our new arrival(s)

A few weeks ago, I began to notice some similarities between myself and our new chocolate lab, Tessa.
She would waddle to her food and water dishes and I would waddle to our food pantry and refrigerator. She was panting and I was short of breath. She was becoming more and more lethargic and spent a lot of time sleeping. So do I. Her belly "popped' out and started growing day by day, and so does mine. When the boys would throw a ball and tell her to fetch she looks at them as if "yeah right, you expect me to run and bend over?!"  With me, I think twice before I bend over for anything and while I am down there I look for whatever else needs to be done. Tessa didn't seem to have to cross her legs when she sneezed, nor have heart burn, fluid retention, or high blood pressure, but she did have frequent trips to the outdoors to relieve herself. We both had the nesting urge last week. She dug a hole under our front porch and filled it with straw. I took out baby clothes, searched for the cradle and tidied up.Tessa and I would look knowingly at each other. We both knew that sometime this month we would experience labour. It was disturbing to notice all of the similarities between our family dog and myself.
On Monday we noticed changes in Tessa and dragged her down to the basement to have her puppies in the big whelping box that Adam made. We had never heard of the word whelping until last week. When we knew that Tessa was in the family way we quickly had to do some research about what to expect when your dog is expecting. All day Monday the dog was in labour and it was a terrible thing to watch. First of all there is nothing you can do and secondly, it was another reminder about what is coming my way! By Monday night there were eight wet little puppies and Tessa was still in labour. When we checked on her early Tuesday morning there were eleven puppies! Eleven. We couldn't believe it. Suddenly the big whelping box that Adam built didn't seem so big. Our boys were wild with excitement and we could hardly get them off to school. We made phone calls and all of the grandparents stopped by at some point during the day to see these little puppies. Aunts and uncles, cousins, and friends have all come by to see our new additions. We have eleven puppies to add to the zoo-likeness of our house hold! And now we know what to get all of our siblings for Christmas.