Made it through the night....

So now we are up eating breakfast (Salty, Mom and me)  Cooked Salty some eggs and she had some cooked pork --anything she will eat for her first meal, and Mom cooked my breakfast.  Spent 1/2 the night up helping the little red pup get "on" a teat and made sure she was nursing.  Woke up a few times and found Mom in the room doing the same.  Both of us are broken down with sore backs, rib cages and rubbed knees and elbows from leaning over into Salty's pool to help them nurse through the night.  Funny how it only takes a few minutes of propping up on my elbows to completely rub the skin off.  It happens each litter the same, I need some elbow pads like a skateboarder.

Every single squeak and movement sends you dashing over the bed to check on the pups.  Its so easy in the first few days for the dog to lay on a little one when she shifts her position since the puppies naturally tunnel down under her warm belly to find a nipple.  It makes for a long week and during the day you fumble around like a drunk person, barely able to think from lack of complete sleep.  I set my clock for 2-3 hour checks to make sure a puppy had not wandered away from her allowing it to chill or maneuvered behind her making it easy to be crushed by their own mother who may not hear their tiny voice yet.  In a week they will be much stronger and really cry out if sat or stepped on accidentally by the mom, plus they can wiggle out from under her pretty easy by then.

Now they have new clean towels fresh from the dryer and all are lined up nursing...time for me to rest.