Pepper's puppies are here

Pepper's puppies finally arrived! They actually came 4 days early. Pepper labored like a pro. For most of the day, we had no idea she was even in labor. She had been panting for days but would stop for hours. We assumed Wednesday, that was her normal panting. Even when I became suspicious, she would stop and play or nap with me. That evening, I was very nervous she was in labor but she still was not giving us any classic signs. She never dug at bedding, she never shivered, cried out in pain, or looked in distress. She even ate dinner that evening. By 1:00am, Thursday, April 27th, I became uneasy and moved her whelping box next to me so I could keep a very close eye on her. Her belly was firm but did not contract and release like a typical contraction so I told myself I was over reacting and tried to go back to sleep. By 2:30 am, I began staring at her. That's when I saw it...She was pushing!!! I jumped out of bed, turned on my night stand light, and woke my husband up. By the time I sat down next to her, she began pushing a puppy out. At 3:30, her first puppy was born. By 6:30, her 7th and last puppy was born.

Pepper was amazing!! She acted like she had done this a million times before. She truly is an amazing girl! In the end, she had 2 black puppies (1 boy and 1 girl) and 5 Merle puppies (1 boy and 4 girls). We decided on Flowers and Trees for this litter. As each puppy was born, my husband choose their names and wrote all stats down per puppy. After all was cleaned up and kids sent off to school, he crashed and I soon followed (or should I say I tried). I was too wound up to sleep and nervous about Pepper being a first time mom. I shouldn't have been so worried. She is amazing! I swear, she loves them. She is so watchful and attentive. Each day is a new blessing that we look forward too!