3.15am Wake Up call!

Tuesday: 3rd November 2009

Besides being absolutely shattered and so tense and on edge, Tuesday was a good day. The collections went extremely smoothly and all looked good in the land of distribution

I must say I was happy when Tuesday ended and there were fewer mails. I dealt with them one by one. 20h00 hours I finally got home from work after dropping Matt at home. A long day and one that I really could have done without.

Bern and I did the animal feeding thing and Madam Jinx decides that she is not going to eat, no she is actually panting and we know it’s the first stages of labour. Bern and I told her quite sternly (ha ha) to not go into labour that night as we were exhausted.

Well madam Jinx listened to us. She went through the evening doing the pre-huffing and puffing. She lay next to my bed and asked for rubs and love incessantly. After the last loo call just before midnight Bern and I finally crashed.

At 3.15 Fiona woke me up with a woof right in the face. I had heard a funny squeaking noise that I was sure was a sound effect from my dreams, but in actual fact, Madam Jinx had had her first baby.

I stumbled out of bed and saw this lovely toffee coloured little wriggling bundle on the bathroom floor. Madam jinx was on top of our clothes that were in a pile to be taken to the laundry the following day. Right on top of our laundry she was giving birth.

I called Bern to wake up and help me get Jinx a blanket or something else to lie on. Bern was quite disorientated as was I but we grabbed an old sheet and put it in the corner of the bathroom where Jinx had chosen to have her babies. No sooner had we moved the clothes and dumped them by the shower, Jinx got up and went and lay on them again. Now I know this has something to do with feeling safe by having a familiar smell around her. So gently I coached her back on the sheet and had her baby girl in my hands. Jinx then climbed half onto my lap and I swear we both did the heavy breathing. The second baby arrived an hour later. By now it was past 4.00 am and Bern and I knew that we were going to have a problem with work that day, as our normal wake up time was 4.50am and we had to be at the office by no later than 6.00am.

Bern left me with our wonderful Jinx who was busy cleaning her two additions and sitting/lying on my lap. I was rubbing her back and she was shivering with the pain of the contractions. This is when Monster Kitty decided enough was enough. Her best friend was in trouble and she was determined to have a serious chat with these little rats like looking things that had made an unexpected arrival in the bathroom.

She approached the babies with curiosity and very tentatively tried to smell them, her reward was a warning snarl from Jinx and I thought it would be best to remove her from the room. So I picked up Monster kitty and as I was walking away Jinx became quite distressed. I thought it was because I was leaving, but no, she was upset that I was taking her best friend out the room. The reason I know this is because she left her new born pups followed me to the bedroom door while I pushed Monster out of the room. Jinx looked up at me and cried at the door.

Now I miss-took this to mean she needed to go out, which is not normal for dogs while they are in labour, but hey Jinx is not normal is she? She is quite a wonderful addition to our family and has her way of handling situations.

So I opened the door thinking she would run out, no she greeted Monster Kitty who was crying at the door by kissing her and went right back to the sheet and her newly born puppies. She settled down and cleaned her babies and when she was satisfied that they were clean enough she rested her head-on my lap.

By the time Bern was ready to leave the third pup was on his way. Three babies and Bern had to leave me to handle the rest of the labour as we knew full well that Jinx was going to have quite a large litter as she was past being called big, she was humongous.

While this was going on Fiona and Little Boy refused to leave the bathroom area. They sat as if they were the medical stand by team, lying down and watching the proceedings with a whine and a whimper every now and then. Fiona would every now and then come and give Jinx a kiss on her head, and lick her but she realized she had to stay away from the babies. She just wanted to see the babies.

When Little Boy joined our Family, Fiona immediately adopted him and he was now her child. I must admit that I was worried how she would react to Jinx’s babies as she is quite jealous of the time Jinx gets as she is my shadow and Jinx is too young to realize that Fiona is the Dominant Female and the leader of the pack after me. Yes I am the leader of the pack, followed closely by Bern.

The animals realise I am the one who feeds them most of the time. Fiona had disciplined Jinx on a few occasions and we now keep Jinx in a separate part of the Garden, where her best friend Monster Kitty plays with her all day.

So Jinx had me as her head rest, Fiona as the stand by Midwife and Little Boy as the whaler and announcer (like the newspaper boys – read about it read all about it; Jinx is an unwed Mother of three!! And more to come) Monster Kitty was never more than 15 cm away fro her best friend through this whole process.

At 6.00 am I phoned our friend Val and asked her for a lift to work, Matt had missed his lift with Bern so I arranged to fetch him too. I quickly showered and kept an eye on Jinx, she now had 4 babies, one with a perfect shield on the chest and one very small one. Ok so I named them already – sue me. Toffee, Chocolat, Sir Lancelot coz of the shield perfectly shaped on its chest and Runty I named ….. How original – TINY.

While I was getting dressed and taking the rubbish out, Jinx was ready for her 5th one. I arrived and sat and did the llamas with her. I was sitting on my haunches and breathing with her and pushing with her and telling her she was a good girl and -and telling her it was nearly over and this took about ½ an hour. By the time she was finished, I was frozen in that position. Stiff and could not straighten up.

So I did what anyone as unfit as I am would do. I plonked myself down on my butt and had this crab on his back like effect stance, legs all crooked. I sat there, half lying down to tried to un-cramp and unfold my legs.

Fiona must have though I needed encouragement as she decided I needed a lick of encouragement in my ear. Well that was enough for me to forget about being gentle as I unfolded my body. My legs shot out straight and the searing pain as my muscles unfolded was I am sure as excruciating as giving birth.

I moaned and I am sure Fiona thought I was giving birth as well and Little Boy just thought I needed to be sat on- on my chest as I half lay there.

Not half as funny as it sounds. I managed to pull myself up and walked with a hunch to the bedroom and finished getting dressed. I had been in my track and pants until then as I did not want to get my work clothes all grubby. I was like a stooped over old lady. All rickety and stiff from sitting on a cold bathroom floor since 3.15 with one trip to take OUT THE RUBBISH my favourite time of the week.

I managed a 5 minute shower. I threw my clothes on but this time I made sure I matched. No gold red/floral white gaudy shirt with brown stripped pants.

Actually I thought I looked respectable clothing wise with me new work tops on, with pink, and beige little diamonds across the chest. A very nice gofd shirt I chose for my operational position at work, however my hair was a mess and I had no make up and looked haggard I am sure.

I received a call from Val, and went out to meet her at the car after locking Jinx in the house and Fiona and little boy out side and Kitty out side the bedroom.

I was planning to come back as I needed to bring my helper to clean the house. I also needed to fetch my car that was at the depot.

This was the beginning to a very full day and it was going to get even busier.