and...they are here!

jetti woke me up at 5am sunday morning, whining and carrying on. i took one look at her and knew instantly that this was it. i watched for hours while she twisted in pain and to no avail. at 2pm she saw the vet, who informed me she was hardly dilated. poor thing. i did what he prescribed..took her home, put her in a dark, quiet room, and left her alone. i checked on her a few times and at 7:30, i just felt like something was going on. i peeked in the room to see her licking a pup. i watched for a moment- the pup was not moving at all. jetti was whining anc concerned. i took the pup and put it in a warm towel and rubbed it for several minutes, squeezed its nose and cleared its mouth- but nothing. i gave the pup back to jetti and she continued licking and moving the little male, but he didn't make it. i was upset and nervous that the first pup had died, but the vet said it was probably in the birth canal too long while jetti dilated and not to worry since losing the first isn't uncommon. when jetti had the second, she finally allowed me to take the dead puppy out of the crate. he was the spitting image of jetti, which made me even more sad. the rest of the night, things were much happier. jetti gave birth almost exactly every half hour until she had 8 healthy pups nursing happily at 1:00 am. and i guess in the spirit of this house's male offspring, she has 6 healthy male pups and two females.

here's the first look at beautiful little ones!