There was a lot of speculation as to when Lillian would have her puppies, and how many she would have. By all accounts she was so enormous, it wouldn’t have been unreasonable for have them a little early. It’s pretty unusual for dogs to whelp before their due date, but when the oven timer goes off, the buns are done! Lillian started delivering at 3 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 4. after breathing in my face for three hours while in pre-labor. She delivered 10 puppies in 4 1/2 hours, having the last one at 7:38 a.m. There are 5 boys and 5 girls, 4 are 15 oz., 4 are 12-14 oz, and 2 are 11-12 oz. They all seem healthy strong, and we hope they all make it.
Lillian is a trooper and has to be really sore after all of those contractions. Envision doing abdominal crunches off and on for about 5 hours straight! She was great through the whole thing though she was tired by the time she was done. Lillian was definitely calling the shots. Some moms really need you to help them out, but she mostly wanted to do it herself. I only had to assist when three puppies were born within two minutes of each other.
We will have a lot of fun with this bunch over the next few months, can’t wait!
This was right after the last one was born, you can see he’s still a little wet (right in front of her). The first two and last two were 15 oz.
She was still delivering puppies, this was about halfway through.
Finally done! Lillian was exhausted.
Finally some sleep… and little yellow puppy checking out her mom.
The morning of Oct.5. Lillian was taking a break.
The morning of Oct. 5. I was leaving for work and snapped this before walking out the door. Everyone’s doing well.
