Silly Mommy

The babies are 3 days old now but we still couldn’t get them off Mommy Angel long enough for a photoshoot! Whenever we take 1 puppy from the bed, she would leave the other 3 to follow the one we took!

Ok, mommy dearest is just being protective, I respect that. I should know since I am the same with them. Silly me. I just wanted to post more pictures of her babies. I guess we just have to make do with a photo of the proud mommy again.

Look at her. Doesn’t she just look so proud and happy?

I just love to take pictures of this little guy here because of his color. He’s silverish gray

Proud Momma!

Today probably is the second longest day of my life (first was when we left the Philippines July 8 at 5pm and arrived in Winnipeg, Manitoba after an 18 hour flight, July 8 12mn! literally and figuratively long)! The worry, the stress, the tension made every second seem like hours and I wasn’t even at work! But we, Gayl, Chaos,  Angel and I, sailed through today unscathed.

When the nurse came out to get us after all the babies were born and Angel was cleaned, she told us that Angel had no interest over the babies. She was the one who cleaned all of the babies when they came out, Angel didn’t lick them, nurse them or bite the sacs off of them, nothing. She explained that because Angel doesn’t seem to show any motherly instincts over her babies, we would have to feed them ourselves. So they gave us another set of articles to read to learn how to help nurse the babies and how to help them pee and poop and we had to buy milk and feeding bottles.

When Angel saw us, she was so excited that when she stood up all her babies who were trying to nurse fell on the towel where they were placed. Angel was crying and whining like she was saying “Let’s go home please, I don’t want to spend another minute here!” She was visibly frazzled, what with her mommies bringing her to that dreaded place then disappearing from sight (she was taken to the back of the clinic while we waited out front) then there were these tiny little aliens that came out of her pipi that gave her so much pain. I bet if that happened to me I would blow my top too.

On the drive home, Gayl and I were already discussing how we were going to do the feeding of 4 puppies every 2 hours all through the night. Just thinking about the sleepless night ahead made me so tired. But as soon as we set the babies on the bed, there was mommy Angel nursing her babies and licking them and their thingies. Still we counted the next hour they were to be fed , and again Mommy Angel, like she knows how to tell time, was nursing her puppies. Whenever she would hear them crying, she would be running back to her babies, even if it meant leaving her half eaten food (which she never does). I guess she was just stressed in the hospital and actually just wanted to go home.

Oh and our little Chaos is being such a good boy too. He missed Angel so much and wanted to just cuddle and play with her, but knowing also that she is snappy and doesn’t want him near her babies, he would just peer through the bedroom door to check on Angel and the babies, then go back to the couch. He would do this everytime he would hear the puppies whining. But when Chaos sees Angel come out of the bedroom, he would run to her with tail wagging. So cute.

I’m so proud of my babies.

Of Puppies and Plants

Tired and stressed after a long day’s work, flopping myself on the couch, turning on the television and letting the puppies lick all the day’s strain off me seem to be the best way to end the day. But working for a publishing company who publishes gardening magazines has taught me a lot about plants and the joys of gardening. So now, aside from playing with the puppies, I find peace and tranquility in my beautiful house plants.

The bookshelf that has more plants than books

My first plants are also the first plants you’ll see entering the apartment

Angel’s “shrine”… I don’t even have photos in the apartment and Angel has lots!

love this plant rack I got, goes well with the rest of the stuff in the apartment

One of my faves and sits right beside my laptop

Another fave, so got a couple, one for each side table

Aren’t pink leaves just so cute?

My teenee tiny plants

My favorite princess

My little prince

Puppies update…

Before I even found the time to write this blog, I’ve already constructed an “excuse” in my head for going AWOL on all my blog and social networking sites. And my usual suspect is work. These past few weeks have been the most hectic I have ever been. By the time we get home, I’m too tired and don’t want to face the computer anymore. I just want to sit in front of the TV, relax and de-stress with the doggies.

A very calm Angel who was such a good girl on the car ride to the vet

A wide eyed and panting Chaos who has never been comfortable in a car

Speaking of doggies, we’ve gone to the vet to find out for sure if we were going to be seeing little Chaoses and Angels in the coming weeks. We were actually convinced by the time we went to the vet that Angel was pregnant because her tummy has grown quite ostensibly and her nipples were bigger too. When the vet first examined Angel, he tried to “feel” for babies in her tummy. Angel was such a good girl. We knew the fingers of the vet digging into her stomach hurt her, but she didn’t even whimper. She just stood there looking at us with her puppy face seemingly asking “Mommy, when is he going to stop?”

It took the vet so long prodding her big belly because he said he couldn’t feel anything. He also said if she really was pregnant, she might have had a miscarriage and the baby didn’t form that’s why he couldn’t feel anything. So to make sure, he took her to the lab at the back of the clinic to have her x-rayed. We felt so anxious because we were worried there could be a dead puppy fetus in her that might do her harm. When they finally came out, the vet said there were no babies, alive or otherwise. It was a surprise because she was showing all the symptoms of a pregnant dog. The vet explained that she was undergoing a “false pregnancy.”

Angel’s very big tummy… she gained a whole kilogram in 1 month since our last vet visit

Apparently, false pregnancy or pseudo pregnancy is not uncommon in dogs. Female dogs usually undergo two heat cycles a year, first is the proesterus where they have a bloody discharge like they are menstruating, and the second  is the esterus phase when they actually allow their mate to mount them. It is during the esterus stage, that they get pregnant if the mating is successful. After the mating (whether successful or not), the female becomes “hormonally pregnant” (here, the explanation becomes more technical and medical so click here to read more).

The fake pregnancy doesn’t last long and all the symptoms would eventually wear off. But until it does, we are just going to do everything to make Angel comfortable. And even though we’re disappointed we won’t be having puppies, we still have Angel and Chaos to fill our days with joy… They will always be our babies.

Puppies?

Yup, there might be a chance (quite a big chance actually) that we would be seeing puppies in a couple of months! I know, I know we should have had Angel and Chaos  spayed and neutered so there wouldn’t be any “accidents”. But we really did want Angel to have at least 1 litter of puppies before we had the procedure.

At first we thought it wasn’t going to happen since Chaos, the chihuahua, seems to be too small for our Angel, the pomeranian. But I guess when necessity calls for it, they are going to find ways to “do the deed”. And oddly enough, they found it. Just sad though that we weren’t able to take a video of it because it was funny how Chaos had to be on a pillow to be able to “reach” Angel.

The first time they did it was on OUR bed, with Chaos on MY pillow. After that incident, we had to keep the bedroom door closed so they can’t do it again. But then they found the couch! And this was where we caught them…

Yup, they're "connected" here, and by the look on their faces, it does look like they enjoyed it.

So we had to put barriers to the couch as well to prevent “it” from happening there as well. Chaos was happy with his “achievements” already and was just happy to follow Angel around like a dog 🙂

even as they sleep on the floor Chaos was right "behind" Angel

 

*ALL PUN INTENDED