Friday 4th September 2015, 6pm
"Are you happy now?" Sam moaned as she and Tom had just put a waterproof sheet over their mattress under the bed sheet and duvet to protect it in case Sam's waters broke in the night.
"Yes because now our mattress is protected from any potential leakage from you." Tom quipped.
"I can't tell if you're referring to my bladder or when I go into labour." Sam joked halfheartedly before she walked through to the living room. They knew Shadow was entering labour because they had been taking her temperature for weeks and they had been told by the vet that her temperature would drop before she went into labour and it had done so. And her nipples had enlarged so she was ready to feed her puppies. "Shadow, you wanna go out for a wee wee?" Sam asked and slowly the dog stood up and headed towards the back door.
"Wow, she's got the same average speed of a snail just like you." Tom joked as he opened the back door and Shadow stayed close to the door but she laid down on the grass presumably to cool herself down. "This could be like a practice run of your birth." He suggested.
"Yeah except it's a dog giving birth, I'm not carrying quadruplets, Shadow can't have gas and air and she can't crush your hand with her paws." Sam remarked as she leant in the doorway.
"Fair enough. But there's only two days to go." Tom smiled as he put his hand on Sam's 39 week bump. "Ugh, she's disgusting." Tom grimaced as Shadow began licking between her hind legs.
"No she's not; I think she's had her show. It says on the internet dogs normally lick it away and plus you can see it on her white fur." Sam stated as she nodded to the pinkish stain that the dog was licking away.
"So will you be licking your show away?" Tom joked.
"Please, I couldn't reach it if I tried." Sam smirked. "But you wait until later, if everything goes to plan, she should actually eat the amniotic sac and the placenta for each puppy to keep her nutrients up after giving birth." Sam stated.
"Lovely." Tom said sarcastically. They then watched Shadow get up off of the grass and she began to make her way indoors, but as she made her way back to her whelping box, she began nudging Sam's ankle with her nose. "Don't do that, that's naughty." Tom said protectively as he moved Shadow's head away from Sam, but she returned and began nosing Sam's ankle again.
"Its alright, I think she just wants me to come with her." Sam concluded as she walked towards the living room and Shadow followed. Sam knelt down in front of the box and so Shadow got in and curled up on the blankets. "Do you want to get the sleeping bags and pillows from our room so that we can sleep here tonight?" Sam suggested as she opened the small cupboard near Shadow's box where they had sterile equipment, blankets and towels for whelping.
"Is your back gonna be alright?" Tom asked concernedly.
"Yeah, I'll sleep on the sofa if it gets bad." Sam nodded so Tom disappeared whilst Sam watched her dog. Soon, Tom returned with the duvet, four pillows and two sleeping bags. He left a metre gap for Shadow to get out of her box before he laid the duvet on the floor for a little bit of extra comfort, and arranged the pillows and sleeping bags on top of it. "At least now I've got time off I can stay with them rather than leaving then at home alone all day." Sam stated.
"See, maternity leave isn't that bad."
"It is when you're forced to go on it." Sam grumbled. She ahead to go on maternity leave on the Sunday of the week that she was due and because she was due on a sunday and she only worked weekdays, she was now officially on maternity leave.
"Sam your due date is in two days!" Tom laughed as he knelt down besides Sam where Shadow was staring at her own belly. She then sat up in her box, leant forward and began licking Sam's bump through her shirt. "So she's just been licking her private parts, and now she's allowed to lick our baby?" Tom protested.
"If you think that my skin is your baby that you're sorely mistaken." Sam retorted. "She's not actually licking our baby she's just... I don't know, being maternal?" Sam shrugged. "Because, as I rightly pointed out, she knows that I'm pregnant." Sam said smugly.
"Well she has just made your shirt wet with her saliva." Tom smirked and Sam looked down on her bright blue tank top where there was a damp patch by her belly button.
"That just means that you're on guard duty while I go and change my shirt." Sam stated as she put her hands on Tom's shoulders to get herself up. "And empty my bladder." She added sheepishly.
11pm
"Good girl Shadow, you're doing really well." Sam said encouragingly yet exhaustedly. They had turned the main lights off, but turned a heating lamp on over Shadow's box to keep the pups warm when they were born. The border collie was panting a little bit as she kept on fidgeting in her box and turned around in circles when Tom suddenly caught a glance of something.
