Piq-Qee began showing the initial signs that the puppies were coming on Wednesday in the late afternoon. She began panting and became increasingly restless through the night and into Thursday. Just the prospect of Piq-Piq beginning labor made me very anxious. Neither of us slept Wednesday night. Piq-Piq, who normally only seeks attention a few times a day, glued herself to me during the early evening on Wednesday. On Thursday, I had Joshua, so I had to go over to his house until it was time to take him to school. Piq-Piq’s panting had increased to over 100 breaths per minute, thus leaving her alone for the couple of hours required to take care of Joshua increased my own anxiety. After dropping Joshua at school, I came back home to a very happy-to-see-me panting little girl. She and I walked outside for a little while to make sure she took care of her other bodily functions. Then the two of us spent the day with me brushing her coat for hours at a time. Piq-Piq thinks that the brush is a special treat, so she really likes to have her coat brushed. She also loves to have her belly rubbed, so I did a lot of that for her too. At other times, Piq-Qee and I sat and watched TV with me gently massaging her back muscles and the muscles around her hips. Neither of us slept, but at the least, she knew she was not in this alone.

Joshua gets out of school at 3 P.M., and then he has some chores at his house to complete before he may play or watch TV. I took him there to feed the dogs and do his other chores. He did his homework and then we left for my house, picking up McDonald’s along the way.

Back at the house, Piq-Qee was showing signs of fatigue, so I went ahead and moved her into our “labor-and-delivery room.” We used the outer part of the main bathroom, as the water heater is in a closet in this room. The water heater keeps that outer room 5 to 8 degrees warmer than the rest of the house, and with no A/C vent in the room, there is no chance of a draft. For the next several hours, Joshua and I sat with Piq-Piq, scratching her ears, brushing her and just being there with her. Joshua went to bed at 9 P.M., leaving me to attend to Piq-Qee. Shortly after 9 P.M., I noticed some very slight muscular twitches that I took to be some pre-labor contractions. There would be 2 or 3 small twitches separated by 30 to 50 minutes. Each time, Piq-Qee stood up, turned around, and lay down again. Joshua’s mother, Aimee, picked him up just after midnight. As soon as he left, I took Piq-Qee outside again to have her relieve herself. Then back to the L&D room for more petting and comforting.

Just after 2 A.M., Piq-Piq began to stand up and scratch at the bedding material in her whelping box. She did this so frequently that I was sure would arrive in the next few minutes. Around 2:30 A.M., she scratched at the L&R room door, so I let her out of the room. She went back to my room and got up on the bed. I lay down with her, but after a few minutes, she hopped down and laid down in the Winnie-the-Pooh doggie-bed. A few minutes later, she got out of that and lay on the floor. Then she hopped up on the bed, then back off the bed, and kept at that for several minutes. I finally took her outside at about 2:40 A.M., thinking that she needed to relieve herself again. I was correct, and she took care of business then she ran back to my bedroom getting back into the Winnie-the-Pooh bed. I must have shut my eyes and fallen asleep for a couple of minutes, as at 2:47 A.M., I awoke to the sounds of a puppy crying. I looked into the Pooh-bed and saw Piq-Piq cleaning a puppy. As she finished doing that, I moved her, the puppy, and me into the L&D room. That is when I had the opportunity to pick up the baby and see if it was a boy or a girl. It was a boy! Within just a few minutes, Piq-Qee began strong contractions again. At 3:50 A.M., a little girl joined her brother. I helped Piq-Qee clean the little girl, and took the opportunity to make a couple of pictures of the first two puppies. I also weighed, the boy weighing 6.7 ounces and the girl 7.3 ounces. We did not have to wait very long for the next baby, as he arrived at 3:50 A.M. He weighed in at 7.9 ounces.

