From the notes of Pam (dated 5/13/97): Well, the
babies arrived today--early, and very much unexpectedly! In fact, Tory decided to go ahead
without my help. I got home at about 5:30 p.m. and knew something was up because she
didn't greet me at the door. As I approached the family room where her whelping box is, I
heard the unmistakable sounds of puppy squeals. So I rushed in, but her whelping box was
empty. The puppy sounds were coming from the closet- way back in the closet. And that's
where I found Tory, with nine Labbie babies. I picked up one puppy and put it into her
whelping box and Tory quickly went to her box. However, as I collected the other eight
little ones, Tory was in the process of giving birth to the 10th. Within the next 2 hours
she delivered number 11 and number 12. All look healthy and fiesty at this point and
everyone is nursing well. Tory is exhausted, but is doing well. Thankfully, the whelping
went smoothly.
From the notes of Pam (dated 8/19/97): Well, I guess I
shouldn't have taken that antihistamine last night. After my experience with Tory whelping
a week early, I wasn't going to take any chances with Dia delivering unexpectedly, so I
prepared her whelping box yesterday--apparently in the nick of time. As soon as I put the
blankets down she started nesting almost as if to say..."Well, it's about time,
Mom!" Sure enough, just when I thought I would crawl back into bed for a few more
winks after an early morning feeding of our 6 week old ("Jillian" - Jim X Pam;
whelped 7/7/97), Jim woke me up to let me know that Dia was extremely restless. Just as I
dragged myself down to the family room (remember, I took an antihistamine last night) Dia
was giving birth to the first baby. Well, the effects of the antihistamine wore off
immediately. The delivery was pretty much routine and after about 5 hours she had whelped
9 babies. Then, as I was checking all the little ones over I noticed that one puppy's
umbilical cord was bleeding. As I busied myself tying off the cord, Dia suddenly jumped
out of the whelping box and headed out of the family room. My first thought was, "Oh
no, she has to go potty and if I don't get her outside fast enough she'll probably go on
the floor." So as I tied the little girl's umbilical cord off, I called for Dia. When
she didn't come immediately (which is very unusual) I called her again...and again.
Finally, Dia came back into the family room, back into her whelping box and gently
deposited a 10th wriggling puppy that she had been carrying in her mouth right in front of
me ("Sorry I couldn't come immediately, Mom, but I was a little busy delivering this
here puppy on the living room rug!").