The Joys of Motherhood

I have two full bred Shiba Inus.  I love them with all my heart.  They are my children and I promise you I will feel that way even when I have a crying babe in a cradle. 

My baby girl, Gracie, just delivered a litter of four beautiful, healthy baby boys.  This was the most terrifying, yet wonderful thing I've gone through, possibly, ever.  For starters, Gracie was SO tired at the tail end of her pregnancy and generally seemed miserable.  (I'm sure I'll be no different when I'm as round as a beach ball one day.) She didn't want to eat, play or really even leave her bed except if she needed to go outside.  This is not my puppy.  It was so hard to watch her go through all that and not be able to do anything but pet and coo at her.  

I kept coming to check on her (because I was a nervous, worried wreck) and found her not in her bed, but instead on mine...oh...and her water had just broken...on.my.bed.  Now, normally I'm sure I would have been upset that my bed was covered in "water" but I was so excited and scared that I couldn't care less. 

Jayson came in (after I yelled his name like a madwoman) and we immediately started unpacking our delivery supplies.  Seriously, maybe 10 minutes later, our first baby boy was born. Now, Gracie was fairly freaked out.  She clearly was unsure of what was going on and she wouldn't hold still.  To say that it was a little messy is an understatement.  Despite her confusion and fears, she quickly figured out how to care for her son.  She licked him clean and got the fluid out of his nose and mouth before her next puppy made its way to the world.  By the third puppy, Gracie no longer really needed our help or reassurance. In twenty minutes, she was an old pro at this whole labor thing.  The forth and final guy was born while she nursed the first three pups.  Girlfriend didn't even get up to push the little guy out.  I  honestly didn't even realize we had four until I counted again..sneaky mommy.

Now, she's so devoted to these four squirming, whining, constantly eating, little guys. She is a different dog altogether.  She's eating and drinking but really will only think about herself when I bring it to her - she's left them once to go outside to do her personal business and ran right back to them when she was done.  She has no interest in toys or treats - just her four baby boys.  Perhaps I'm just sentimental, but to me it's beautiful.

She feels about these little baby pups, the way I feel about her.  Being a mama - to a child, an animal, or to your less responsible friends ;) can be incredibly rewarding.  I'm sure being a dad is cool too, but motherhood, in any form, makes me pretty happy to be a woman.