Kyndel Christine Klump, born August 8, 2006
by by Bill Sanders - August 13, 2006

I had to deal with four (4) depressed doggies. Shelby, her "pups" (now full-grown), Kirby and KC (Kasey) (all female black-lab mixes) and Jake, the little rat-terrier mix male, who believes that ALL the bitches in the house (MINE included) are HIS. It took a day or so before they ate anything, and did more than pee outside (if you catch my meaning), no matter how hard I tried. Finally got all but KC to go, and she absolutely refused. (Amazingly, there were no noticeable puddles or piles in all this time.) They laid around almost the whole time I was the only one here, until I took them out, then they came in and laid around again. Jake, who usually sleeps in the bed between Chris and me, refused to come into the bedroom at all. After a couple of days, he did start wrestling around with the other dogs and me a little, but, as per usual when mom's not home, he whimpered a lot and barked at any car door that he heard.

(For those that don't know, I can't stand for any appreciable length of time, ESPECIALLY for the time it takes to take out four dogs (one at a time). So I use a wheelchair, roll out on the porch, they go down the ramp and into the yard to "do their business". They VERY seldom DO ... doo doo with me, unless they REALLY need to. Chris (and the boys, when they do it) walks them out into the yard, with Jake along on all the big dogs' trips. (He has to "mark" every one of their deposits, liquid or otherwise!) Sometimes it takes a couple of them some time to go, but for me, most of the time, and KC EVERY time, they went down the ramp, sniffed a little, peed and came back up.

My son, Matthew, was scheduled off work Friday and Saturday, and came down after work on Thursday (around 12:30AM Friday morning). He took them out right away, and right away KC went out to the middle of the front yard and dumped a BIG pile. Damned aminals! (Yes, I know how I spelled it... I SAY it that way, too! ;-) ) Of course, they ALL went, and in the morning, I noticed a little pile (JAKE!) in the laundry room. (I just don't understand why it takes someone else in the house before they will 1) go #2 without major coaxing, or waiting until they CAN'T hold it any more; 2) won't go in the house!

Oh, and even when we had the big storms come through, NOT ONE of them came into the bedroom! They usually huddle around ME (even Jake!), but NOOOOO.... Mom's not home... We gotta WATCH for her...

Chris

When Chris was on the way there, Amy called and told her that they were going to send Jamie home. They believe that the pain she was having was caused by dehydration, and that after they were sure she'd drunk enough water, they were going to send her home. Chris told Amy NOT to let them until she got there. When she arrived, they said the same thing, but Jamie's pains were coming at three (3) minute intervals, not a constant pain, which would indicate dehydration. Someone there got smart, and decided to move "the belt" a little, and they started picking up the contractions. GEEZE! They'd never heard of trying to move the belt around? And didn't notice that the pains were coming every THREE MINUTES!??!

Chris came home on Friday, a day earlier than she'd planned. Jamie and Amy were handling everything well, and Jamie had had a good nurse on Wednesday night (before going to Amy's, Thursday) who explained how to do some of the things she needed to do. Then again, Chris couldn't get much sleep while staying in the hospital room, sleeping on the couch with Jamie... (Most of you know that at the hospital, nurses are coming and going all the time!) She drove home and we downloaded 30(!??! ... Is THAT all?) pictures. She said it was a "zoo" in the room, with family coming and going all the time. (With nurses, doctors and family in and out all the time, don't EVER expect to get REST in a hospital!) Even after they got to Amy's, family kept calling and coming over to see the baby. Jamie didn't got a lot of rest, in other words. Neither did Chris. She'd slept a total of about 12 hours since Monday around 2PM to Friday, when she got home. But she STILL didn't zonk out until around midnight.

When she came in the door, the dogs went NUTS. They hadn't heard the van door close, and didn't even notice someone walking up the ramp to the front door. BUT, as soon as that door opened, Chris was MOBBED. And, of course, when I tried to kiss her, Jake growled. (I keep TRYING to tell him, "She's MY bitch, not yours", but he just doesn't get it!)