Birth - day

It's was early Thursday morning, around 2:00am and the puppy doula hat was getting uncomfortable. Molly hadn't slept well in three night's which meant I didn't either. We had moved the whelping box into our living room right beside the couch to try to help make her comfortable in it. As soon as I would fall asleep Molly would sneak out of the whelping box and into Lauren's room. I would wake, run up in a panic to see if the birth had started and convince her to come back downstairs. Then the whole thing would repeat itself twenty minutes later.
We had just come down from our 5th round of this exercise, when something seemed different. Molly was circling the box and starting to strain. With three pushes, and still standing, our first puppy was born.
She went straight to work cleaning it up. I was so impressed by her instincts to break the sack and cut the cord, when moments before she seemed to have no idea what was going on. She was still standing and had barely finished cleaning the first when another was born. Things were happening fast. I became more than a spectator as the puppies kept coming approximately 2 minutes apart. Cleaning the area and placing the new pups where she could see them. Molly was often not done with the last when another would come.
Six fat healthy puppies arrived in less than a half hour. Five black puppies and one blond were all nursing happily. Then 40 minutes after the last, birthing started again.
Two more black puppies came in quick succession. For a moment I was concerned they would keep coming. But those two completed the family. Eight squeaky squirmy little balls of fur and an impressive amount of laundry. At 5:00 am I stumbled into bed. Relieved and exhausted.

This is the video of the birth of the third and only blond puppy. If like me, 'wet noises' bother you, I'd recommend muting your volume. ;)