I really should know better than to make confident statements about what I'll be doing on any particular day. Yesterday I had every intention of sewing the whole day away, until a call from Mereth sent me racing around there at midday.  A certain Pippi was in labour, and I didn't want to miss the excitement.

I can now add Puppy Midwife to my resume; I was a Piglet Midwife in the early '80s,  when I worked in several intensive piggeries.  Three years ago I watched Bonnie have the litter of pups that included Pippi, and she just popped them out one after the other.  Poor Pippi had to work so hard to produce her 5 puppies, it took three hours for the first one to arrive.  He was so pale and still I thought he was a goner, but a bit of massage and clearing his airways did the trick.  He lay on a heating pad on my lap till his colour came back.

Another pup came fairly quickly, back legs first but much more active and making a lot of noise.  The next three puppies arrived at hourly intervals and Pip dealt with them really well.  The last puppy was stuck for nearly five minutes with his nose almost out and the rest of him refusing to move forward; it was an anxious time.  He was huge, we should have weighed them all, but we were a bit preoccupied.  The whole labour took 6 hours, and I don't think Pips wants to go through anything like that again.  Luckily, we can arrange that with the vet......

Three boys and two girls, what a nice little family.

Dolly was acting like a crazy lady, wanting to get in with the puppies, rushing from one to another, trembling with excitement and determined to lick them dry.

She was so fixated on them, we had to lock her out during the last bit, we were too busy trying to help Pips and keep the puppies safe and warm and didn't need her getting in the way.  She was desolate, howled at the door and banged it.  Poor barren, childless Dolly; she's not built for motherhood, too small and fine-boned, so it was never going to happen.  She can be a good auntie though.

I came home at 8.30, got everything ready for work the next day, and went to bed.  So much for my day spent sewing and making progress.  Hijacked again, but in a good way.