(SAD FACE!   Not thrilled with the box.)
( Waah!)  When I came home, I was actually startled by how big she seemed....her boobs seem bigger than yesterday. I am now contemplating taking an xray on Sunday to see how many are in there; because it is looking more and more like this section may happen on a Sunday, and I would like to know how many puppy resuscitators I will need to coerce into coming in to work on their days off. LOL!
She got a belated shower gift today from one of our docs; a new fleece pad with a puppfy border around it.  She is a fleece sucker, so she is nursing on it right now.  She is so cute, so sweet and so damn adorable; she just is precious! Now, as well as in general.
Here she was this weekend, in her whelping box...waiting for me to say she can come out.  I don't foresee her spending a ton of time in there. She wasn't thrilled with it. Maybe once it has babies in it, it will be more enticing.  Or not! We're prepared to do it all, if need be. Whatever her Highness wishes!

...we're just waiting for the PATRONS!!

( or, Patience has her MILK!!! YIPPEE!!!) 
What a relief for me; I was worrying over what to do if it didn't come "in" in time for the puppies....now I'm hoping this means she'll have plenty!
I hope it isn't TOO early.....now, I'll worry about THAT!   
The other thing, I THINK I saw a puppy MOVE today. Twice.  CRAZINESS!!

As we get closer, things seem to be moving even faster each day. She is eating really well now and getting very big in her belly.  Her udders are really hangy now, and ( evidently) filling with milk as I inadvertently discovered during a session of Heavy Petting that was going on out in the grass this afternoon. ( guilty as charged).
The box is usually filled with cats ; it gets lovely afternoon sun and the cats feel like they are in the Fry Warmer at McDonalds.
  ( EDIT: Luckily I have good friends who know more than I do !  Erica Tortorella ( Lexington Mastiffs) has pointed out to me that what I saw was not milk per se, but colostrum. The actual milk will come down later, after the puppies have had the colostrum.  I always thought that colostrum was just "super milk" ; the first milk they get which is full of the anitbodies etc. that they desperately need to have.  I didn't know that it really looked different than milk, and was not present at the same TIME as milk...apparently when they have colostrum, the puppies eat straight colostrum and not milk; which is very different from milk..which I DID know; ( raise your hand if you are not confused yet).
At any rate, I'm thinking, colostrum = good.  Puppies getting colostrum = good.
I'm not thinking about milk.
Because apparently , that was NOT milk I saw.
And, it would be too early for milk.

Ok, I need a glass of wine after THAT, to hell with milk anyhoo!
 

Well, it's the day after the shower; somehow I am still awake at this hour although very tired! The shower was AWESOME and a highly recommend you all having  them for your puppies!  We had so much fun, with all of our cool animal friends; had great food ( thank you Sara and Auntie !!); pretty decorations, great and useful gifties; we played  a game where we had to clicker train eachother!! It was really fun and waaaaay better than a baby shower, IMO!!
I had some wine, and boy did I WHINE when I had to get up at 6 am to go to work today. Ugh. Luckily it was an easy day; and everything went well at work.
Patience is REALLY starting to look pregnant. We've got about two weeks, or possibly less; depending upon her progesterones and how fast they fall.  Ron took some pics of us today and I'll put them up later today.
I also have to take pics of the favors I made for everyone, they are adorable!! I am a regular Martha Stewart.  Just don't look at my house. LOL
I can't believe how big she is; in the last few days she's blown up. And her appetite is getting really good; unusual for her.
I can't believe it, here they come, it's getting so close!   Sigh!!

Pikachu and friends at the Shower. The pugs are wearing "Mini Owen" and "Mini P." signs. (Yes, we are mentally ill.)
I made this cake for the Shower.. Owen is the one on the left..
She's luscious!!

Here is cute P., she is wearing her pregnancy very stylishly; I think she hardly looks pregnant but friends who haven't seen her in a few weeks really see a difference.  She certainly isn't acting any differently, except that she has made herself a little nest under the deck.  I told her veterinarian about this development and he commented that he thought that that was DEFINATELY cute.

Ok, the scale is FINE and working great.  I guess it is super sensitive, and I was setting it on the floor on a rug.  It needs to be on an absolutely FLAT surface ie: countertop.  As soon as I did that, it worked fine. Phew!
Patience is so cute, I have to say.  Yesterday she was out in the fenced year for wee-wees. I went to get her and couldn't find her!!! I was yelling and running around like a nut.  Got Ron out to help...he instantly goes, "Her she is!"  LOL.  She has apparently begun making a NEST ( thank God we found it) in a terrible place...she could BARELY get out, herself....LOL....she was under the deck, ( a normal place for my dogs) but UNDER the STAIRS she has dug herself a cozy and invisible nest..in which NOT to have her puppies, unbeknownst to HER. Now that we are WISE to her. LOL

We went and picked up the Box....it is soooo beautiful!! I told Nancy, this is the nicest piece of furniture we have now.  It is furniture grade wood, stained and very shiny with polyeurethane ( sp??).  It has" love marks" from 20 years of little mastiff teeth.
Not only did Owen grow up in it, but his predecessors as well! It has quite a history!!
I am having fun planning for this litter. We have all sorts of high hopes ( which may dissipate as the work load actually becomes a reality, I am well aware!) of all sorts of things we want to do with the babies.  Our Auntie and dog trainer Heather wants to Puppy Aptitude Test them; and I have been reading some books on raising performance puppies, with clicker based training from the age of five weeks or so! I would love to have them have a little basis in training when they leave me here.
We are going to do some Rule of 7's type stuff for their social and neurological development as well as coordination and confidence.
I'm going to really try to give them as much of myself as I can, and  set them up for success as much as possible!
Ron is working on the Baby Room......the debris field is...smaller.....it will get there, I'm sure; and everything will be in place and ready when it needs to be. 
Patience is my bitch; NOT my Virtue!!!!   
Here she is at Day 41, relaxing in her bean bed.

