The puppies are now 1 week old. They have doubled in size and will soon be opening their eyes and walking! We're going to have our hands even more full than they are now when this happens. Unfortunately, due to the trauma of birthing 12 puppies, Tulley was still bleeding heavily through the weekend. After a visit to the vet on Friday, it was determined that we needed to move up her being spayed. We originally weren't going to do it until 4 months after having the puppies, but the heavy bleeding was leaving her open to infection. On Friday, we scheduled the procedure for Tuesday this week, but by Saturday night we were more concerned than before and moved it to today.
I stayed home from work, taking a vacation day to bottle-feed the pups the best I could. Luckily, they don't eat as often so there were only two feedings before Tulley got home this evening. She's definitely not feeling great, turning down dinner but is still drinking. And she's still able to nurse. We're limiting how many puppies can nurse at a time and for how long, which will result in some long nights for us, but we'll do anything for our baby and just want to make sure she and the puppies get through this just fine. Another week and a half and we'll be moving them to food, which means Tulley won't have to suffer too long. I'm sure she'll feel better tomorrow.
And thanks for bearing with me for the lack of posts. I tried to test a cocktail out on Friday but my mind was gone which resulted in a not-so-good drink. It was supposed to have rum in it. I put in tequila on accident instead. The result was a yucky, weird, margarita versus a honey-rum fizz.
 |
| Poor Baby |
~ Sarah
Please bear with me, as I cannot garantee that my next few posts will be on time or make any sense. Sleep deprevation will be the culprit. With 12 puppies, Cameron and I need to help supplement their food intake and save Tulley's health. This means bottle feeding them every 2-3 hours for at least the next couple of days. Problem is, they don't like the formula and bottle over mama. Only one or two of the pups get their fill on the bottle. But Tulley's health is at stake so we will do whatever it takes to ensure she's ok.
Cameron took the crew to the vet this morning and all the pups got a clean bill of health, which is remarkable given how many of them there are. They all had their declaws removed as well. Tulley is ok right now but was prescribed more food, including wet to help with hydration and more calcium via 3-4 Tums a day.
To help Tulley relax, I took her away from the pups when I got home, slipping on her "in heat" diaper (since dogs are just like women after they give birth) and had her lay on the family room floor while I was petting her and giving her some much deserved love.
So again, please bear with me while we get through the next week.
~Sarah
Thursday night we noticed Tulley was leaking something so for her second night in her whelping box, we took her away from her bed and made her sleep in the area we wanted her to have the puppies in. We also set up London's baby monitor in the garage, just in case. But my best guess was that she'd have the puppies on Saturday or Sunday, mainly because Cameron has plans on each day this weekend that would take him up to Biggs and therefore, be at least an hour drive away.
Well, true to form, after putting London down for a nap Saturday mid-morning, I noticed Tulley's breathing was labored on the monitor. Upon inspection, she was in fact having a contraction. And she'd have one for Lynde. And then nothing. Until about 6 PM. We checked on Tulley off and on all day. For the most part she was just resting and lying down most of the time. Good thing. At 9 PM, over the monitor, after Cameron and I both thought it wasn't going to happen, we heard the first squeak. Sure enough, puppy #1 was born.
What a roller coaster!
~Sarah
This Week's Cocktail is a little on the sweet side. There is a variation I will by trying soon, but if you're in the mood for something tropical, this is perfect. The recipe was originally called Purple Rain but when I made it last week, it came out more blue, thus the name change.
This is probably because I changed the recipe some as it called for two parts grenadine and no cranberry juice, but that sounded too sweet to me. Also, one recipe equals about one pint but due to the sweetness you may choose to split it into two, and thus only need to make the recipe once to serve two - just use a boiler glass instead of a pint glass.
Also, when I added more lime juice, the less sweet, and better it tasted to me.
And now, the recipe:
Deep Blue Ocean
Ingredients/Directions:
1 part Vodka
2 parts Blue Curacao
1 part grenadine
1 part cranberry juice
2 parts pineapple juice
A Dash of Lime Juice
Lime Wedge for Garnish
Mix all ingredients over ice in a shaker. Pour over ice in a glass and garnish with a lime wedge.
Serves 1-2
Not too much to report from our weekend. London was home sick Friday from Daycare, so I was home too. Her not feeling well led to several sleepless nights. Saturday found us in Chico – I had a hair appointment and Cameron had to help take down the blind from this hunting’s lackluster hunting season so London spent the day with her Grammy.
Cameron did have me thinking he was dead in a ditch somewhere later that day, when I hadn’t heard from him nor had I been able to get a hold of him for 1 ½ hours past the time we had planned to meet back up after said activities. I think he understood I was upset out of concern & love when I explained why I was so upset. Hopefully he remembers this and gets better at communicating the next time something like this happens.
By Saturday night, we were both so exhausted we couldn’t make it through half of Transformers. And then proceeded to wake up Sunday feeling like we hadn’t gotten any sleep thanks to London’s crying throughout the night.
Not that we didn’t have anything to do on Sunday. With puppies about a week and a half away, we were under the gun to get the garage picked up and the whelping box built. Cameron powered through and did succeed in picking up and re-organizing the garage and even got half the whelping box build and planted the rest of my daffodil bulbs in some spare planters we had lying around. We should have some blooms soon!
By Monday night, Cameron had the box finished thanks to some help from Matt. That is, it was done minus some cut-outs for Tulley to walk in and out of it and a heat source for her and the pups. Cameron completed that last night, and Tulley spent her first night away from us - I think she was really happy to see me this morning, too. She forgot to eat!
Nothing exciting for this weekend either. I’ve got a girls night planned with Lynde to see The Vow on Thursday and Cameron & I have dinner plans with some ToughMudder friends on Friday. Cameron is probably heading up to Reno this weekend to get his mounted Buck head. And London and I will stay at home to keep Tulley company. The puppies are so close we don’t want to be away for long periods of time at all. With it being a long weekend, I’ll probably continue January’s deep cleaning resolution and I may try to start taping off a wall for another painting project.
~ Sarah