"Hang on, I think puppy number one is closer than we think." Tom stated.
"What?"
"Isn't that the amniotic sac coming out?" Tom asked and Sam had to try and keep Shadow still before she inspected the dog by lifting up her tail slightly and found that the sac was in fact bulging and almost ready to come into the world because unlike human babies, puppies were born inside of their amniotic sacs.
"Yeah, well spotted." Sam nodded as she got onto her knees so that she was ready for the birth. Shadow was whining and panting as she stood up and kept on trying to sniff her own backside. "Shadow calm down, it's okay. You're being a really good girl." Sam said reassuringly but the dog would not sit down and she would not stop moving.
"Am I supposed to catch if she doesn't sit down or should I let it fall?" Tom questioned.
"I'll do it." Sam stated Sam's she pulled a pair of sterile gloves out of the box that they had gotten from work and he put them on her hands before she prepared to assist Shadow. Sam and Tom were both really intrigued by the process and so they watched tentatively as they watched the dog push the beginning of the sac out slowly before it all came out at once and Sam caught it in both of her hands. "Quick, put a towel down." Sam ordered and Tom put one of the old towels that they had, and Sam laid the bag containing the puppy on the towel right next to it's mother. "And hopefully, if we leave Shadow to it... She should clean it up..." Sam trailed off as they both waited and watched, until after a few seconds, Shadow chewed the sac open and then began licking it off of the little black and white pup. The straw coloured water soaked into the white towel whilst Shadow did what her instincts told her to do, before she began chewing the umbilical cord. Tom used a small suction ball on the pup's nostrils and mouth to clear any mucus and then they saw the puppy move it's arms and legs without any assistance - it was alive and well.
"One down, three to go." Tom announced.
Saturday 5th September 2015, 4:21am
Finally, all four puppies were settled and suckling away on shadow's nipples whilst they were kept warm by the overhead lamp. There were two boys and two girls, and all looked like black and white guinea pigs. Each of them had a bit of coloured wool loosely tied around their necks so that they didn't have to wear heavy collars and so that Sam and Tom could identify the oldest to the youngest.
"You're a really good girl Shadow." Sam whispered as she stroked the new mother's head.
"Go on, I'll keep an eye on her and make sure they get off to rest. Meanwhile, you really need to get some sleep because your due date is on Sunday and if you go into labour after staying up until half four in the morning, you are going to be knackered." Tom stated as he opened one of the sleeping bags that was laid on top of the duvet for Sam and patted it so that she would get in. Slowly, Sam crawled across the carpet and then flopped onto the sleeping bag.
"Wake me up if there's any change." Sam ordered sleepily.
"I will. I promise." Tom said reassuringly as he zipped her sleeping bag up which was a little tricky because of her bump, and then he went and sat by the whelping box so that he could keep a watchful eye over Shadow and her four puppies.
9am
Tom had fallen asleep laying on the carpet besides the whelping box and so he wasn't particularly comfortable when he woke up, but he looked behind him to find that Sam was still fast asleep in her sleeping bag. He then looked at Shadow who was still in the box that was messy from the labouring process but she had refused to move the previous night so he decided that to save Sam from doing the dirty work, he would completely changed the bedding in the box. So he collected a clean set of old towels from their bedroom and then he knelt down where all of the puppies were fast asleep and Shadow was resting with her eyes open by just a fraction to keep an eye on her offspring.
"Sshh." Tom whispered to settle Shadow as he gently removed the four puppies and placed them on a towel outside of the bed. As expected, Shadow followed and then stood behind them as they twitched in their sleep whilst their nervous systems were developing. They could not yet walk or open their eyes so Shadow was being very vigilant of them whilst Tom changed the blankets and towels in the whelping box until it was completely clean and dry. Tom smiled as he could imagine Sam being protective over their son in a similar way before he individually lifted the four puppies back into their bed and Shadow then curled up around them.