Patience is getting thicker looking, I think....she is getting more Booby Hang-Down...
This weekend , ron and I are going on a little road trip, to Owen's Grandma's house, to pick up the whelping box and some other items!  Owen's puppies will be raised in the same box as their Daddy!  Isn't that cute??
Ron has been working on clearing out his ...umm..."office??" for use as "the Nursery".  Thank God for Puppies!!
His room is a disaster zone; and apparently it has taken Puppies to motivate him to clean it out.
I've been working on gathering the different things we'll need. I ordered a scale on Ebay, it arrived yesterday but does not work correctly!!  I have emailed the seller and hopefully it will get remedied. Pain in the butt!!  And it scared the crap out of me at first, I was epxecting it to work, so I weighed Pikachu who weighs 15 pounds and it said 10 pounds! My heart dropped, I thought, Holy COW, she looks fine, acting fine, how could she have lost five pounds??!!!  ( and where is my defibrillator when I need it??)
So, I weighed a pound of butter...said 12 oz..then, I tried Pikachu again...10 pounds...zeroed it, tried again, 15 pounds, some oz.!! Anyway, I won't take you through EACH animal; LOL because I DID try them ALL....and none were right. 
So, need to deal with that.

Well, not much to report lately!
We looked at them again today; her repro vet had wanted to have a look again via ultrasound, to make sure she was "holding on" to the puppies and not resorbing them.  Last week we saw one sac that was "non viable" or empty looking; and we needed to look again to see that this was not a "trend".
The little puppies were all looking good, in their respective sacs, and the "empty" one was gone or at least not able to be found. There appeared to be no signs of resorption.  We also saw a puppy we hadn't seen last week, because it was positioned very high up and under/behind her spleen.  Dr. HWSRN said that perhaps the "Empty sac" wasn't even really a non viable fetus, but the very bottom of the sac that was holding the High Up puppy we saw today.
So, long story short, everything looks totally normal and fine!
Patience enjoyed the visit as always; getting handfuls of Dr. Becker's Liver Treats from the big Head Honcho at work;  drooling on some people's lunches in the lunch room, and nibbling tiny biscuits while standing still for her ultrasound.
Don't be asking me for counts, I'm not thinking about counts and have no concern regarding counts until the babies are all out and Patience is up and awake.

I was worried about her not eating well, but Dr. HWSRN very DIPLOMATICALLY and gently advised me that Patience has plenty of...umm.."reserves" , I think he said...
and I shouldn't worry about her eating three meals a day at this point.
That's it for now.
M.C.

Okay, only two more days before the beginning of week 6; and she still really does NOT look pregnant to me!  I'm attributing this to the fact that she is a young, lithe filly of a thing who has never been stretched out by a previous litter????
I'm sure she's FINE but I do wish she's look a little more...well, pregnant!

I was supposed to get some pics of her this weekend, but I need a new Sandisk ; for one...and, for two...she looks like she did last week ANYWAY!!!
At least I now know how to add pics to the Blog.
She liked her Mommy Stew last night; then this am. ate only half...she is sunbathing now.
I got some work done on the contract last night and have begun to harass Ron to get the puppy room cleaned out- it's full of his "stuff" right now, which I am neither allowed to throw out or move without his say so.
So, as nagging is one of my talents, I am certainly willing to provide whatever nagging motivation is required!

Okay, for some reason today I am extremely TIRED!  LOL 
I guess it's been a somewhat busy week and there has been alot of excitement in the air, haven't been sleeping alot as my mind is constantly on Patience, the puppies, all of the stuff I need to do etc etc.!
Patience still doesn't look particulary pregnant, although she looks "nice"; has a fairly full figure ( which for mastiffs is a good thing).  She is somewhat persnikkity about her puppy food.  I am caving ( this early!!) LOL and am boiling up some nice beef for her; I'm going to make a big vat of delicious and nutritious dog stew to add to her puppy food.  When we mix things in, she removes the mix-ins and eats them...stew is hard to remove though, and usually the stew idea works well for her.
Then I'll have some cereal, or one of those frozen pretzels in the freezer for my OWN dinner.
I thought I felt a puppy last night!! Hmmm....

Okay, we are at Day 30 today. According to a timeline that Sherry sent me, which she got from someone else, who apparently breeds chihuahuas...during this week ( or more succinctly, from days 29-35) the puppies will develop toes, whisker buds, and claws.  The fetuses will begin to look like dogs, gender can be determined; eyes close ( previously they were open).
Patience is still acting normal, we are waiting for her to realize that she is in a delicate state; but we are not expecting her to slow down much.  She has two speeds; ON and OFF.
This weekend I will be putting together the contracts (GROAN, God help me!!)  I can't tell you how I've dreaded that, like homework. LOL
The other news is that my best friend and doggie Auntie, Heather, is throwing a Puppy Shower for Patience!!
Any ideas on decorations, favors , or things we should ask for as gifts; appreciated!
What can you never have enough of ( besides puppies) when having puppies?  Ok, besides SLEEP ....
Here is baby Gorgeous herself, resting her big head on my lap and looking at me adoringly....or wishfully.....hoping I'll put another Cheeto garnish on the rest of her dinner, so the poor dear can eat.  Sigh.  Later dudes!