Harley and Holly's Little Ones are on the way!

Spring is in the air -- just look at all of our flowers in bloom! Harley and Holly are sentries at our front door. When this picture was taken (mid-May, 2010), we thought Holly was pregnant, but we didn't know for certain.

By June 1 (Jake's birthday!) I was very certain Holly was pregnant. I took her to the vet on June 5. She was x-rayed, and it looks like she is having 6-7 puppies. She gained 11.5 pounds since her vet visit in March!

I ordered a whelping box, and it was delivered the following Saturday (June 12). Curtis put it together, and we have been trying to get Holly to feel comfortable in it. We put it in Jake's room, where there isn't alot of foot traffic. Here she is, with Harley:

And here she is on her own, on Saturday, June 12: she looks pretty good for puppies due within the next ten days!

Of course, with Holly's impeccable timing, I thought she would without a doubt have her puppies while I was away at the 40th Anomalous Absorption Conference (hosted by Los Alamos National Lab in Aspen, Colorado). So -- I flew to Aspen on Sunday, June 13, gave my talk Monday morning, June 14, and flew home that afternoon. Whew -- no puppies before I got home!

Yesterday (Tuesday, June 15) I went to work and when I got home I took Harley and Holly to the dog park to meet Jim and Madchen. Harley did great, but Holly was nasty with Madchen and the other little dog that was at the dog park. She did pretty well with Jim, however. She took treats from him, allowed him to pet her, and gave him kisses. Not too bad when you factor in that she was probably in the early stages of labor!

Harley, Holly and I took a slow stroll through the Muirwood neighborhood of Pleasanton. We came home, I fed the dogs, and sat down to do some work on the computer. I had noticed that she wasn't at my feet as usual, but rather in her dog crate. It didn't dawn on me at the time that anything unusual was happening ...

Harley went to bed (his usual spot -- the sofa bed in my office), and Holly and I went to settle in for the night. By the time I was dozing off, well, she started whining, laying all over me, was restless ... uh-oh, all of the signs! So -- I got up and took her temperature. It was 98.7 degrees, down from 101.5 degrees.

I took her into Jake's room to settle into her whelping box. She just couldn't get comfortable. In the meantime, I was busy getting things set up and ready to go. By the time Curtis got home from work, I was laying next to the whelping box, with Holly right next to me. I finally dozed off about 5:00 A.M., and woke up around 6:00 A.M. Still no active labor! So Holly and I went back to sleep in the bedroom with Curtis.

When we woke up this morning, Holly seemed to have regressed. No active labor! But -- I did notice that her belly is hanging low -- another sign of labor readiness. I decided to take a vacation day, and stay home with her. I have been getting little things together, which included a trip to PetSmart for some supplies. I took Harley with me, and while we were there we ran into a guy who owns a female black german shepherd named Hailey! He meets regularly with Jim and Madchen's morning gang at the dog park. Hailey is apparently an alpha female, very much like Holly.

I am home now, and Holly is in the whelping box. While I was gone, Curtis thought she lost her mucus plug in the backyard (he was outside monitoring her). She is definitely in labor. Poor baby, I wish I could take the pain away from her. Here is one last picture of

her pre-birth:

Active labor has begun!

I will start posting pictures of the puppies

as time permits!!!