Grace and Puppies

Gracie was resting few minutes ago, the house was quiet and the other poodles were outside.  I was watching the puppy belly ... lots of movement!  There were rolls ... bumps ... the whole belly jumps like seismic action ... she was so asleep her feet starting running (like dogs do), then she heard Hilde and Everad playing and her breathing stops to listen ... the belly kept on movin' ... they're like hey Momma where's the calm soothing rocking motion?!  They jumped around, twitched and fluttered.

They are too small to actually see outlines and count the puppies' movement

but

they are active and strong

once they grow and their environment starts closing in we will be able to trace the puppies' body somewhat, but for now?  There's lots of movement that can be seen but not yet felt by the human

congrats!  puppies are doing well

and I'm still waiting on the stethoscope!

Gracie and her Girth

I guess I filled her up yesterday

I've hardly seen her eat much today, which does give us an honest girth measurement

Grace's girth is 27" at 7.5 weeks pregnant

so really only one inch less than last year at 7.5 wks pregnant

 my guess today?  ...  I'm saying 8 puppies (7-9 is reasonable)

her last growth splurt of over 2" was September 18th, 

she's been fluctuating since then

waiting for the stethoscope

will see about this dot and dashes speculation, I can't wait to get my stethoscope

once she's 9 wks pregnant I start taking her temperature looking for the drop from 101-102 down to 97-98.  The rule of thumb with the temperature is (1) there's not a high temp warning danger of infection, (2) when it drops onset of labor should be 12-36 hours

Couple of my females have had this drop twice before they go into labor

. . . and you wonder why they have pregnant women go in once a week in their last month

There's a lot of "rules of thumb" that baby doctors are keeping a watch on too

more on sunday with pictures




- - - -


next milestone for the girth comparison is October 1st
last year's litter on approximately Day 55 she was 30"
this milestone of 7.5 wks she is 27"
last litter she was 28" ... pretty close!




send in your guess for # of puppies
how many boys & girls 
and colors


I'm guessing # of puppies, I'll leave the rest to you guys

Pregnancy Progress Story

I thought Momma Grace has been a little sluggish.  Yesterday I gave her four mini meals with a little NutriCal to give her a little ump.  By afternoon she actually jogged into the back yard to see what Hilde was doing.  About 9pm I invited her to lay in her whelping puppy pool.  I was putting everybody to night-night about 11pm ... I'm asking Hilde "where's Gracie?"

I go into my master bathroom where I had invited her to sleep, there she was sound asleep, snoring, curled up into a ball, little drool on her shoulder, the bottom side of her soaked in sweat,

I turn on the light, she squints at me with sleepy eyes, "ok Grace go back to sleep"  Hilde, Everad and I go outside, Grace right behind us.  About five feet into the front yard she sits and turns looking over her back at the front door

I take the queue she wants to go back into the house,

she trots back to the whelping area, before I go to bed I can hear her snore

this morning she's up by 6:30am, wants to go outside to potty

I'm glad I thought about giving her a little NutriCal, with the warm weather the NutriCal has increased her energy noticeably, with being a little more active during the day, she snored all night, probably not a bad thing having her sweat and slough off stuff out of her system she and the puppies don't need

have a great day,

-pictures to come sunday-