I am so sorry, you guys, I didn’t even think of the fact that a lot of you are reading from work and can’t go to Facebook!
Here’s a quick post to get you up to date, and of course there’ll be lots more pictures tomorrow.
Fred gets up in the morning at 3:40 am (not 3:41, and for GOD’S SAKE, not 3:42! Are you CRAZY?), and at my request, before heading downstairs he’s been going and looking in on Emmy. This morning he went in and sat with her and petted her. He said he was pretty sure she was having contractions, he could feel them under his hand. At 4:30, he came in and woke me up (he always says goodbye before he heads off to work) and said he thought maybe there was a baby coming. He opened the door to her room, then closed it and called to me “I think there’s already a baby in there!”, and as soon as he said it, I could hear the sounds of a little kitten with big lungs howling and howling. I got right out of bed, and we both went into the room.
Emmy did NOT want us in there. As soon as Fred stepped away from the door, she growled and she meant business. So we looked as closely as we could, saw one baby in there next to her, and then left the room. Fred kissed me and left for work, and soon I could hear a second irate baby voice in there.
I didn’t want to stress her out, so I didn’t go in there again until 5:30, and only because I realized we’d left the light on in there (Fred had turned it off, but then Emmy growled, so he turned it back on, which I didn’t know until I was crossing the hallway to go to the bathroom). I stepped in, and it was pretty hard to tell what I was seeing.
I had an appointment that required me to leave the house at 8:45, and to be gone for OVER two hours (it was pretty important or I would have rescheduled), but before I left I took up a plate of food for Emmy, and I snapped some pictures. I could pretty clearly see three tails, so I figured we had three babies – though the way she was positioned, it was really hard to tell! Definitely three, though.
Now, a note: although there was the kennel, all set up with nice soft bedding, Emmy had decided that not only did she want to give birth in the wooden box (which Fred and I have been using as a chair of sorts), she pushed the cat bed OUT of the box before she did so. Emmy wanted what she wanted, and who were we to tell her there was a better way to do it, right? Fred did push the bed part of the way into the box at one point, and she pushed it back out. Okay, Emmy. Message received!
I went off to my appointment, was gone for OVER two hours (couldn’t stop thinking about Emmy and her kittens the entire time), and the first thing I did when I got home was go up and check on them. Emmy had turned around, and when I walked through the door, I was greeted by the sight of four wee babies, belly up to the milk bar.
Someone put on their striped leggings for the occasion!
This afternoon, Emmy was MUCH calmer. She let me touch her babies and she let me touch HER, too. I didn’t try to pick up any babies and kiss them, I have SOME self-restraint, y’know. When I went up a little while longer to see if she still had just the four, one of them had escaped the box and was worming around right outside the box. I picked him up and put him back in with Emmy, and the kitten yelled, which caused Emmy to growl, but it was a pretty calm growl, just letting me know that I better STOP THAT RIGHT NOW.
But here’s the interesting thing about that wee kitten: he only has half a tail! I haven’t gotten a picture of it yet, but I’ll definitely get a picture and post it for tomorrow’s entry.
So that’s the state of Emmy and the Nominees. Because they were born sometime between 3:40 and 4:30 and one person chose 3 am in the Emmy Pool and another chose 4:40, I’m going to let each of them name a kitten. So congrats, Catsy and Lesley, who will be choosing and naming their kittens as soon as we can tell them apart and tell which are male and which are female.
Thank you, everyone who entered in the Emmy Pool!
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Previously
2012: There were two posts on this day – make sure you’ve seen part 1: Emmy’s alien belly.
2011: Corbie ear floof.
2010: No entry.
2009: “Here, let me get that for you… ::SLURRRRP::”
2008: No entry.
2007: Smackdown Stage 1: The Taunting.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.