They've arrived!

Pip has had her puppies. Seven beautiful, gorgeous bundles of joy. 3 girls, 4 boys. 3 tri coloured and 4 black and whites. Pippa is being a great mum and is being attentive to her babies. I spent an hour today putting names to markings and I've gone back in now and still don't know who is who and which is a boy and which is a girl. I've even written it down but that hasn't helped either. I was up all night with Pip on Sunday night/Monday morning. She had the first puppy at 2.30 am and the last at 11.30 the following lunch time. I certainly slept well last night. I have never gone a whole night with out any sleep and I'm in no hurry to do it again but it was worth it just to see them all being born safely and it's an experience that I will never forget. I woke the twins up at 3.00am and they stayed up for a birth and then went back to bed. Glenn said he was nearly sick when he heard Pip eating the after birth. Nick said I need to harden him up!

Digging

Pippa is having trouble in the bladder department and keeps waking me every night to be let out to go to the toilet. I'm looking forward to when I get my sleep back. She keeps asking to go out and is digging under the hedge. She is trying to build a cosy nest for the puppies to be born in.

I don't think it will be long now.

Birthday Girl

It was Pippas 4th birthday yesterday. Nick owns the local village butchers shop and he forgot to bring Pip her birthday bone home!

Pip got a lovely text message from her nanny Kirsty, mum Kora, little sis Dash, and half sister Jinx to wish her a good day.

Day 58 of pregnancy. Just as I think she can't get any bigger she grows again!

Whelping box

The whelping box is all ready now. I hope Pippa uses it!

8 weeks pregnant

I went to the vet today with Pippa to get her weighed so that I could give her the right dosage of worming powder. She was getting very loving looks from the people in the waiting room which made me feel so proud. She has to have the worming powder for the next 10 days as the worms can pass into the puppies. She is 8 weeks pregnant today. We all have 10p bets on when she will have the pups and how many she'll have.

I have sterilized the whelping box ready for the big day and I'm all prepared.

I am going for shorter walks now and the photo is of Elbury Cove. Molly is in the background having a paddle in the sea. We often get seals in the cove which is lovely to see.

Poor Pippa!

Pip is getting very fat now and looks so uncomfortable, poor Pip! She has to lie on her side because her belly is too big to lie normally. She is getting more careful on walks now and stays away from other dogs in case they are too rough. She is tiring more easier now as well so I am not going to go out for so long.

Nick and I finished putting the whelping box up yesterday and I am pleased with the end result. I'm not sure whether Pip is so keen on it yet though. I persuaded her to get in it and have a sniff about and she seemed quite pleased with it. We have put it in the boys PS3 room because it is a nice, quiet room away from busy house hold traffic and I will be able to shut Molly out. I think Pip is going to be aggressive towards her and protective over her babies. She made friends with a hedgehog in our garden a few weeks a go and kept asking to go out to stare at it, she wouldn't let Molly go any where near it. She was also very maternal with our ducklings and even licked there bottoms clean for them so I am in no doubt that she will make a very good mum. The boys have been kicked out of their room but I'm sure the puppies will be a lot more entertaining than the play station.

Whelping box

Pippa is still growing in the stomach area. She is eating a lot more and still not slowing down in every day life. We still are going for walks every day to keep her fit for the birth. She isn't very keen on fireworks as she got a nasty shock one year when I let her out in the garden at the exact same time my next door neighbour set off the worlds loudest, brightest rocket, so I was worried when the same neighbours invited us around for a fire work evening at the weekend. I turned the radio up to mega loud before we left that would drown out anything and I popped back to check on Pip to see if she was o.k and she was oblivious to anything and was more interested in supper time!

Nick and I are going to start making the whelping box this afternoon-I know it's a bit early but I like to be prepared. We have some old carpet to put on the wooden floors so when she starts digging hopefully the floors won't get damaged.