just took, one of the red boys, showing his casual side, followed by a group shot of some of them. I'm still doing the clean up duty, but with Decker doing the lion's share of the feeding it is easier. I'm still hoping she'll decide to help with everything but we'll see.

A pile of puppies!

Here they are!

They're here!

Decker delivered 9 (nine) puppies today via c-section at about 11am. 6 boys and 3 girls. (5 reds, 4 brindles). She's doing well, but hasn't begun to bond yet, which isn't unusual after a section.
She's happy to feed them if I sit with her and put them on, but other than that, she's not yet interested.
8 of them weigh between 6 and 8 ounces, and the brindle girl weighs only 3 5/8 ounces. She's the smallest puppy I've ever had, so we'll see how she fares. So far, she's a fighter.
I'll post pics later, as I have just a few minutes til I go and sit with her again.

The Waiting Game

Here's a pic of Decker that I took in the waiting room at Warner Center. We headed down to Woodland Hills for another progesterone test and a quick ultrasound today because Decker was a bit off this morning and I was uneasy.
All is well, prog. says she's not quite ready, and the ultrasound shows good, strong heartbeats.
While we were there 9 mastiffs and 10 Rhodesian Ridgebacks were born, and another large dog was expected later!

And the winner is.....

Anyone who guessed 8! 8 puppies seen on the xray, though there was a small debate as to whether or not there is a 9th!
Dr. Jackson was a bit worried that she was panting, ( a sign of impending labor, but I think it was more that she was in a stressful environment, the vet's office) so she did a progesterone test (the prog. level drops as delivery nears, ) and also did a quick ultrasound to check for heartbeats. Heartbeats were good, and her prog. came back at 4.5, which means we are good to go. They will all be surprised if she makes it past Thursday and I'm supposed to call them on Thursday if she hasn't done anything productive.
Several days earlier than I was expecting, so we'll see what happens in the next couple of days.
I have a couple of supplies I have to go and get at the drugstore downtown, and then we are good to go. Her temp hasn't dropped yet, so we are limbo at this point.
I was going to take a picture of the xray, but it wasn't clear enough to really see.
More later when I know more.

8 weeks and counting.

Here's the weekly update picture of Decker, though she wasn't in her usual spot at the water bowl. She's gained another 1 1/2 inches and I started monitoring her temperature this morning.
Tuesday morning we'll head down to Woodland Hills for her x-ray. The waiting begins in earnest!

Dog Show Morning

Mom and I, plus RJ, Meg and Mr. Darcy, left this morning at 4;55 am to head to the Kern Co. KC show in Bakersfield. We picked up Amy and Oliver in Ventura and arrived just after 7 am. Oliver was entered in Rally Adv and Rally Exc. as well as Open obed.
He double Q'd in Rally, but didn't Q in obed. Mr. Darcy was Best Opp and RJ got a major reserve. Nothing for Meg today.
It was freezing when we got there but finally warmed up a bit when I was done showing.
We got home about 3:30 and Darcy was happy because he got to meet about 1o new people who thought he was the cutest, most handsome Corgi they'd ever met!
Decker was glad to see us when we got home. She's doing well, I'll start taking temps tomorrow, and take another tummy pic. I made an appt. to have an xray for a puppy count done on Tuesday morning.