The Puppies Are Here!!!!!

Avonlea with Riley and her puppies. Riley is drinking water as usual. What a thirsty mommy!

Aw...Brother and Sister

Count 'em up...6 sweet, little darlings. Two boys and four girls.

Sleeping soundly without a care in the world...ahh, the life of a puppy

Avonlea with her "Hannah"

Okay, I know that you've all been waiting for this, so I'm glad to annouce the arrival of the Bates puppies.

Riley had her 6 healthy puppies (4 girls and 2 boys) on Friday, April 17 (yesterday) between 8:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. We did sadly loose three pups (all girls) for a total of 9 puppies all together.

The day started out when Rob left for work and I was getting up with the kids around 7:30 (we usually snuggle in bed for a little bit and then get up to make breakfast). So, I got up to check on Riley and was relieved that the process had begun. I was also saddened though because as I peeked into our whelping box, I noticed a non-breathing puppy cast aside in the box. Poor thing never stood a chance. She was born with her intestines outside of her body. Very sad. I gently removed her from the box with a towel, so that Riley could continue birthing the other puppies. They all kept coming, some within 20 minutes of each other, some with an hour between births.

We did loose puppy #4 and puppy #9 in addition to #1. I don't think I was prepared emotionally for that today. I know I wasn't. The last time Riley had a litter of pups, it was in the middle of the night and there were only 3, so this was my first attempt at playing midwife and no one ever prepares you for the experiece emotionally. I had read up and researched all that I needed to know, but sometimes, it's just God's will. Puppy #4 and #9 passed away from lack of revival. I tried everything to get them breathing, but no luck.

Riley is doing well and so are the 6 puppies. They are currently abiding in our baby's nursery on the floor with a bunch of blankets. They can't quite scoot around just yet, so I'm trying to come up with a plan B of where they'll be living. I'm done with the refrigerator box because it was too flimsy (not reusable after the birth...use your imagination) and the kids try to play in it. They can't stay where they're at because they're going to get mobile soon and I want to keep them in the house to monitor them. We used a paddling pool last time, but that was before we had curious children who could access the puppies by climbing into the pool. The pool was perfect because it lasted up to 5 weeks and then the pups started crawling out of it. Riley could get in and out easily and it was just the right size. I'm thinking we may resort to the paddling pool again, just where to put it is the question. Don't want the kids to have full access to them, especially my rowdie Lincoln who will no doubt pick them up and not handle them properly. "Think Kel, think!"

Anyways, we're just trying to keep Riley hydrated and fed well since her job right now is to supply these puppies with nourishment and cleaning up after them. I literally do nothing folks!My job starts in about 5 weeks when they're mobile. :) It's a lot of fun though. Avonlea loves the movies "Air Buddies" and "Snow Buddies" which are both movies about Golden Retriever puppies who are mischevious and get into all sorts of predicaments. They're rated G and both are Disney movies if you're interested in viewing them. Avy has named our puppies after the ones in the movies (there are 5 in the movies...can't remember their names right now though), plus she has decided that the one she's keeping is going to be named "Hannah". Don't ask me why she chose this name, but it's starting to stick. I had some other names I was thinking of, but we're leaning towards letting her choose the name.

I'm looking forward to watching the personalities of these little ones develop because the stud/daddy is a beautiful, stocky, white Golden that goes by the name Country Boy and he has the most wonderful temperment and quite a fun personality. Of coarse, I'm partial to Riley because she's my dog, but she's just the sweetest dog and can I say LOYAL! I could go on for hours, but needless to say, I have a great feeling about this litter.

One thing that I was a little unsure of how things would work was if she went into labor while the kids were awake. It worked out well with her having her puppies on a Friday morning. We had a playdate planned, but it was more important that we were home to oversee Riley and the puppies' health. So, we just layed low and I got out project after project for the kids to do while running back and forth from project making to delivering puppies. The two hardest things about the day were keeping the kids out of the box (especially Lincoln) and emotionally handling the loss of three puppies. Other than that, it worked out well. That afternoon, the kids and I were feeling a little caved-in, so we left Riley to some peace and quiet with her puppies and we headed out to run an errand and then hit the park for some running around and playing.

Thanks for all the encouraging comments and we'll keep up the updates on our sweet, little ones.