Eyes are Open

As of yesterday afternoon, all the puppies eyes are open!  As I mentioned in my Instagram post, we forget how cute they are when those eyes open up!  They begin to look so alert and also start navigating the whelping box so much better.  This morning we noticed that they are starting to wrestle with each other and are starting to interact with their siblings...besides using them as pillows and heating blankets:)  We are also noticing that Hazel is starting to space their feeding out more and more.  All indications that they are growing up...too fast for us, but probably not fast enough for all of you! Our kids have had a few days off of school for Easter break.  Many of their friends are going on weekend shopping trips, some even on vacations to the mountains or tropical beaches.  Our kids are very happy just holding and snuggling puppies all day.  I am planning to do an Instagram live tonight, so if you happen to be on your phone, make sure you comment and let us know you are enjoying a little glimpse of your little man/lady.

Here is the first picture we got of our wide-eyed little lady.  This is Gemma...isn't she a doll?

Bodan and all the black puppies lined up and sleeping

 Romee and Vada

Silas just before his eyes opened 

How many little girls can you fit in the whelping box?  Many!  Willow had some girls over for a sleep over last night, and they took full advantage of a fresh change of carpet in the whelping box.  If you were at all concerned about your puppy not being socialized, you can put that concern to rest:) 

Miah (our oldest daughter) and Truman

Our first walker

The puppies are 10 days old today!   Some of them have been trying to get up on all four's, but this afternoon, I can say that Leo (the smallest black male) was legitimately walking.  It wasn't pretty...lots of staggering and stumbling, but he was on the move.  He moved from one pile of puppies to another one and landed himself on the top of the pile.  We don't see any eye's yet, but I am imagining that will happen this week too.  It is crazy how fast they are growing.  Their coats are getting softer and their ears are starting to get floppier.  As much as we love snuggling them when they are tiny and sleep all the time, we can't wait to see eyes!

Here are a couple picture of Leo moving around the whelping box. 

We have had a beautiful weekend of weather, so the puppies have made many trips back and forth to the house this weekend.  

Puppies Have Been Named

It took us almost 6 days to come up with names for all the puppies, but we did it.  When you have 5 kids, you also have 5 opinions, but for the most part it was very civil and diplomatic.  When all the suggested names had been brought to the table, each child put their initial by the 5 (boy) and 4 (girl) names they liked best.  The names with the most initials won by popular vote.  Since this is still a monarchy, the "queen" had total vetoing power and ultimately got the final say , but I think all their names fit them perfect!

We usually try and do a "theme" of some sort when naming the puppies.  Last spring we named all the puppies after college basketball mascots because they were born the night of the national championship game.  Hazel's first litter of puppies were all named after characters from the show Downton Abbey.  We weren't exactly sure of a theme, but JJ suggested using all old/vintage names, similar to "Hazel".  I loved the idea and think the puppies all look like little, old, wrinkly grandpa's and grandma's the first few weeks anyway.  We hope that you like the temporary name we have chosen for your little man/lady, and can't wait to find out their forever name very soon.  Giving them all a name is very important to our kids, as it seems more personal and intimate to us. It also helps us become more aware and perceptive to their personalities and characteristics.  As they get older we will also try and use colored whelping collars to help you identify specific puppies.  We just like to snuggle them without the collars for the first couple of weeks.

Yellow Female: Gemma

Smallest Black Female: Estelle (Stella)

Middle Black Female: Veda

Largest Black Female: Ruby

Yellow Male: Silas (Si)

Yellow Male: Maxwell (Max)

Lightest Yellow Male: Truman

Smallest Black Male: Leo

Largest Black Male: Theodore (Theo) 

Here are a few pictures of puppies at 5 days old:

Hazel's Birth Story

Everybody loves a great birth story.  Or maybe just women love a great birth story and since I am a woman (Becca), you get to hear Hazel's birth story...

