I’ll be honest, there have been moments, well days and night that I’ve questioned whether having this large Poodle around (and she’s technically small compared to most Standards) with a litter of puppies was the “right” thing to do (for me).  It changes the dynamics of things when everything is “bigger”. She doesn’t fit in a normal Cavapoo/Poodle/Cavalier crate, which means she takes up more room and even the beds I normally use aren’t big enough. So we’ve had to make accommodations and switch things around, plus add some bigger beds/pads for her to use.

She whelped the pups and started out in the large kiddie swimming pool to give her enough space. The problem was it was too much space for the babies. If Aurora got up and moved across the pool, the babies were lost trying to pull themselves around until they found mom. You can imagine the crying and fussing that seemed nonstop. I would get up, go retrieve babies and put them back by mom, all day long and what seemed like all night long. I really need seven to eight hours of good sleep. I can’t remember the last time that happened. This past week it’s been more like five to six interrupted hours. I’m exhausted to say the least (that and the stress of doing taxes at the last minute….) Not sure how long my “old” (I hate thinking myself that way:P) body can handle this. Sorry, not trying to be a whiner or looking for sympathy. This is the life I choose. It has been a big blessing. It’s just tiring sometimes. *yawn*

The other problem with the pool is keeping the pups warm. With it being springtime we don’t have a fire in the wood stove, but we do have space heater next to the pool and I pretty much always have a heating pad for any new litter at least for the first few days or so. Well, Aurora was a bit warm (she had a fever for a few days post whelping probably just from the birth and inflammation, etc (which we were monitoring with our vet’s advise).  And she chewed through the heating pad cord! Fortunately, she chewed between the pad and the switch and not between the switch and the wall which would have killed her! *gasp*

We thought about putting her in a large crate but none of the normal large crates I have are big enough for her with puppies. And then I remembered the ginormous one that Cajsa sleeps in in the garage! Hubby dragged it out and cleaned it up. Then we switched out the pool for the big crate. Thankfully it’s big enough for Aurora but small enough for the pups to stay close to her. It seems to be helping as the pups stay warmer and closer to her which means happy, warm puppies that aren’t crying and fussing so much! Now the only issue is to make sure she doesn’t lay on one since it’s tighter quarters. So far, so good.

They turned one week old yesterday and are gaining and growing. We only have one ginormous sable girl that is over and pound and super chunky. The rest all look and are the size of “normal” Cavapoos at this age. Time will tell if they start to grow bigger like their sister.

It’s been a rough week, but man, they sure are pretty!