Just when we thought it was time to relax after the holidays...

The holidays are over, and the deck is almost done, so we thought that the time for late nights was finally at a rest and we would be able to get some sleep last night. Family had driven home that morning and the day before, Cache was having a good day, and all was looking good. Until, that is, our dog, Lacey, decided that this would be a great time to have her puppies!

Lacey has been sleeping inside the last week because we have known for about that long that she would be having puppies very soon. She had spent a lot of time just laying around on her side and having a difficult time breathing. If you held your hand to her belly or watched it long enough, you could feel/see the evidence of little creatures moving inside of her.

So midnight rolls around and she begins pacing the bedroom, moving from side to foot of the bed. In an effort to calm her, I reached down and tried to pet her. This is when I noticed that she was contracting every few seconds and she was wet. The first puppy showed up about 12:30 am and one followed quickly after that. Then we waited about 30 minutes and another one showed up and then another 15 minutes later. After these first four I figured there was probably one more in there (my original guess was 5) but this one didn't decide to show up until about an hour later.

After 5 puppies were born, and Lacey was frantically licking and cleaning them I thought we were done. It was about 3 am by this time and, needless to say, we were all tired. So I lay in my bed for what feels like a second...and Cache starts making noise on the monitor. *sigh* Up I went to make sure he was OK. Thankfully, he just needed his teddy bear and his covers back on. When I come back, Lacey is getting restless again and I can see that she is working on another puppy. Poor Jared is trying to get sleep this whole time because he was due back at work this morning. It's going to be a long day for us all. Puppy #6 shows up about 4:40 am and I think we are home free for sure! Lacey gets the puppies all settled and they all start to go to sleep and I have lain my head down for at least an hour....when Jared's alarm goes off and I look down to see that Lacey has a 7th puppy! This poor dog just kept producing! I just remember it being hard enough with one!!

Thankfully, we get a little reprieve, but of course, Cache woke up hungry about 6 am, so I had to go feed him. With all the ruckus going on beside our bed, it was difficult to get any shut-eye. Cache slept in until about 8:40 am and now I'm up with the puppies and Lacey trying to figure out what exactly to think/do. :) Lacey has been a good mom so far. It's amazing how natural things come to animals and how much instinct is involved.

Two of the puppies are claimed by Steve and Jean, so we have 5 more to figure out homes for! Here are the pictures I have for right now.

I finally got all 7 on camera!