  I always know when Hazel is within 24 hours of delivery, because she leaves all her food in her dish.  Wednesday morning I noticed she hadn't eaten any of her food from the night before.  Wednesday afternoon Hazel because increasingly more uncomfortable.  She did lots of pacing, sitting, pacing, laying, and more pacing.  About 9 o'clock in the evening she was doing lots of scratching and "nesting" in her whelping box, so we knew it was going to be soon.  We decided to head to bed early on Wednesday evening, knowing it was probably going to be a long night.  We set our alarms for 1 o'clock...nothing.  Reset it for 2 o'clock...nothing.  Thought about setting it for 4 o'clock, but decided 3 o'clock would be safer.  Woke up at 3 a.m. to a very wet yellow male puppy! We went back and looked on the webcam that we have on her 24/7, and saw that he was delivered at 2:57...missed it by 3 minutes.  We quickly threw on some clothes and headed out to the shed to congratulate the new mommy!  She was busy taking care of her first born and we could see that number two was going to arrive shortly.  Hazel continued to deliver puppy after puppy in a very timely manner over the next three in a half hours.  At 6:30 she had delivered three yellow, and three black puppies.  I could hardly believe that she was done, but she took a big drink of water and proceeded to fall asleep.  At about 7:45, as we were getting kids ready to head out of the door for school, we could tell she was getting restless.  She delivered puppy number 7 at 8:00...guess she just needed a little breather.  I had to teach my morning preschool class, so Bryan (my husband) texted me at school that she delivered puppy number 7 alittle after 8:00, and he thought the litter was complete. We had our dad (who is a veterinarian) come over and check all the puppies and also confirm that Hazel was finished.  He thought everything looked great.  The puppies were a perfect size, and Hazel was recovering nicely.  He palpated her abdomen and did not feel any puppies.  He stayed and observed her for about an hour, and then confirmed that she was done.  She was sleeping sound and all the puppies were busy nursing.  Bryan went to work and I finished teaching my morning class.  We both watched all morning on the webcam, and there was very little activity except lots of nursing and squeaky puppy sounds.  We both arrived home at noon and went out to the shed.  As soon as we opened the door, Hazel hopped out of the whelping box and was ready for a walk.  I walked her down the waterway behind our house.  When we got back to the shed she ate her bowl of food and got a big drink of water.  Bryan and I decided 7 was a great number and were so happy they were all alive and healthy.  As we were having the conversation, Hazel jumps back into her whelping box and starts scratching!  I knew right away another puppy was on it's way.  By 12:25 there was another beautiful black female in the litter.  We texted Dr. B and let him know that his year of retirement must have made him out of practice.  He told us that with big litters those puppies can get so far up in the abdominal cavity, that it just takes that long for them to work their way down. I had a hunch that if there was one up there, there was probably more, but when the entire afternoon came and went, I assumed my hunch was wrong.  I went and picked the little girls up from school and they couldn't wait to get out to the shed to see all the new puppies.  As they were telling me how disappointed they were that they didn't get to see a puppy delivered this time, because she did all her work at night and after they went to school, Hazel started getting restless again.  I didn't say anything to the girls because I didn't want to get their hopes up, but I had a feeling she had another puppy in there.  I made Hazel come out and take a little walk with me.  On our walk, I told her that it would be really nice if she could produce one more puppy for the little girls who love her most:)  Sure enough, at 4:45 Hazel delivered her final puppy (a black female) with all the little girls around to watch! I can't even tell you how much excitement was in that shed.  This is Hazel's 4th litter and I wondered if the kids would be as excited about this litter number 4 as they were with liter number 1.  I can tell you for certain the answer is "YES".

A full 24 hours later, we are still amazed at how the whole labor and delivery went down, but we are so grateful for the end result.  Hazel has been an amazing mother, as usual.  The puppies have visibly grown in the last 24 hours and are proof that Hazel has plenty of love (and milk) to take care of the all:)

Here is are my notes I kept in my phone as the night...and morning...and day progressed.  I thought it was the best way to keep JJ informed!  I would love to see a screen shot of  JJ's text messages from us that day.  "She's done", "a yellow male", "Dr. B says she's done", "she just had another black female!", "I am thinking she is done now", "another black female!!"

 Picture of puppies just minutes and hours old

 The birthday girl (Amirah) and her puppy. She celebrated her birthday on Friday.  Our daughter Willow celebrated her birthday on Wednesday.  Hazel delivered her puppies on Thursday.  It was "birth" day party madness at the Bleeker house!!!

  

What we thought was a completed litter

The completed litter!!!

This was the picture I put on Instagram..."The yellow's missed the memo that it was feeding time"