Sunday, Dec 10, 7 AM
Well, we did go to the concert. And what a welcome warmth of music and humor in the midst of a bit of a stressful time. Our darling Estee was calm and slept very well last night, while the rest of us slept quite fitfully. I fell asleep with my hand on her tummy feeling the babies stir, and would wake up every so often to check on her, sweet girl. Morning came way too early for me and my eyes hurt from too much reading after the concert last night. But I'm thinking a good hearty Sunday breakfast, strong coffee and the morning paper may give us a sharper outlook on the day. We'll check in later if we see any action.

Sunday, Dec 10, 11 AM
I just want to go on record as saying that waiting for babies to be born is boring. We are occupying ourselves with cleaning -- what else do you do?

Sunday, Dec 10, 9 PM
We went to bed early (7 PM) to see if we could fool Estee into thinking it was the wee hours of the morning and get her labor started. I actually fell asleep and it felt good. Phone call woke us up, then we started organizing laundry, checking email, and anything else to make the wait go by faster. In any event still waiting. Estee's belly is so big and she is kind of rolling from side to side trying to find a comfortable spot, but really no signs of labor, sigh. We have everything ready – kind of all dressed up with nowhere to go feeling. Guess I'll go back to bed...

Monday, Dec 11, 4 AM
All's peaceful... Estee snuggled herself comfortably in the laundry basket. I put the basket right next to the bed so I can keep a close eye on her.

Monday, Dec 11, 6 AM
hmm, one eye open, everything fine. Closing eye now.

Monday, Dec 11, 7 AM
Mad dash to start the day -- will report any action as it happens.

Monday, Dec 11, 11 AM
Checked temperature -- it dropped, a good sign. When it goes back up it is a step in the delivery process.

Monday, Dec 11 3:30 PM
Checked out at work -- who am I kidding, they can run the place without me for one afternoon, please have puppies tonight so I don't disrupt our entire staff...

Monday, Dec 11, 9 PM
My dear sweet girl is restless, occasionally panting, but as soon as I have hope the time is nearing she relaxes and is quiet. She has not followed me to the office this time to check email, maybe she is settling in for a night of labor. One can only hope.

Tuesday, Dec 12, 5 AM
The panting is consistent now, 30 minutes ago the panting rhythm went double time. I'm just gazing in my dog's eyes and petting her gently. She's looking at me as if I am the most wonderful person in the world - in the wee hours of this morning I just may be.

Tuesday, Dec 12, 7:08 AM
Daughter up, gave her the disappointing news that we do not have puppies yet. We stroked Estee to give her comfort as she sat in the laundry basket, still panting. She is sitting a little funny. I look at her. I really looked at her, and then look her over. Her leg looks odd, faintly gray, a little wet, what in heavens name... Oh my gosh, that is NOT her leg, that is a puppy! Oh goodness, its here. It's here! It? It? What is it?

Carefully I move the sheets in the basket and look at our wee babe. He's nursing and resting comfortably. I sneak a peak and discover, it's a boy! We have decided that this is our Chopin litter, so this new fellow is dubbed Prelude to Joy Fryderyk Chopin. We've decided to call him Ryki (Ricky) for short. He weighs 5 1/8 ounces.

So little Ryki got his Prelude to Joy "blue ribbon."

Tuesday, Dec 12, 8:52 AM
We give daughter the chance to do something so she has been counting the contractions and logging them in my little notebook. It is almost two hours since we saw our first puppy I am in contact with the vet's office. We remember that Estee takes her sweet time, delivers, rests, and then gets back to the work of delivery. If I could speed things up I would, but something tells me she is on her own time clock now.

I look at the notebook and it is a smooth line up of the minutes of the hour and nice neat hash marks representing each contraction. I take over as Kai lays across the bed and watches the action from a higher vantage point. Earlier we settled Estee into a nesting box on the floor. I was afraid we might miss another puppy if it was lost in the folds of the sheets. I have removed the sheets and they will go through several rinses, a wash and a boil cycle before we see them again.

Back by Estee's side I watch Estee's contractions. The nice neat rows of minutes and hash marks is a tangle of lines and numbers. I am not very neat. I set the notebook aside and look at Estee, something bulbous moves out and then slides a bit back in as the contraction eases. Two steps forward, one step back, I think. I can tell she is getting closer now, longer contractions, less easing up. It could be soon, now.

Oh my, it is here. We have our second puppy. She's delivered another boy! We clean out his nasal passages and clear his mouth. He is slow to start to breath. This is where my heart starts beating and I cry I think we've lost a puppy as I incredulously watch him turn blue. I cradle him in my hands and provide a pendulum with my arms to have gravity clear out his air pipes. He gives a little gasp and then relapses. Once more the pendulum swing. I wish him well with my eyes, my heart, oh my heart. It is beating out of my chest, the vet is on the phone, someone else talk to him, I can't.

One day old: Fryderyk Chopin (blue yarn) and Mikolaj Chopin

I watch for every good sign, any movement, a rise and fall of his tender rib cage. Yes, yes, it's there. It's all there. He is pinking up. He is going to stay with us. Yes, this wee gent has come to stay and he is a bit bigger than his brother, 6 3/8 ounces. This one we name after Chopin's father, so he is Mikolaj Chopin, our Miko!

Tuesday, Dec 12, 11 AM
Now, is that the last of it…was the vet's radiogram the last word? Are we done or is there another possibly puppy in there? I've had my suspicions, I am afterall the one who has held my girl at night and caressed her big sides and listened with my fingertips as little balls of life spiraled around inside her. I wondered over and over, was that only one moving on that side, or was that two? I gently press my hand against Estee's side and ponder what my palms are telling me. I am no longer doubtful, there is definitely another baby in there.

Of course we wait and wait. And eventually the sweet babe appears. I smile knowing I was right -- I like to be right. But we have to wait for the placenta to pass before we can do anything else and it takes forever. In the meantime I can't quite get a good look to answer my last question, "Do we have the three musketeers here - three boys, or is this something different, like a little sister? I am patient. I really want a girl, but I am afraid to look.

Three days old: Emilia Chopin.

I rest and let Estee finish her work. Now it's my turn. I slide the young-un over and tie her teeny tiny umbilical cord with dental floss. It is now that I finally see, that Estee has presented the two brothers with a little sissy. Ryki and Miko have a baby sister. We name her after one of Chopin's sisters. Ryki wears the blue yarn and Miko wears the red, and as we know it will be forever obvious that little sissy will be completely distinguishable from her brothers, she is free to roam ribbonless. This darling we name after one of Chopin's sister. At last we present Emilia Chopin, or Emy as we whisper to her as we place her tenderly next to her mama.

Now I am going to lay on my bed and gaze at our babies and smile and thank God that he would share this beautiful wonder with us. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, "Babies in the house are wonderful…even if they are dogs."

For information on puppies

Located in the beautiful
Pacific Northwest in Washington State.
Minutes from the International Airport
at Portland, Oregon (PDX).

Copyright © 2005- Prelude to Joy Bolognese.   All Rights reserved.