life + PUPPIES!

Can I just say how wonderfully excited, scared, and in awe of our new furbabies I am? I didn't think I would be a puppy mom again but I am so blessed to have these five little creatures in my life. They soothe my need for quiet and calm, soothe my anxiety, soothe my need to feel needed. I mean... Rontu needs me to feed her and throw her the ball, but beyond that she's past the cuddle-me-and-pet-me-always stage. She would follow you from room to room and once you sat down, attack you with licks. Now she's claimed the far end of the couch. Which is fine, I still miss her cuddling with me in bed in the mornings though. Sometimes I have to coax her over with the ball, which doesn't always work out because then she's more interested in when I'm going to throw it.. or where I hid it (under the covers). I think what I'm most excited about, is learning about how to care for pups when they're newborns and seeing how their little personalities are going to develop. The one that I picked out is the largest boy, but he's very mellow and sleeps a lot.. when I picked Rontu out, she was the one yelping and escaping from her pen. (Rontu just hopped up on the couch with me and put her head on my lap, she must've known I was writing about her.)



So... Rontu's pregnancy was an accident, obviously. We had issues with our landlord at our old places, and after everything was said and done, we had less than two weeks to move out, right before Thanksgiving. We were told we could go month to month, then 'Oh, my friend wants to move in, so I'll need you out' happened.. instead of fighting it, we left. We had to pack everything and stay with Rick's cousin for two weeks while our new apartment was cleaned and getting ready, and they happen to have the sweetest pitbull ever, Bradley. He's a huge, wide-grinned, muscular blue nose pitbull who we knew wasn't neutered, so we kept them separated. Given the circumstances, we had to take our chances. He's used to Rontu because we let them play all of the time, but for the first week he would immediately run to her whenever we got home, and wouldn't leave her alone until we separated them. I've had so many people ask me why she wasn't spayed, and I stopped googling questions I had because people's comments to other people's questions were so rude, careless, and downright awful. "Backyard breeder" was one I heard a lot, and most people couldn't give solid advice, they just groaned and complained about idiots breeding dogs. Rontu's spaying was simply planned for a few weeks out, and then she went into heat. I know you can get dogs spayed while they're in heat, but I didn't want there to be any complications. It didn't seem right to me. It would be like if I was on my period and then wanted to get a hysterectomy. Wouldn't you want to... wait? Until your cycle is finished? I don't know, I wasn't too worried about Rontu having puppies in the first place. We have the means, funds, and time to take care of them, and almost all were already spoken for.

There were days when we both would have to work at the same time, so we would have to leave Rontu with someone else who lived there 24/7 and he would take her out, play with her a little bit, let her out. I'm almost positive he let them both out to potty... and then fell asleep. All of a sudden Bradley wasn't interested in Rontu anymore. We didn't really put two and two together until we felt that her tummy was hard. There was a fleeting moment of panic, and then excitement.

On Sunday the 26th she was getting very restless and started panting a little bit, so I was sure it was going to be that night. We went to bed crossing our fingers that we wouldn't wake up to a litter of puppies. In the morning there were no puppies to be found, and Rontu was still very restless. Luckily it was my day off, so I watched her carefully and let her nest - although when she started to pull my clothes out of my closet I had to figure out what else would make her comfortable besides my sweaters. I grabbed an old sheet and put it in her whelping box, hoping our scent would make her want to birth in there - and she hopped right in! Rick came home for lunch around 10:30, but left me alone with a kiss and a good luck. We both were bummed that he couldn't be there for the birth, or that he couldn't leave work a little bit early. After lots more panting, moving around, and confused looks from Rontu (especially after her 'water broke'), she started having contractions and at 11:58am, after massaging her belly, out popped the first little one. He wasn't moving or breathing, which I wasn't entirely sure was alright or not. I knew that once the sac comes, that it should be broken very soon so the puppy can start breathing. She delivered him still in his sac, but there was no movement for about 30 seconds, and she was looking at me just confused and tired and I realized she didn't know exactly what to do. I broke the sac for her and let her lick her puppy, but still no movement or breathing. Her whole pregnancy I feared her delivering a stillborn, so my heart sank a little. I teared up and started massaging his chest and hoped for the best. After about 10 seconds, his little arms moved and out came the biggest little cry! Rontu frantically started licking his face and I frantically started taking pictures and videos. He is the one that I'm keeping.. I will save you the gooey, gruesome birthing pictures.





The darker one is the second one that came, a girl, at 12:44. She's the one that looks most like the daddy, and Ricks cousin is keeping her. She's also the one that makes the most noise and shoves the others out of the way for mamas milk. At 1:30, the third one was born, a fawn colored girl with a white stripe on the right side of her neck. The vet said she could feel three, but there was probably one more hiding, and I could tell that Rontu wasn't done just yet. At 1:43, the fourth one came, another boy. Rick was texting me nonstop, asking for pictures and videos, and I'm sure he was crying on the inside that he couldn't witness something so magical. I was a little nervous at first, especially when the first one came and wasnt moving, but once the second came Rontu was a pro and knew exactly what to do, all I did was throw on some gloves and move them out of the way so she could get comfortable for the next one, instead of sitting on them. I've been present for human birth and now dog birth and I will never get over how amazing our bodies are, and what a blessing new life is. I'm a very emotional person, I can start crying at commercials or even when I see a ballet or concert, so I'm surprised I only shed tears when the first one took his first breath. I think I was in such disbelief and awe of my baby Rontu, and how all five of the puppies fit inside of her.. oh yeah! Puppy number five came at 1:55. She sort of just, fell out, and she's the tiniest of the bunch but she came out screaming. She's not really a runt anymore, I think she's even getting bigger than her big brothers. It's been so much fun to see their little bodies grow these past 6 days, and see them start to have their little personalities. I can't wait until their eyes open! They make little growling and yelping noises now, and their puppy dreams are the cutest thing I've ever seen. I don't know how I can even function at work when I have these little babies at home.