Bellyaches, the Dark Side and Sleeping Puppies

Squawk! Squawk! SQUAWK! SQUAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWKKKKKK!!!!!!

That is the sound of nine bellyaches! Caused by feeding Jalapeño food that she enjoys that the puppies do not. Because the spice of the food taints the milk. So when my nine little babies sampled a diluted form of Spanish tapas, eight hours later they sonorously expressed their disapproval for over two hours of continuous high-pitched screaming!

Hell.

That is where Jalapeño felt she was while her babes were squawking. They cried and wailed and keened and after a while, Piña and I looked at each other and cried as well. Ok, only I did. She is much more stoic than I am. We did want to pull a Thelma and Louise and blow that PUPsicle stand though!

Normally when the babes cry, all I have to do is help them find a nipple. Yesterday this did not work. They had sucked little Piña dry. So maybe the milk was tasty going down since they didn't leave any leftovers. I hope so. Poor little fellas. So giving them a nipple didn't work. They would spit it our and continue to yodel. Then I tried offering their booties up to Piña to clean. A good butt-licking usually puts them to sleep. At least for a while. BUT. Not. Yesterday.

So I dried my tears, drew a big shuddering breath, gathered the tatters that were left of my composure and called my vet. She is used to dealing with us new mothers. After expressing amusing, gentle disapproval at some of the foods we had fed Jalapeño, she helped me calm down. We discussed Piña's future diet and then I hung up and proceeded to wait.  This too would pass. And an hour later it started to.

The puppies were still anxious so I got into the whelping pen. Belly rubs yielded four snoozers on my lap and five other scattered around me. There was blessed quiet. For. A. Minute. And then Little Joseppe would holler and the chorus would start back up. Rinse and repeat. They finally settled and napped.

When Joseppe is good, he is very, very good...

Here are some shots of our other little snoozers. Some you have met formally and some not. No fear .... I will spotlight all of the puppies in future blogs.

Purple and Red together make maroon loooooove....

Lil Red using Runt as a pillow.

Here Lil Runt takes a nap while her sisters eat. This way she doesn't loose her spot by the good nipple!

Holding her spot!

Nothin' beats snuggling with Mamma.

Lil Mr. Black gettin ' his drool on. 

Everybody was finally tuckered out. 

So that was Part One of the dark side of having puppies. Part Two involves my upper respiratory system. Turns out that when you are allergic to dogs, you are also allergic to puppies. Hmph! And when you are surrounded 24/7 by ten pooches, your allergies explode. Not exaggerating. They literally explode. In my chest. At night. Since the puppies have been born my lung capacity has diminished substantially. I feel like I need a hole in my throat to open up my airways. After my doctor got over the fact that I knew I was allergic and still chose to have puppies, he realized the best he could hope for was to treat the symptoms. I am now the proud user of an asthma type inhaler! And I can breathe. Allergies. Shmallergies. Puppies are so worth not being able to breathe...well.

My mother requested a shot with all the puppies, so here you go, Mom :)

Can you see all nine of them?

Awaitin' a change of linens.

What is going on right now, you might wonder. Here you go. Its the heavenly side of having puppies.