It was the day before Sam's due date and so, after a very late night, she had had a decent lie in and then a refreshing shower before she decided to inform Fletch of the good news. Also, they had agreed that because fletch was getting the puppy for free, Sam was to choose whether they got a boy or girl because until mere hours ago when they were born, they hadn't actually known the genders and Sam was allowed to chose which three of the two boys and two girls she wanted to keep.
"Is it code red?" Fletch demanded down the phone.
"Good morning Sam, how are you this morning? I'm fine thank you Fletch how are you?" Sam asked sarcastically.
"I'll take that that means that Baby Kent isn't yet on his way." Fletch concluded. "Sorry, how are you?" He asked.
"Getting very impatient." Sam remarked. "Althought, Shadow went into labour last night and she's had four healthy puppies." Sam stated proudly.
"Really? Oh that's great. How is Shadow? Was her birth alright?" Fletch asked whilst Tom came behind Sam in the kitchen and snaked his arms around her bump from behind and rested his chin on her shoulder.
"Shadow is perfectly fine, she's just tired. The last one was born at 4:13am." Sam stated.
"Ouch. So I'm guessing that you and Tom are a bit tired too then." Fletch concluded.
"Yeah, just a bit." Sam chuckled softly.
"Is there anything I can do? You want me to come and keep an eye on the pups for a while? Or I could come and take Shadow out for a walk for you." Fletch offered.
"No, it's alright. Shadow is perfectly happy being a mummy at the moment and she's curled up feeding them." Sam stated. "But thanks for the offer. Oh, and I've decided on the gender. You're gonna have a little boy so if you wanna tell your kids to start thinking of names, then they can argue all they want now." Sam smiled.
"I will do, thank you for doing this. The kids are so excited about the puppy. When would I be able to bring them around to meet him?" Fletch asked curiously.
"Um, it depends. I mean the puppies aren't supposed to be handled for a few weeks because we don't want them to get ill. And of course we're still waiting for Baby Kent to arrive so maybe in about a month." Sam replied.
"Okay. Can I just have a quick word with Tom please? I just need to ask him about his shifts." Fletch lied but Sam appeared to have bought it.
"Yeah sure." Sam gave Tom the phone before she went next door to check on her adorable little puppies and of course, the very protective but loving Shadow.
"Hello?" Tom said confusedly as he wondered why he was speaking to Sam's best friend.
"Hiya Tom. I just wanted to ask if you've got a bedside sleeper."
"Er, no what's that?"
"It's basically a three sided cot that you put right next to your mattress so that you'll have your son right next to you at night so you don't have to get up to settle him. I was just gonna say why don't you have ours? Because I can assure you that I am not having five kids and I thought maybe we could give it to you as a thanks for the puppy." Fletch explained. "You could surprise Sam with it because trust me, she will love having her son sleep inches away from her rather than a couple of feet away from her."
"Oh um, well yeah that'd be great."
"Okay. Well I'm busy tomorrow with the kids but maybe I could drop it round on Monday night?"
"Yep that should be fine, but as with everything, we're just waiting for Sam to go into labour because it's her due date tomorrow so Monday unless I say otherwise."
"Yep okay."
Sunday 6th September 2015, 9am
Sam and Tom had just returned home after Sam's 40 week appointment with news that her cervix had not dilated at all, but she was 20% effaced which meant that their son was slowly on his way. She had been offered a sweep for the next week but Sam was determined not to have one because she was going to encourage her body to go into labour beforehand as she had heard how uncomfortable a sweep could be. And she definitively, didn't want to go more than 42 weeks because then she would have to be induced, and then she wouldn't be able to have a home birth that would be safe for either her or the baby. And to give birth at home after 42 weeks would be irresponsible.
"What do you want to do today?" Tom asked as he hung his coat up.
"Er... Give this place a spring clean." Sam stated.
"But it's September." Tom protested.
"So? We need to get this place ready for when the baby comes." Sam stated firmly. "We need to go shopping because the kitchen is practically empty, we need to clean Shadow's box again, there's loads of washing to do- what are you smirking at?" Sam asked sheepishly as she saw the coy look on Tom's face.
"This is your nesting instinct kicking in." Tom said proudly.
"No it's not, it's the 'this place is a pigsty and I need to clean up' instinct." Sam retorted.
