Pregnancy Tracker Estimated Due Date: October 15, 2007
July 20th....TICK TOCK!!!! Rubee still hasn't come into heat. Those of you waiting for puppies now know what it's like to wait for mother nature's "perfect" timing! But we're keeping busy with things like Dudley's injured leg and a tonsilectomy for my daughter. Never a dull moment around here! And Rubee? She's just tired of me looking at her rear end!
July 27th You know, I keep feeling like Rubee is running behind schedule, but Dean reminded me that "the end of July" is this week! LOL And that just because my calendar says it's time doesn't mean her calendar does. Yeah yeah yeah.....
July 29th...Thought of the day: "The watched pot never boils." .................sigh..................
August 4th...HOORAY!!!! Rubee is finally in heat! Those on the reserve list will get an email about when we're headed out to Montana to hook up with Judah. (no pun intended of course.)
August 16, 2007....Day 5! That's right, today is day 6 of Rubee's pregnancy. At least, we're hoping she has puppies in there! We won't know for sure until sometime after day 30. Our trip to Montana was uneventful. It wasn't the greatest time for sightseeing out there, as it's wildfire season and they are all over the place! That means the mountains are hidden behind thick smoke, and being outside isn't even all that good for you. Each morning our truck had a layer of ash on it. I took a few pictures and will load them soon. In the meantime, here's what's happening in inside:
Sunday, Day 1: first day of mating. Sperm travel searching for mature ripened eggs.
Week 1: (Sunday August 13-Saturday August 19) Fertilization occurs. 2-cell embryos are in the ovoduct.
Passing the time playing "Simon Says"
August 26...Day 15. Please excuse the lack of updates this past week. (see our blog for more details). We're back on track now so things should be getting back to normal around here! Rubee is her usual happy self. Laying in her favorite spot, on the blacktop in the sun, or in the dark on the basement tile. There just isn't any middle ground for her I guess. Another couple of weeks and she'll start to get a little 'morning sickness' which will be our first indicator that she is indeed pregnant.
What's happening in there?
Embryos will be 4 cells at the start of the week, and 64 cells by the end of the week.
Embryos enter the uterus.
Feeding small amounts of high protien supplements such as eggs, lean muscle meats (no pork) or liver is a good practice.
September 3...Day 23 Just hanging out around here. Below is a picture of Rubee promising that she'll be waiting when the bus comes home!
What's happening in there?
Morning sickness might occur due to hormonal changes and stretching and distention of the uterus.
Dam may appear a bit appethetic. She may be off her feed for awhile and vomit from time to time.
Septebmer 10...Day 30. We're half way through folks! Can you believe it? Guess what! At 2:00 today I'll be taking Rubee in for her Ultrasound to confirm the pregnancy. This will also give us a MINIMUM (but not a full) puppy count! Are you excited? We sure are! My daughter Angela has way of "knowing things" before anyone else does. The other day Dean asked her, "So Angela, now many puppies does Rubee have in there?" She went to Rubee who has lounging on the floor, rubbed her belly all over then announced, "She having 11 puppies in there! Yep...11!" Time will tell.
What's happening in there?
Embryos are walnut sized now and easy to count. An experienced person can tell my very careful palpation weather the dame is pregnant.
Start to increase the dam's food ration.
The fetuses are now fully developed miniature dogs.
Here are are ultrasound pictures from today. You can click on them to view full-size. The white arrows indicate where there's a puppy (even if you can't see it..it's there!) We counted 5 today. Remember this is a MINIMUM count, which means "We know there are at least 5." Rubee's belly was VERY gassy, which usually hides several puppies. So don't panic...this just confirms she is indeed bred.
September 24th...day 44. Rubee is just now starting to show. She's still very active though!She's running around here playing fetch, wrestling with Dudley and Zurri, etc. She's feeling AWESOME!
What's happening in there?
It's very easy to feel the puppies now. Counting them will be more difficult as they take up more space.
October 1st....Day 51. We're almost there! Rubee is feeling fantastic, but she's definetly getting bigger! She's not as big as she's been with some litters, but I can't say that she's the smallest she's ever been either. Today I had to open the back of the truck for something and before I could stop her she jumped right in. (We don't like her doing stuff like that in her current condition! LOL) Usually at this point in her pregnancy if we have to take her somewhere I have to lift her back end for her. She could safely have her puppies anytime after day 58.
What's happening in there?
The dam might loose her appetite during this period as her abdomen is crowded with puppies. She's more comfortable eating several small meals per day.
Puppy movement can be felt easily now.
October 8th...Day 58 GETTING CLOSER!!! We took Rubee and the other dogs up north for the weekend where Rubee had a jolly old time. Her most favorite thing to do is stand in the lake just belly deep. You can almost hear her sigh and say "aaaahhhhhhhhh". But Sunday morning she was acting a bit different; looking for places to hide that were cave-like, and BARELY big enough for her to get into, much less turn around and come back out! This is canine nesting behavior and lets us know that she's getting very close.
Now is when we start taking her temperature twice a day, looking for a large drop. Normal dog temp is 101, but when a female drops down between 98.0-99.00 it usually (not always) means she will deliver within 24 hours. Last night Rubee's temp was 99.8, and this morning it was down to 99.0. This may not seem huge to you, but on a chart it's a significant drop. If you'd like to do a fun math activity with your kids you can chart Rubee's temp morning and night. Here's a temperature chart you can print out.
