Bella's Whelping Room

Hi,

Well, it's Saturday afternoon and Bella's room is ready! Thursday and Friday we emptied out our bedroom, vacuumed and washed down all of the walls and baseboards with pine sol and hot water. Let me tell you, who needs the gym! Just deep clean a room everyday and there's your workout!

Finally it was time to move in the whelping equipment. We laid down the linoleum over our carpet as we would like to keep our carpeting for a couple more years...Once that was down and taped down, I cleaned again with Clorox wipes. Then it was time to put the whelping box together. I took each piece and again cleaned it with Clorox wipes. It was finally looking like a whelping room!

When Henry got done with the whelping box itself Bella jumped in to make sure it still fit. Yep! It will work. Then she noticed some "other dog" must have used 'her box' because there was a few chew marks along the rail. I explained to her that Annie (yellow lab, now retired) borrowed 'her box' when she gave birth to the game's litter. I guess that was a good enough explanation as she just looked at me and walked away.

So, last night I was up until the early hours of morning making sure "EVERYTHING" was wiped down in the supply box and I have all of my supplies in order. Made a list of a couple of things that have expired and need to go out and purchase today. Otherwise, we are ready for puppies!

I've been taking Bella's temperature twice a day to see where she is. Her normal temp is between 100-101. But, at approximately 24 hours before giving birth her temp will drop to about 97-98. That's when we will know we are close. So far, she is holding steady at 100.5.

She is still eating several small meals a day. We are just trying to keep her energy up. Her daily routine is eat a little bit, burp (acid reflux), go out to potty, drink water, come in and take a nap. Then we start all over when she wakes up. Once a day we are still going for a very slow stroll....She still needs to exercise and use those muscles.

Tomorrow afternoon is our family Memorial Day party. Just the family getting together for a BBQ. Bella and Zim will com with us just to hang out. The tomorrow evening Cathy and Sheila will arrive, then we can just sit back and wait for Bella's big day!

I've attached a couple of photo's of Bella in her box and the other is the whelping area.

Stay tuned!

Kerri and Bella (I'm gonna take another nap...)

Posting a comment...

Hi again, I've gotten several people asking me how to comment on the blog. If you have a google account, all you have to do is sign in and you can post a comment. If you don't, you can create a google account at www.google.com , or go to www.blogspot.com and create an account so you can post replies. You have to be signed in. I hope this helps! Thanks, Kerri

Xray Day...

Hi all,

I'm going to try something different for this litter. Since Bella's last litter, I've gotten really involved with Facebook. So, instead of posting my messages in 4 different places I thought I would try a blog. So here it goes!

Today, Bella had her pregnancy xrays done. WOW!! There are a lot of pups in there! I tried playing with her xray, but it won't save into a jpeg file, so I can't post it...sorry... Anyway, Dr. Becky counted 10! Then she gave the disclaimer, there may be 1 hiding. Bella is definitely an overachiever! Then she said, "she is giving all of the signs it may be sooner than later..." WHAT??!!! According to "my calculations" she isn't due until June 3-5. Dr. Becky then said, "I would guess Monday." WHAT???!!! Sheila and Cathy (my right hands who live in the Bay area) aren't driving down until Tuesday!! My mind went blank... Dr. Beckie said, "she is full of milk, she is panting, she isn't eating all of her food, those are all signs..." I just stood there saying, "my calculations are Wednesday, June 3rd!" She said, "female dogs don't read all of the books, the pups come when they're ready..." Yikes!

So, late this afternoon, I called Sheila, Cathy, Kelly (thankfully lives close) and then Sheila again... Sheila and Cath are headed down on Sunday... whew! Thank goodness they didn't have any other plans for Memorial Day weekend.

So yes, Bella is getting close. She isn't eating as much, she has to go potty about every 1 1/2 hours. This is even during the night and we don't have a doggie door! Henry and I take shifts taking her out. Thank goodness we have a door to the backyard in our master bedroom.

Tomorrow we will be changing our bedroom into the whelping room and Henry and I move into the spare bedroom. (Sorry, Sheila and Cath!) Who get the living room... I will post pictures when we get it all set up.

I have to say, Bella is definitely bigger for this pregnancy. Her 1st litter at this time she weighed 78lbs. Today she weighed in at 83lbs! Dr. Beckie said she has gained 21lbs. and it is definitely all puppies! She said be prepared for these pups to be larger than the doodle pups she had. Ok...I'm preparing! Wonder if I should tell Bella??!!

Well, stay close to the blog as I will be posting more often as it gets closer and closer...

Kerri and Bella (my puppies are playing soccer in my belly!)