Working the Midnight Shift

Starting this evening we are beginning to cover the late night hours to keep an eye on Lilly and she gets closer to the big day (night). I usually take the eight to two shift, Ann works the two to eight. Things can happen very quickly once they get going. Not all of the girls needs the help. Abba Zabba and The Cinnamon Bear both prefferred whelping alone.  It is currrently one-thirty A.M. on Thursday, so it can happen at any time, but tomorrow night through Saturday is the due date and it is never very far off the day. Things usually start when the night gets dark and continues until day break. 

We accomodate the mothers as best we can but are not very far away at any point in the process. For the most part the girls like having us help out. Ann gives the babies a tug if it is needed and I keep them calm and quiet. If there's a problem I usually step in. But my role has always been support. I get the coffee, make the omlettes, bring fresh towels, all that. I also do the writing, photography, weighing, and naming.

Lilly is panting a bit, but not too serious abou it yet. She is eternally happy and really looking forward to getting this all out of her way. We are walking her outside on a leash because Bassets can be tricksy and hard to dig out of wherever they decide to dig under. Lilly dislikes the leash but trusts us and let's us have our way.

All is in readiness.

Almost time! Poorbaby is getting so round! She is eternally happy about this, constant tail wagging and a big silly grin on her face.

The Last Week

 Lilly is in the last week and she seems to be looking forward to shedding some of the burden. She know we are there for her and relies on us heavily where she can. 

This morning she went out to hunt rabbits in a spot on the other side of our vegetable garden. The rabbits are looking forward to the free food and our plants are growing well. We're looking forward to seeing our hounds protecting the garden. Lilly went out at five in the morning and came back in around seven. It's a perfect early Summer day for all of us but it is time to get ready for puppies.

We've done this before. A chain of events we've improved steadily over the years. We put down a moving blanket pad on our heated floor and cover it with a new blue tarp that the whelping pen holds down flat. We will bring one of the kiddie pools we use for whelping down from the attic and santitize it, but don't actually put it into the pen until we're only a day out. We've already brought out the stacks of towels and boxes of equiptment to check for completeness. We'll be ready but the night of whelping is always a surprize.

From this point forward we'll go outside when Lilly does to try and keep her from finding a private spot where she can make a whelping den of her own. The girls usually pick some sheltered place under the blackberries or our steel shipping container, but we also have many trailers here which might make suitable spots. None of these places is easy to get into and the urge to find a private den increases every day. But we're careful. In the last few days we'll leash her whe we go outside. 

Poor Lilly looks like she's smuggling a basketball. Almost dragging the floor and not happy to climb stairs. But smiling all the same.