Congratulations and Well Done Jess!!!!

"Well after much hard work on Jess's part and quite a lot on ours, we now have 7 very sturdy, very beautiful black newfie puppies. Jess is extremely proud and a very content Mum. We will keep you informed to their progress with lots of photographs as they grow"

We are underway

"Jess started whelping at 3 this afternoon and we currently have 2 bitches and one male - all black and all very large and very vocal. Will update when all over!!!!"

It's been a long night......

"Jess has now been in the early stages of labour for about 18 hours! It has been a very long night, with Andy and I doing shifts 3 hours on and 3 hours off - although it was impossible to sleep anyway, wondering what, if anything, was happening. And so far, no pups. Just a very restless Jess, long periods of heavy panting, she is up and down, in and out of her whelping box, scratching in her box, tearing the newspaper and nesting. Poor thing, I just want it to be over for her."

Still on Puppy Watch

"Well, Thursday seemed to have been a false alarm. The discharge stopped and Jess returned to her normal sleepy self by late afternoon and slept for about 5 hours solid only waking to eat and go to the loo. She took up residence by the front door, enjoying the draft and remained there for most of the last two days. Just this evening she has started to show some signs of agitation. She is in her whelping box and has long periods of heavy panting then relaxes for a while before the panting starts again. I am definitely finding it far more stressful than her though"

Is Today The Day??

"Jess seemed fine this morning and ate her breakfast as normal. Around 10 am we observed some discharge and since then she has become increasingly fidgety and unsettled - and so have we!!! Eeek! A quick call to Suzanne at Sandbears reassured us that whilst this is one of the first signs of labour it can still take sometime from here and may be another 24 hours or so.......
Meanwhile Jess continues to wander around, she is constantly in and out of her whelping box and just can't seem to settle, she gets very agitated if she thinks either of us is leaving the house, she is definitely not herself. It certainly seems like something is starting to happen, it could be a long night."

5 Days to go!

"Officially 5 days to go now and Andy and I are getting very nervous. Jess has now had her tummy shaved in preparation and seems relieved to have a bit of cool air on her very distended stomach. It also means that we can see and feel the puppies moving around inside her, which is quite weird. She is still managing her walks, although they are more of a plod - the only time she moves fast is at meal times.
No loss of appetite yet, Jess is on a mission to eat us out of house and home and as loss of appetite is supposed to be one of the first signs of impending labour we think we have a couple of days to go yet. Despite this, we are still having sleepless nights and both taking it in turns to check on her every hour or so.
She loves her whelping box and quite happily sleeps in it, that is when she can get in there as Molly has also taken a particular liking to being in there - she doesn't want to be left out, bless!
J x"

10 Days to go!

"Well, Jess is now due to whelp in 10 days time.
Andy and I have just returned from holiday and Jess has been looked after by my Mum and Dad. We were amazed to see how much she had changed whilst we have been away. When we left there were no obvious signs of pregnancy, but now it is really clear. She is much larger - not fatter, just full of pups, her nipples are enlarged and she is a bit less exuberant than normal. She is still managing her walks, albeit much shortened and much slower than usual. She is drinking gallons of water and still has a healthy appetite, we aren't having to tempt her to eat anything other than dog biscuits just yet!
We are busy organising the whelping box and kit to make sure everything is in place for the big day! It is all very exciting
J x"

Jess is pregnant!

"Confirmed on 2nd November by ultrasound and due to whelp on 29th November"