Emma went into the early stages of labor on Wednesday, June 11. I spent the night up with her thinking she would have them, but no go!!

Finally at 10:48 pm Thursday, June 12, she had the first puppy. A little black girl with white paws and a white blaze. I call her Nali, because she was born on my friend nali's birthday :)

Next was Horace. Horace was born at 11:30pm. He is also black with white paws and chest, and a tiny blaze. He is chubby!!

Number 3 is Elliott Jr, a merle boy. He came at exactly 12:00am. I was very very excited to see a merle after the two black babies :)

Number four took me by surprise. She was born at 12:43am on 6-13-03. At first I thought Emma was cleaning the merle boy, then I realized she had had another merle, and it was my girl, which is what I was hoping for. Her name is Lady Isabella's Jewel (Bella). Here is a picture of her. She has a white tip on her tail and white paws.

After Bella was born, I thought Emma was done. The ultrasound only counted 4 pups, and she was very relaxed and calm. I waited up for about another hour and a half, and nothing happened, so I decided to take a nap. When I woke up at 4 am, everything was also fine. I went back to bed and woke up at 6am, only to find 3 more puppies!!! A little black girl with a white paws, chest and blaze. I named her Nikita, she was a fighter, and came out all on her own without my supervision. What a sneak!

Puppy #5 was a little black boy, and he was dead when I found him. He was very tiny. Puppy #6 came out just as I found Emma and more pups. She was a little black girl with white markings, and was breathing a little at first, but despite all my efforts, she did not make it. I so wish I would have been able to find a mentor to help with this whelping, or a decent vet in my area. All the vets told me to just leave her alone and let her do whatever she needed to do. I had the help of some great people online from The Great Dane Room, and they helped me so much.

 

I got the whelping box all cleaned up and Emma pottied, only to have her pop out the final puppy at 8:30am, just as two of my clients for the day walked in. What timing. I call her Friday....she was born on friday the 13th after all <g>.

They obviously learn to sleep like this from birth! Definitely get this from their daddy.

Go to Week One!