On Wednesday if Rubee is still pregnant we'll take her in for an x-ray to get a skull count and I'll post pictures!
Morning Temp: 99.0 Evening temp: 99.8
October 9th...Day 59 Rubee's status to day is "Just fine!". She is comfortable, and even playing a little bit eventhough it means waddling around like an engorged woodtick. Probably tonight or tomorrow she'll start panting. The panting goes on...and on...and on....and on....When the panting phase arrives that's when I know we can't leave her alone. I sleep on the couch next to her and listen to the panting....all....night....long. An occasional grunt will have me startling awake to check on her again. In my delierious state I usually end up dreaming that she delivered a litter of very ugly kittens or something strange like that. So far, there is no panting.
For those who are keeping track Rubee's temps for today were: Morning: 100.1 Evening: 100.2
October 10th...Day 60 I know you're all going nuts, and my hit counter says you're obsessively checking the website today. Well, that and the e20 emails waiting for me when we got back from the vet! LOL
They sent us home with a disk that had the x-rays on it, but they were the wrong format for my computer. I had to wait until this morning for the correct format to be emailed to me. If you count all the lines/arrows, you'll see there are TEN babies in there! (By theway, Rubee has been known to hide a puppy or two!) HOORAY! We will be taking more deposits, but not until the puppies are on the ground. There is one puppy on the films who's viability looks questionable, so we'd rather err on the side of caution. Oh, click on the images at the right to make them bigger. If they appear too dark you can save the to your computer and change the exposure so you can see them better.
Rubee's temps today: morning: 99.1 Evening: 100.2
October 11th....Day 61 10:00 a.m. Oh, can you hardly stand it? Things are looking good this morning. "Good" is a relative term in the whelping business! Today "good" means that Rubee isn't eating, and she's glassy-eyed and panting. These are all signs that the puppies will be coming soon. I'll post another update later today if there's more information, and probably a couple of pictures of "puppy prep" activities.
Rubee's temps Morning: 99.5
1:30 pm. I'm thinking we'll be delivering puppies tonight! Rubee is whining, and has some discharge. Cross all your parts. I'll post when I know for sure she's in labor.
6:30 pm. We will definitely be delivering puppies tonight....I think...
Although she's really been acting quite o.k. she has spent the day at the door begging to go outside. What she wants to do out there is deposit puppies under some tree or wood pile! Sorry sister! I just brought her in a few minutes ago (she walks painfully slow, because she doesn't want to come in AND she's huge.) and she has quite a bit of discharge. So, I'm thinking puppies tonight. After 8:00 pm (Angela's bedtime) would be great Rubee!
When the puppies start coming, sometimes I have time to udate the site quick and sometimes not, so hang in there!
Expectant mom: 6:15 pm
11:00 PM This is when it's NOT fun to be a breeder. You have to make decisions and hope you're making the right one. Things are still ok here, but to all those people who say, "I want my dog to have one litter so my kids can see the miracle of birth" need to just go rent some videos on the subject! Sometimes the "miracle of birth" can mean the death of ALL the puppies, or the death of the mom and you're stuck grieving AND caring for orphaned puppies. Anyway, like I said, so far things are ok, but something doesn't look right with Rubee. I've already talked to the ER vet and am just waiting...watching...debating about weather or not I have to bring her in. I'll update when I know more.
October 12....DAY 62 6:15 a.m. Rubee contracted all night, but stalled out around 4:00 or so this morning. She has some stuff that doesn't look right. We're headed to the ER vet.
9:00 a.m. .... Just back from the vet. All pups visible on Ultrasound have good heartrates (can't see all of 'em though.) blood levels are ok, but there is some placental tissue passing without a pup. SO... I just gave her a shot of oxytocin to speed things up. If no progress in an hour and a half we'll be back into the vet for a c-section.
11:00 a.m....Headed back to the vet for c-section.
1:20 p.m.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABIES!
They are here! When the vet got Rubee open to do the c-section she discovered that Rubee's uterus was completely twisted. Another hour or two longer and we could have lost all the puppies AND her! As it is we lost 2 puppies. So, I suppose you're wondering what the final count his huh? An unbelievable 7 girls and ONE boy! How cool is that. Unfortunately in my rush to get Rubee to the vet, I didn't think to grab my camera to get pictures of them as they were brought out of the operating room. But I'm headed back up there in a bit, and will be sure to get some pictures!
I've been getting emails the last couple of days about "When can I drop off a deposit?" PLEASE be patient. It will be a day or two before I get back to you. Also, someone asked how much emergency c-sections cost. Well, our vet bill for today (between this mornings visit and this afternoon) was $1200! Then there are dew claws to do tomorrow, so another $150. And that will be just the tip of the iceberg for this litter.
9:00 p.m. I probably won't get around to the individual pictures and puppy pages until tomorrow, as it takes a coupe of hours and I'm wiped out. BUT, I know you're dying to see the babies, so here's a little video! CLICK HERE to watch it.
We hope you've enjoyed this page. If you'd like to watch these puppies grow, please visit our "New Arrivals" page, and our "Puppy Journal" page.
Well, that and the e20 emails waiting for me when we got back from the vet! LOL
So, I suppose you're wondering what the final count his huh? An unbelievable 7 girls and ONE boy! How cool is that. Unfortunately in my rush to get Rubee to the vet, I didn't think to grab my camera to get pictures of them as they were brought out of the operating room. But I'm headed back up there in a bit, and will be sure to get some pictures!