Apparently taking a break, Piq-Qee and I settled down for a while and just enjoyed the puppies. Piq-Piq’s maternal instincts were flawless. She constantly cleaned the babies, and helped them to find a good place for a leisurely meal. After about an hour of waiting, I offered her some water and some food. She turned down the offer for food, but greedily accepted the water. A half hour after that, I took her outside for another potty break. She quickly took care of business and ran back to the L&D room. She stood outside of the box and cleaned the puppies while I put in some fresh disposable bed protectors. Then she climbed in and cuddled with the babies.

Baby number 4 joined us at 6:32 A.M., weighing in at 7.7 ounces. Over the next several hours, there was no action at all. I called the vet’s office for some reassurances, and they promptly gave it. They advised me to call back at around noon if nothing changed. Around 11:00 A.M., the vet’s office called me to check on the progress, but there was nothing to report. The next bit of progress came at 11:45 A.M. when Piq-Qee pushed out the “pre-birth” sac. After cleaning up the bedding from that, I called the vet again at 12:15 P.M. to give them a progress report. They advised to call them again in an hour if there were no further developments. I called them again at 1:20 P.M., and they promised to have Dr. Carter call me around 3 P.M. In the meantime, I took Piq-Qee outside just to see if she needed it. She did not, and went straight back to the L&D room. Just before 3 P.M., Dr. Carter called. I gave him the blow-blow details and asked a few questions. In the end, we decided that since it had been over 8 hours since the last puppy was born, we needed to start examining other options to help the process. He reassured me by telling me that he was not overly concerned for the puppy or the mother at this point, but that at 3 P.M. on a Friday, if it got to the point where intervention was medically necessary, the costs would skyrocket for after hours care. The plan was to go ahead and take mother and puppies up to the vet’s office, administer a shot of something to “jump start” the uterine contractions, and wait for puppy number 5. If nothing happened after the shot, then he would do a C-section so that the birthing process would be completed and we could take mom and puppies back to the house.

As the outside temperature was in the mid 40’s, I went out to crank the van and turn on the heater. I went back inside and got some Diet Dews ready to take with me. As I went back into the L&D room, I saw that Piq-Qee was having a strong contraction. I quickly gloved up and positioned myself to assist her. It took about 10 minutes, and about twice as many contractions as any of the other puppies, but puppy number 5 finally arrived. This was boy number 4 and he weighed 7.9 ounces, just like boy number 2.

After I went back outside to turn off the van, I called Dr. Carter’s office and let them know that all we had to say was the word “shot” and Piq-Qee’s survival instincts kicked in and saved the day. Dr. Carter called a little later just to check on things before he left his office for the day. I spent the next several hours just lying on the floor beside the whelping box, replacing the pads, and petting the puppies. Art came home shortly after Dr. Carter’s call and saw the puppies for the first time.

I finally went to bed and passed out sometime between 9:30 P.M. and 10:00 P.M. I slept for about 5 hours, and then went back in to check on mom & pups. When I went into the L&D room, Piq-Qee got out of the box and crawled into my lap for some cuddles. We sat there for about 10 or 15 minutes just enjoying watching the babies move around in the box. Then she got up, pushed the puppies into a pile, and scratched at the door to the L&D room. I opened the door for her and stayed in the room with the puppies. I heard her go out through the pet door and then heard Art go outside with her. She was gone about ten minutes and then came back into the L&D room. I assume that since it was cold outside, she only sat beside the box for a few minutes before getting back in it with the babies. We have now propped the door to the L&D room open about 3 inches so that she can go in and out as she needs. She has come back and gotten on the bed with me a couple of times.

Mom and puppies are all doing very well. The puppies are very active and are extremely pleased that their mother has 10 full teats. Those little things latch onto one and do not let go until they get full. Then they crawl off to the side, or up on Piq-Piq’s back, or into a pile and sleep. When I looked in on them about an hour ago, Piq-Qee was lying on her side, the puppies cuddled beside her, and she was snoring. As long as she is snoring, all is well with the world.