Another belly photo

It certainly can't be much longer.

Have a look at this belly

This is her favorite spot outside. At least, it's about as far as she gets when I take her outside unless she has to go potty verrrry badly. And even then, she'll plop down here after she goes. It's a sign as to how big she has gotten that I was able to get these photos (did use my phone so maybe she didn't realize what I was doing?) She stayed still and let me take them. 

The countdown continues

I took Gidget's temperature several times yesterday. It's a new digital thermometer (I haven't had a thermometer since my kids were little and my "baby" is 35!) and I am not sure how accurate it is (or if I am able to keep it in long enough). It varied from 98.3-99.6. My husband helped hold her last night so I could get a better reading but he had a hard time keeping the treats coming fast enough to keep her distracted. I was using the super high value stuff I use for training classes for my dog. Sardine brownies, tuna brownies, liver chews, turkey crunches, that kind of thing. She really will wolf those down even when she turns her nose up at store bought treats.

She's digging in the bed this morning(nesting?) but she ate fairly well when she got up. Not as much as she was eating but still ate a good deal. No milk yet. So it's still a waiting game. I do think it will be this week simply from the date she was bred.

The puppies aren't real active. I've felt one move a couple of times but she doesn't like to have her belly touched (even very lightly). I watch when she's lying there but don't see any movement. Hopefully all is going well and we'll get to meet the babies soon.

A friend is going to bring an exercise pen today.(She brought a playpen yesterday- what a great friend). That'll help, especially after I found out that she can jump out of the whelping pen. Silly me, I was thinking that with her big belly, she'd avoid trying. I knew she could but just thought... oh, well. That's what I get for thinking. I hate to confine her but as her time approaches, I worry about her having the babies under the bed or someplace else less appropriate, especially after my husband build that nice whelping box.

Whelping box

I got the whelping box set up. I took her temperature this morning and it was 98.3 but I don't think she stood still long enough to get a good reading so I'll take it again when I have someone to help hold her. I just threw some treats on the floor to occupy her while I tried to take her temp but she scarfed them up pretty quickly. Her appetite is still good so I'm thinking maybe not so quickly.

The orangy thing under the whelping box is an old (sanitized) office chair mat. I was trying to think of something besides a tarp to protect the carpet. The living room is the only room that I can block off and that is also open to the rest of the house so she is still part of the family. I'm going to let her have access to the kitchen, I think, once I get an exercise pen to block off one opening.

For bedding, I put down a layer of towels, then a bunch of layers of newspapers, then a piece of a mattress pad (I was able to get 4 pads from a king sized mattress pad). My husband made the bottom as a tray so that we can put the top pad under it all the way around so that puppies can't get tangled up. I've got some chux type pads and tons of towels which I may add as well.

There's a little "door" that slides into the front cut out to keep puppies in when they get bigger:-)

So, without further ado... the whelping box...

Day 56 (or there abouts)

I've gotten out my DSLR with the telephoto lens hoping that if I am far enough away from her, I can get a photo without her realizing that's what I am doing. She doesn't stand still very long but you can get an idea of the size of her belly. It looks way bigger than this in person to me:-) She lay out in the sun for a while today. The weather is so beautiful right now.

My husband finished the whelping box today. I've got 2 coats of paint on the walls and 1 on the inside bottom. I'm running out of paint so will probably have to run to the store in a sec. I want to get it finished today so that it has time to cure well before we bring it in. We used low fume, low everything paint. Want to be sure it's safe for her and her precious cargo before bringing it in the house. 

Whelping box

My husband has been working on Gidget's whelping box all day(7 hours so far). No where near done. I told him it didn't need to be a piece of fine furniture. 

When we moved here, we didn't think we would be living here very long (now, 11 years later) so we didn't worry about having a place for him to set up a workshop. Now, whenever he wants to build anything or work on anything, he has to move the cars out of the driveway and set up outside of the garage. 

Hopefully she'll like it. 

My husband figured out last night that she was not able to stretch out in the crate we were using in our room. Originally she seemed to like the bed with the rim around it to lay her head on. She was pretty antsy night before last and when we went to bed last night, she was sitting up panting. So we moved the crate from the family room into our bedroom (it's bigger) and just put a towel in there for a bed. She was thrilled and zonked right out and slept through to almost 5 am. 

She has started telling me when she needs to go out. Previously I was taking her out before she needed to go but evidently I'm not doing it often enough for her all the time so she barks at me. My dog just goes and stands by the door and stares at me. Gidget comes over to me, looks right at me and barks, a sort of combo bark and howl. Not to be mistaken.

Day 54

Not a good photo. I wasn't holding the camera very steady and she got up as soon as I took it. She is not comfortable but has her appetite back.