More pictures!

Here are some pictures from yesterday and today, including better quality close ups on each pup:

In labor, no puppies yet...

"For this sort of uncomfortable mess, the box just won't do! I think I'll just creep up on to mom's bed..."

BACK TO THE WHELPING BOX! I felt bad for kicking her off the bed, so I laid in the box with her for a (long) while...

Pup 1 arrives! Blue Boy!

An hour(ish) later pup 2, "Pink Girl" arrives, and in another hour comes pup 3, "White Girl"!

In another hour (are you sensing a trend?) pup 4, "Gray Girl" finally works her way out, and while we're tending to her, pup number 5, "Green Girl", is born and goes momentarily unnoticed! We weren't expecting them back to back! I guess that's what happens when one of the largest in the litter is followed by the smallest! An hour after that, number 6, "Brown Girl", is born and then we are just waiting on the last little one!

I suppose he was trying to make up for the speedy arrival of Green Girl, because the last little bugger took 2 1/2 hours to arrive. "Black Boy" was born a little traumatically, but he's doing well now. When his bag ruptured indicating his immanent birth, we were unhappy to see that it was thick and dark, dark greenish black (meconium). My main concern was getting the pup suctioned before it attempted to breath. OF course the stinker had to come breech, so I couldn't even slow his birth and suction his mouth and nose... but there was another problem. His feet were coming out - not in any sac (even with the previous puppies who's sac had ruptured, they were still encased in it). I helped guide him out and realized something else... his cord had already severed from the placenta. We rushed him to the warming area and immediately started suctioning him and were rewarded with paw movements. After we were happy with having removed a lot of gunk from his airways, rubbing began and he started breathing. At this point, Harlow still hadn't birthed the placenta (all the others were born with the placentas immediately following). In fact, we had Black Boy all pinked up and nursing before the placenta was birthed - it was separated in two, and foul looking and smelling. I'm still not quite sure what the heck happened in there... but I'm just happy that Black Boy is alive and doing well, considering. He's weaker than his siblings and is being supplemented as needed, but he's definitely a little fighter.

No pictures of his birth, unfortunately... I was a little preoccupied!

Once I can get my iPod hooked up to the computer, I even have a video of blue boy being born!

And here are the close ups of all the puppies I promised!:

BLUE BOY

PINK GIRL

WHITE GIRL

GRAY GIRL

GREEN GIRL

BROWN GIRL

BLACK BOY

And just a few random ones of Harlow and the babies...

Next Wednesday is 'holds' day! A little info...

I realise that some of you approved applicants work during the day time and may not be home to place a hold on your intended puppy. This is how I'd like to handle that situation...

I will start taking holds at promptly 11 a.m. on Wednesday, June 6th. I will contact each of you by PHONE. I will verify your phone number via e-mail. If the phone number is incorrect (or you wish for me to contact you at a different number for this process), please correct it at that time. PLEASE BE READY TO TAKE THE CALL - THIS PROCESS DOES NOT TAKE LONG considering most of you already know which puppy you would like.

IF YOU WILL NOT BE HOME ON WEDNESDAY BETWEEN 11 a.m. and 12 p.m. (it shouldn't take much longer than that), PLEASE SEND ME A LIST of which puppies you'd prefer, IN ORDER. I will simply go down the list and choose the appropriate puppy, and reserve him/her. For example, you know you won't be home so you send me this list:

Applicant: Erin Martin Place Holder: 4

1. Green Girl 2. Blue Boy 3. White Girl 4. Brown Girl 5. Pink Girl 6. Black Boy 7. Gray Girl

We'll place holders 1, 2 and 3 have chosen, and the puppies left available are:

White Girl Brown Girl Pink Girl Gray Girl

Then I would reserve WHITE GIRL in your place, because she was a higher priority on your list of what was left of the available puppies.

