I’ve pretty much announced the arrival of the Valentines everywhere but here on the blog. So I guess I’m going to have to make that up to all of our faithful blog readers in cyberspace. Some extra pictures maybe? The story of me being stressed and upset — and maybe the answer to why there are three kittens, not four? Let me think about that…
First, if you hadn’t already seen the announcement somewhere, early in the morning of Feb 14, Dawnie gave birth to three little Valentines.
Carwyn (blessed love) – Red tabby & high white boy – 4.0 oz / 114 gr
Tanith (goddess of love) – Black torbie & high white girl – 4.3 oz / 122 gr
Taavi (beloved) – Red tabby & white boy with white tail tip – 3.9 oz / 110 gr
The babies are doing very well. They all gained weight in the first day. As I’m writing this, they are all taking a break from the milk bar and are sleeping contentedly with Dawnie. You can watch them on the Kitten Cam. Right now they mostly eat, sleep and wiggle a bit. But I can watch them for ages because they are so pretty and sweet! Last night I could hear them purring as they nursed — it always melts my heart to hear tiny, tiny babies purr.
Dawnie is doing well, too. She’s very protective. She growled at me this morning when I stole the kittens one by one to weigh them. Tanith was crying and Dawnie was lying in the bed with the boys, growling her displeasure. But except for not wanting me to take the babies, she’s happy to have me pet her and sit close by admiring them.
Finally seeing these babies and seeing them alive and nursing and doing great is such a relief! Here’s the story… On Tuesday night I saw a small amount of mucus discharge from Dawnie’s vagina. Nothing to worry about, I didn’t think. Although it was more yellow than pink, it didn’t have a bad odor and sometimes the mucus plug is yellowish or even greenish. On Wednesday, there was a litttle more — still not much. Thursday, same story. But no signs of Dawnie going into labor, which I’d expect within 24-48 hours of her expelling the plug.
On Friday morning I took Dawnie in the see Dr Jennifer in case I was missing something. Dawnie was still eating, drinking, usng the litter box, and stealing the hippo toy from the shelf to play. Her temperature was about one degree below normal so most likely she was not developing a uterine infection. And the drop in temp is also a sign of impending delivery — usually within 12-24 hours. So Friday evening and over night into Saturday I was really expecting her to start labor.
About 2 in the morning Saturday, Dawnie was up and around, washing herself a lot and going back and forth from the bed where I was sleeping (sometimes sleeping) and the birthing bed. (BTW, Dawnie decided that place she would have the babies was under my desk. So I moved her bed there and she has been quite happy with that.) But no contractions, no labor. On Saturday morning I’d gotten up and gone downstairs for a little bit. When I came back up to check on Dawnie, she met me at the door, ran to her bed and started purring. Aha! Time to have babies! I sat by her for awhile and after about an hour, I thought I saw a contraction. But nothing more after that. I’ve decided that it must have been wishful thinking and me being tired of sitting on the floor with Dawnie. I finally went and got dressed for the day, then went in and out of the room checking on her.
The stressful, upsetting part is that the discharge had gotten more frequent. Still no real signs of infection — no odor and more the consistency of mucus — but I was worried about the amount and the constant flow. I’d check Dawnie’s rear end, wipe away the mess, talk to her, and go do other things while I tried not to worry. By Saturday night I was a raving nut case and cried when I talked to Brenda on the phone. Cried and got in an argument with Ken. (Hey, honey — again I’m sorry I’m such a lunatic!) I was absolutely convinced that Dawnie was losing all the babies.
About 2 in the morning I heard a noise and got up. There they were — three little wet kittens, Dawnie still cleaning up Taavi. The first thing I did was grab the Snugggle Safe and run downstairs. While I paced back and forth waiting for it to warm, all kinds of thought were going through my mind. Was Dawnie done having babies? Were they okay? What did she have? 
A long five minutes!
Then back upstairs to investigate thoroughly. I carefully took each kitten from the bed and weighed them.Great sizes for everyone. Easy to sex them — the reds had to be boys, the torbie a girl. Then I move them to a basket with the Snuggle while I quickly as possible changed the soiled blankets in the bed. Dawnie was still pretty much a mess, but the blankets get wet from the birth fluids during delivery and then get cold. So warm, clean blankets were in order. I wrote down the kittens’ information and tried to call Brenda. (She asked me to call — any time, day or night.) Then I shot off a note to her, Sondra, and Deb about the kittens, promising more info later. After watching the kittens and Dawnie for awhile, I went back to bed myself.
So where was kitten #4? Remember, the ultrasound showed four babies back in late December. Well… my guess… is that the fourth kitten did not continue developing. That may have been the cause of the discharge in the days leading up to delivery. As Dawnie’s cervix started to open, she expelled the only remains of what would have been a kitten. No, there was never any blood or tissue or anything that was even vaguely kitten-like. So I could be wrong. But cats do lose kittens during pregnancy so this is probably what happened to Dawnie’s fourth baby. Whatever happened, I am thankful Dawnie is okay and the three babies she delivered are as well.
Pictures, pictures, pictures… Okay, here are the pictures of the kittens I took yesterday. And one brand new, never been shared elsewhere, picture of Dawnie and her sweet Valentines.
because streaming video is blocked. I’m feeling very deprived! But nonetheless, I’ll turn it on every day for all of you. 
