Tia seemed to be very unsettled last night, not for any apparent reason either. She kept getting in and out of the box looking around and sniffing everything as if one of her girls was missing. I kept getting out of bed to make sure that all 4 were present and accounted for. She finally settled back down at about 1.30am!! Our Charmed ones are getting much louder and much more demanding now however they seem to be enjoying strokes behind the ear and they don't complain quite as much now when we weigh them. We had to go out today to get sort out the last of the Christmas preparations and were gone about 2-3 hours which is the longest that they have ever been left alone. Fortunately, our daughter was at home "babysitting" so we knew they were in safe hands. All our girls are now gaining weight for which we are very thankful although I still keep a close eye on them at feeding time to make sure Pru gets a "good nipple". She is putting on weight all by herself now and we are over the moon. We managed to get individual photos again of our Charmed ones.

It's been a really busy day today checking on the Charmed ones in between Christmas preparations and Christmas cooking. We're pleased that Pru is finally starting to gain weight so that's a really big relief for us. She still hasn't gained as much as we would like, however we are making progress with her. Unfortunately Phoebe has a swollen bellybutton so it will be a phone call to the vets tomorrow. Hubby and I had to put Tia in another room for a short period of time so we could weigh the girls, change the bedding and try and get individual photos of each girl. The photos however, aren't the best quality but we are hoping to get better individual photos later this week. The girls' colours are also starting to come through now on their tails and on their ears which is really exciting to see. Tia had a good day as she had some roast beef and gravy for dinner last night so she was rather happy.

We weighed the Charmed ones yesterday afternoon to find that Phoebe had gained 20 grams, however, Pru, Piper and Paige had actually lost 5 grams each which worried us a bit. We spent a lot of yesterday afternoon and evening, latching the weaker ones on as the strong ones always got the good nipples. This morning we weighed them again and am pleased to say that Paige put on 20 grams, Piper and Phoebe each put on 10 grams, however poor Pru hasn't gained any weight. Fortunately she didn't lose any either but we made the decision that throughout the day today we will be topping her up with Cimicat to help her gain weight as we would like to see her looking a lot stronger. Their eyes are starting to open up now as well which is really lovely to see. Tia hates it when we take them out to weigh them or do anything with them but we have figured out that the best way to do it is to take one out, hand her to hubby who weighs and records while I stay near the box, stroking Tia. She still knows one is missing because as soon as we remove one, she counts them all, however she is less inclined to go and get the missing baby if I am with her patting her.

We finally got a decent night sleep last night for the first time in ages. We are much more relaxed now that we know mum and the 4 P's are doing so well. Tia woke me up twice in the middle of the night, singing very loudly right in my face and then getting into bed with me. All girls are still feeding really well and it looks like we have 2 very boisterous young ladies and 2 gentler girls. My days are spent shared between our little ones and trying to catch up with housework and organise Christmas.

We took mum and babies to the vets this morning just for a check up and are pleased to say that all are doing really well. All 4 girls are now feeding really well off mum and we weighed them and are pleased to say that so far everything is going great. Whilst our little girls will be with us for 13 weeks we obviously can't keep calling them kitten 1, kitten 2 etc. so hubby has chosen 4 wonderful names for our girls. They are: Piper, Phoebe, Pru and Paige (all named after the girls in the show "Charmed".

A very sad and very exhausting day. We are having problems getting Tia to feed the kittens, so since yesterday we have been feeding every 2 hours. One of our little ones is very weak, he was the 6th kitten that needed reviving when he was born. Just after dinner this evening, our little one was starting to get weaker so we rushed to the emergency vets with him and he was checked out and given a shot. We were told there were no guarantees and all we could do was keep trying to feed him to help him gain strength. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be and our beautiful little one passed away to Rainbow Bridge at 10:36pm amidst much cuddles, kisses, love and tears. It was the most heartbreaking thing we had ever been through.

Tia's kittens were born today! Litter details are as follows:
Number 1 = 100g - Born 1305
Number 2 = 100g - Born 1320
Number 3 = 110g - Born 1340
Number 4 = 110g - Born 1347
Number 5 -Born 1405 (sadly didn't make it)
Number 6 = 105g - Born 1535 - It was a 15 minute battle to keep him alive as he came out choking etc and I thought we were going to lose him, but lots of rubbing and swinging finally brought him to life.

Tia had a fairly easy time of it all things considered but it's taking her quite a while to get the hang of being a mum. She's happy to clean the babies but for the first few hours would not feed them at all. I don't think she's convinced that the babies actually are hers. We've been feeding them every 2 hours since yesterday. Late last night we managed to get 2 latched on and suckling, however had no joy with the other 3. When we woke this morning, it was the same thing, except this time, she was a bit more willing to actually lie still and let a couple of them feed, so we are still topping them up. We have been doing endless washing of towels, blankets etc. and are really very tired. Once the babies are all feeding from her then it will be really lovely and will make life a lot easier. So we keep persevering and are keeping an eye on them. At the last feed, she was happy to lie there while they all fought for nipples, however, not all of them seemed to want to latch on.
Many, many thanks to so many breeder friends who spent hours on the phone to us during the delivery and afterwards. We are truly lucky to have had friends to rely on for advice. Also thanks to all those on the message board for their kind thoughts, wishes, support and prayers during the last 24 hours. We totally have no idea of sex at the moment of any of them and to be honest, I'm not overly concerned about that right now. So long as we can keep them feeding and gaining weight then we'll be very happy.

Please Click Here to read Tia Maria's 1st Pregnancy Diary