Batten down the hatches !

Henry and Smudge

Meant to blog yesterday evening, but time got the better of me and I thought I would get  back from milking this morning and do a quick blog. I though forgot about the letter last week informing us that the electric was being turned off today from 9am to 5 pm for repairs. 
I'm here now though, after milking this evening and just eat my supper.
Smudge is now eight weeks and three days pregnant from her first mating. Before the weekend I took a look at the information I have on her two other pregnancies. Her first litter she went into labour five days before her due date from her first mating and her second litter, she went into labour four days before her due date from her first mating. Each time although giving birth early, all pups lived and all were the size you would expect for full term pups.
With this information, instead of waiting until Monday to start taking her temperature, I started to take her temperature on Saturday. She is now four days before her due date, taken from her first mating. Yesterday into this morning her temperature dropped and now it has come right back up, which indicates that arrival of her pups could be anytime now in the next 24 hours. She is panting intermittently and although it is a little warm indoors, you can see the panting is more that she is having twinges. She is very uncomfortable now and looks to her back end and when getting up then sniffs where she was sat, as if looking for a pup. Smudge in the past has not been a bitch to dig and bed up that much, but she is occasionally going in the whelping box arranging the shredded newspaper in there.
The first slide show of photos are Smudge and some of Henry the father of the litter she is carrying, over the weekend up until yesterday.

---

Bit of a Smudge overload tonight with photos. The second slideshow below is Smudge today and some again feature Henry the father of the pups she is carrying.
So it's time to batten down the hatches, as the good ship Poundlane is about to set sail again. I suspect with Smudge as before, we are in for a long voyage and as Captain my job is to safely navigate Smudge and her precious cargo through what is one of the most precarious journeys in life, that we will of all taken, birth !