I hope that isn't confusing - if you have questions regarding this, please let me know. It'll be a heck of a lot simpler if you are available for the phone call though! Doing this allows me to keep going down the list of approved applicants to place their holds, still keeping with the fairness of the place holder system, and without making everyone wait around.

*****ALL DEPOSITS ARE DUE NO LATER THAN 11:59 P.M. ON WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6TH*****

Any person who has NOT paid their deposit by this time will lose their hold and their puppy will be up for grabs to the next available approved applicant on the wait list.

Please be SURE of your choice - once the deposit is made, it is NON-REFUNDABLE. This is non-negotiable. If you would like to switch your deposit from one puppy to another available puppy, that is fine (assuming there is any left - I doubt there will be), but under no circumstances will I provide a refund on a deposit.

Also, a friendly reminder: If you have not yet set up a Paypal account and figured out how to either fund it, or allow it to direct debit your checking account, please do so before the deposits are due. It usually takes 2-4 days to verify a checking account! Paypal is safe, free, and easy. It provides protection to both parties involved and provides electronic receipts of our transactions :)

They're all here (we think)!

7 pups are all here - lucky number 7 gave us quite a scare, but he's doing seemingly well now. Not going in to a whole lot of detail right now (I'm bushed!), there may be another puppy in there, but if there is we are assuming he or she is deceased... we have to wait and see. In the meantime, we're going to say that 7 is the number :)In their birth order, we have:

Pup 1, "blue boy", born at 11:09 a.m., 458 g, flashy sealed reverse brindle

Pup 2, "pink girl", born at 12:18 p.m., 424 g, flashy brindle

Pup 3, "white girl", born at 1:16 p.m., 501 g, flashy brindle

Pup 4, "gray girl", born at 2:15 p.m., 463 g, white

Pup 5, "green girl", born at 2:20 p.m., 381 g, flashy brindle

Pup 6, "brown girl", born at 3:18 p.m., 442 g, flashy brindle

Pup 7, "black boy", born at 5:30 p.m., 466 g, flashy brindle

All the brindles are very dark and beautiful. The one 'black' (sealed reverse brindle) male is the only lonely sealed pup. And I was definitely surprise that, not only did we NOT have any fawns, but that a white one smuggled its way in the mix!

And because I took these pictures before black boy was born, I don't have him included in this set. He looks similar to brown girl, though.

More pictures to come :) For those of you who already have place numbers, start thinking about a pup that you'd like and a name!

Still laboring, no pups yet!

A few shots from last night until now - and she went and brought weenie (her toy) to her box, she couldn't be without it! LOL

UPDATE 10:49 am - a little bit of bloody show! First pup couldn't be far!

UPDATE 12:34 pm - two pups so far, one male sealed, one female we think is reverse or sealed with a mahogany undertone

UPDATE 3:55 pm - 1 expected pup left to birth. The runt puppy is NOT disabled - she's just little :) All puppies have flash!

We think that tonight is the night...

Harlow has been out of sorts most of today, including a more labored breathing pattern tonight. We are thinking that tonight is the night! Stay tuned, folks!

UPDATE (4 a.m. 5/29)

A picture of mama still in first stage, bless her heart... Hoping for her sake that pushing is soon!

Prepare for boxer kisses

You have to love a boxer...

And some of just the proud mama! :)

Some good news, some bad news...

Harlow had her xray this morning, and I'm delighted to tell you that there are for sure 7 puppies - although it's possible one or two could be hiding in there somewhere as well.

The bad news is that one of the puppies is most likely deformed in some way. S/he is half the size of the other puppies and may be deceased already, or may not survive when born. OR the pup could survive its disabilities and just be a 'special' (but alive!) puppy/dog.

I was told that it could just be an odd angle, but that was only a very slim possibility and the deformity is the most likely scenario.

With that said, it looks like we should have 6 adoptable puppies on the way next week! That means 2 more spots are available to have a place held, so get those applications in!

I brought home one of the xrays, I'll try and get a good shot of it with my iPod and post it in a little bit :)