Birth Part 2

"Do you remember the spring when we had all those kittens born in our house?" That is what I imagine my kids saying someday after this spring we are having. Hopefully they will not be saying, "Do you remember that spring when mom turned into the crazy cat lady??" I had big dreams of my children witnessing an animal birth in our home and a few months ago we almost made that happen with a Chow mama needing a foster home to deliver her pups in. Logistically that would've been a nightmare and so we waited. Then Prim arrived and I snatched the opportunity, thinking our bathroom would be plenty big for this expectant mother and her brood. Then there was Lily, who would be spayed if I didn't take her and her expanding belly and so we opened our arms a bit wider and allowed her in as well. And it couldn't have gone better. Yesterday Prim finally had her little ones after some worry on our part that she hadn't had them sooner. I actually found her yesterday morning curled up with all of Lily's babies nursing them! But she still was showing no signs of going into labor. I took her into the hospital to get another opinion and we scheduled a C-section for Friday. We came home and again she returned to the box that Lily and her babies were using, and all of them curled around each other keeping in the warmth. After I put Mason down for his nap I went to check on her and found her still in that same box with a little wet squirmy kitten she was licking. Her day had finally come. I removed Lily's kittens from the box thinking Lily would follow them but not so. Lily would not leave Prim's side. She purred loudly, comforting her friend and helping to deliver another baby. Two grey and white babies, just like their mama. We waited and there were no more kittens so pictures were taken, phone calls were made and we went on with our day, checking on this motley crew of cats every now and then. The boys came home to this surprise of new kitties and we loved on them and went off to various activities. We came home from swimming at 7:00 and found Daddy all excited that he had been able to see another kitten born! Miracle of miracles 5 hours after her second baby was born she had another, when we went to go see, we saw yet another being delivered. So four kittens in total for Prim and four for Lily. It was better than perfect the way these two mommas interacted with each other and all the kittens together. What wasn't expected was what came next. Yesterday someone had found four kittens abandoned with no mother to be seen. One of my coworkers was trying to bottle feed the kittens but they were not doing well. They would not take a bottle and were not going to the bathroom. Could we possibly see if they would be accepted by one of my new mommas? And so, late last night four more bundles of fur nestled into our ever shrinking bathroom, and were welcomed with many frantic licks from our dear Prim. After some time, all four were nursing on her. Lily is taking some time to warm up to this idea of even more babies, but it seems we have room for all of them. The kids giggles excitedly when the awoke to find twelve baby kitties rolling around two very exhausted mama cats. I'm not the crazy cat lady, I promise. I'm the crazy kitten lady. Big difference. Stay tuned.