Little Women
The fact that puppies always arrive at the busiest times of the year is unfortunate. This time, Lucy’s little gems arrived in the midst of soccer-every-day, homeschool, hosting bible study, and a bathroom remodel. Not to mention right smack in the middle of the Great Clothing Swap. If anyone fails to understand my dread of the change of seasons, maybe this photo will help you get there.
Every fall and spring brings me to this point. Dragging bin after bin of clothes out of our storage trailer into the house and spending hours sorting, trying on, washing, folding and putting away. The girls love this time of finding new outfits handed down buried in bins from older siblings. It feels like shopping. The boys on the other hand are dragged into the chore kicking and screaming, tortured by the piles of clothing and the endless directive “go try this on and let me see if it fits”. It usually takes me a few weeks to get through it all. Yesterday I finished the job with all of the outgrown, unwearable things in bags headed for other families or the thrift store, boxes to keep for future seasons neatly packed back away, and the rest in the washer or folded neatly in drawers. Despite the fact that I have less boxes to sort now that the older 3 are on their own has given way to a new problem: the fact that the kids keep growing but our space has not!! I’ve really had to get creative trying to stuff clothing for 3 large teen boys into one dresser, one closet, and one toddler dresser (yes, the youngest is still forced to use it bc it’s the only thing that fits inside the closet). And the 7 year old's things have spilled from the drawer under our bed (not hers - that’s taken with her trundle bed) into various baskets around the house. If anything makes me truly frustrated with tiny house living, it’s this task. But it does help me get rid of possessions we no longer use or need! I guess that’s the silver lining.
Anyway, I’m sure none of you were interested in that lol. Lucy has ignored all the piles of clothing and tools around her, absorbed with tending her tiny charges.
We have been turning her usual whelping area in the laundry room into a shower. And, while it was a little upsetting for her to have people come and go past her precious babies the first few days, she has now settled into her space just fine.
I love to watch her those first days. She is ON IT. The slightest peep, an interested passerby taking a peek, the merest shuffle of noise near her babies and up go the ears, and scurry goes Lucy to those babies. She literally runs back in from relieving herself outside, terrified that someone may have stolen a puppy while she was gone for a few minutes. She lays right outside the box while they rest, and climbs in constantly throughout the day to feed and clean. The dedication and diligence is impressive.
Each whelping is a little different from the rest. This time, she surprised me by being a day early, previously being a week late with the last litter. Nature is always reminding me I don’t know anything. I hadn’t seen too much of the typical labor distress but I knew it was building. As the day draws closer, Lucy always starts to nest outside. She comes in with filthy paws and I know she has been digging somewhere prepping a nest. I’ve found her under the house, the porch, in the shed - anywhere she can find a large patch of dirt in a dark, covered, secluded area. She asks to go out constantly and I’ve always worried she would have her first pup outside. One litter, I followed her around outside in the middle of the night because she insisted on going out over and over. She finally had them early in the morning safely in the house, but I was exhausted by the midnight rambles. This morning I let her out for her typical morning routine and I was hesitant. She had slept in our room that night because I suspected she was getting close. After about 45 minutes I decided I better check on her and as soon as I opened the sliding door I heard the familiar chirp of a newborn puppy and I panicked. They were under the porch. I knew Lucy wouldn’t budge as long as there was a baby under there so I tore off the lattice and stole the puppy right out from under her. Thankfully, it had just been born, and Lucy had done her typically marvelous job of cleaning it up. Lucy, however, was a muddy mess. There was no way I could let her into a clean whelping box to give birth in her state. So while the kids scrambled to lay cleaning bedding and keep the puppy warm by the heater, I did everything I could to keep Lucy in the yard and hosed her off. She was NOT happy about being kept from her pup. As soon as she was clean and dry she beelined for the box and another pup was born shortly after.
This time, thankfully, in a clean and warm whelping box. This birth was her fastest yet. I typically spend the entire day or night over a course of about 12 hours watching and helping things progress. If there is a stall more than 30-45 minutes, I quite literally drag her from the box for a walk to get things moving again.
I’m always nervous to take her outside to relieve herself. Pressure on the backend can often be mistaken as “I need to use the restroom” and a puppy comes. And we had an exciting moment catching a puppy in the yard with a towel and trekking back into the house dripping blood and fluids. It all makes for a very interesting, (and gross in you’re my kids) scientific school day. No better way to learn than experience. I let my daughter sex the puppies and she has gotten pretty adept at telling the difference. I did miss checking up on her skills with one of the puppies and thought we had all females for a day. By weigh-in the next morning I realized with surprise that we had a boy after all, and 4 beautiful females.
This time Lucy had finished birthing by midday. It took me a few hours to be convinced it was really over, especially since she was so fat! I kept walking her thinking surely there were more than the 5 pups, but after a while it became clear she was no longer in distress and all was over. Trying to think up ideas that were heavy on the females, I decided on one of the literary favorites of my childhood that fit our little group perfectly: Little Women. Now we have Laurie along with Meg, Jo, Amy and Beth.
Puppies are now school companions. All they want to do is nuzzle into a warm and cozy location. Once they get a little bigger we'll be able to put collars on so they can be told apart a bit easier!
All the puppies are sold already! If you are interested in Maple and Zeke's spring 2027 litter you can apply here!
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