"Correction: we need to clean up, you're not doing this by yourself." Tom stated. "Infact, you can go and get in bed if you want and I'll clean this place up." Tom offered.
"No, I need to keep busy." Sam stated.
"Right, you go and write a shopping list and I'll start putting the washing on." Tom ordered as he wanted Sam to be doing as little as possible when she was so close to giving birth.
The entire one bedroom apartment was clean. All of the washing and ironing had been completed, the kitchen was filled to the brim with food and everything was exactly the way it should've been after a long, hard day of work. Sam was sitting cross legged on the floor in front of Shadow's box where the large dog laid with her four puppies suckling away to get their umpteenth feed when Tom came and sat besides her. She was in her pyjama shorts and vest top to keep her cool despite it not being very hot, and he was in a pair of shorts and an old tshirt.
"I hope our son doesn't make a habit of this." Tom joked.
"Eh?"
"Being late." Tom commented.
"Well, there's still 2 hours of the day left. He might still make an appearance on time." Sam said sleepily as she sat cross legged, her bump was in her lap and resting on her legs as she waited for any sign that he was coming - he had not yet 'dropped' into the birth canal and Sam hadn't had her show at all.
"Mm. And maybe it might be twins." Tom remarked. "Why don't you go and get into bed?" He suggested. "You've been on your feet all day, you must be tired."
"Nah, I want something to eat first." Sam admitted as she got up, and Tom understood that she wasn't being greedy, she just didn't eat a lot at meal times because she felt fuller much easier so she had to eat more frequently. Tom helped her to her feet but that didn't prevent the small groan from an aching back because she had a baby's head pushing on her spine.
"Well then you can go and get into bed and I'll bring you whatever you want." Tom offered and Sam didn't protest as she walked into the bedroom.
"Have we got any walnuts left?" Sam asked curiously as Tom pulled back the duvet for her and she got into bed.
"No, you finished them off yesterday." Tom stated. "But I can run up tescos quickly and get you some."
"No, don't bother doing that. I'll just have some dried banana chips. And some pineapple juice please." Sam requested and Tom nodded before he left the room. He soon returned with the bag of dried banana chips and a glass of juice and got into bed besides her.
"You know I'm really proud of you don't you?" Tom smiled as he put one arm around her shoulders.
"Why?" Sam questioned.
"Because you're having such a great pregnancy unlike many other women. You haven't had a drop of alcohol, you eat really healthily and you exercise in the right amounts - you don't overdo it. And most of all, you hadn't been overly moody and when you have, you don't take it out on me." Tom explained. Sam smiled to herself as she felt appreciated and Tom always had a way to make her feel like that, even when she was down in the dumps.
"Thank you." Sam said quietly in reply.
"But even though I've said that, I just want to make sure that tomorrow you take it easy and let me know if there's any sign of labour. Even if it's something tiny, just drop me a text or give me a ring yeah?" Tom requested because he was worried about having to go to work whilst his overdue wife would be at home all alone.
"I will." Sam nodded reassuringly. "What am I supposed to do all day by myself?" Sam moaned as she had been forced on maternity leave because she had gone past her due dare and we therefore unable to work within the law. "I can't take Shadow out for a long walk because she's perfectly happy staying in her box with the puppies, I can't go running because it's so uncomfortable and I'm bored of swimming."
"Well, as much as you might think that only fat people do this, you could just spend the day relaxing, watching your favourite movies with some popcorn or just have some time to yourself. You can have a nice bath and read a book-"
"That all sounds boring." Sam stated.
"I'm sure you'll find something to keep you occupied." Tom laughed.
"Mm, I'll probably just scoff my face with a load of rubbish." Sam retorted as she put the empty packet on the side and then she laid down on her left side, facing away from Tom so that he could wrap his arms around her from behind.
"You want me to wake you in the morning before I leave?" Tom whispered as he flicked the light off and the got comfortable.
"No, just leave a fruit salad on my bedside table before you go and make sure you lock the door." Sam mumbled.
"Okay. Night night." Tom kissed Sam on the cheek and then he nuzzled his nose into the back of her neck before they fell asleep.
Coming up: Sam names the puppies but then she has an accident in the night.
Thanks for reading, please review :)