At approximately 0952 I was in Graham's room, doing the hoovering, and as I was about to hoover behind the table, I spotted Toussaint, curled up in amongst the curtain, just beginning to go into labour. I very quickly turned the hoover off, brought her box down from our bedroom and she promptly went in it and began to push. A bubble soon appeared, however, that was it. At 12 noon, there was still nothing except the bubble, so I gave Toussaint a plate of food which she ate, and she then went to sleep. About half an hour later, she woke up and was pushing again. This went on until about 1430 when I then telephoned Tina to ask for some advice. Tina was out at the time, but rang me be not long afterwards. I quickly told her what the situation was and her advice was to get her to the vets at so far, she had been pushing a very long time and there was no evidence of any babies. I then phoned the vets who told us to bring her straight in which we did. We are so fortunate that our vets are only about 10 minutes down the road (quicker if Graham is driving). Jo (our vet) examined Toussaint, and the baby attached to the bubble was very well and truly stuck, and a Cesarean Section was the only viable option. We have never had to have a C-section for any of our girls and I will admit to being incredibly worried. Thank goodness Graham was with me because I would have struggled emotionally otherwise. When Toussaint was taken through to the back of the vets, I did actually burst into tears, fearing the worst. Jo told us that she would call us as soon as it had been done so we went straight back home where I then went back upstairs to syringe feed the Gamblers, came back down and telephoned Tina again to give her an update. She was incredibly reassuring and was her usual, supportive, wonderful self. While I was on the phone to Teen, the vets phoned us on the mobile so while Graham was speaking with them, I quickly got off the phone to Tina and stood there waiting until Graham finished speaking with them. The first, and best bit of news he gave me was that according to Jo, Toussaint was just fine, had come through it beautifully and was doing incredibly well. I can not tell you the relief we both felt because we love Toussaint dearly and the thought of anything happening to her was just too much to bear. He then also gave me some surprising news in the respect that Jo had also successfully delivered 4 live babies! I couldn't quite believe it and neither Graham and I were expecting any babies at this point. If I'm being totally honest, I would have to say that prior to Jo's phone call, we didn't even care whether there were babies, all that mattered was that Toussaint would be okay so having 4 new babies was a really lovely bonus. Very sadly, the first baby whom she had been trying to deliver, was stillborn.Jo had said that she wanted to get the babies latched on if possible and settle Toussaint with them, and warm them all up before we could bring her home and she said she would phone us back in about an hour's time. I then phoned Tina again, to tell her the news and she was delighted and she also reassured me that it is standard for babies to be a bit groggy and cold after a C-section. I think at this point, my mind was just in bits and I was struggling to really take everything in. We then flew down to Tesco's to grab some dinner and when we pulling up in front of our home, our daughter phoned us on the mobile to say Jo had rung and we could pick Toussaint and the babies up. So I flew inside to grab another carrier, more bedding, hot water bottles, ran back to the car and we drove back to the vets. To see Toussaint brought out to us was a tremendous relief and she looked really well considering what she had just been through. They then brought the babies out to us and they were such precious little darlings, 2 Siamese, a Havana and an Oriental Red. I couldn't believe it, they were quite noisy and incredibly beautiful. I then had a quick chat with Jo to find out the reason behind the C-section because this obviously affects Toussaint's future breeding career and if it had been an internal complication, then we would have Toussaint spayed and she would remain with us as a much loved family pet, just like our other neuters. However, the reason that she couldn't deliver the babies was because the first baby was in such an awkward position and was well and truly stuck and there was no way the shoulders would ever have come through. Jo said we had just been unlucky and this is certainly not a reflection on Toussaint, and there was no reason why she shouldn't go on to have more litters in the future. It was just one of those things. Mind you, the way Graham and I are feeling at the moment, I don't know that we would ever want to mate her again after this, but we will see what happens towards the end of next year. Anyway, we took Toussaint and her new children home and I put fresh bedding in the box and put the babies in there, after weighing them, and I then put Toussaint in the box where she very quickly counted each of her children to make sure they were okay and were all there. Once satisfied we hadn't taken any from her. She settled down with them so they could try to feed. Our biggest concern now, after speaking with Tina, and Jo, was that sometimes after a C-section, the mother won't bond with the babies, but Toussaint has been an absolutely star. Graham and I always knew she would be a wonderful mother, but we had no idea what would happen after we brought her home from the vets, but she has done us proud bless her. I was in and out of bed for quite a while that night, trying to encourage the babies to latch on and by 2130, the Havana and one of the Siamese were well and truly latched on and suckling which was great news. By 1am, the other Siamese was latched on and suckling. So far today, it appears that all 4 babies are feeding from Toussaint and I am just so grateful to God for that our new babies seem to be thriving and feeding. The babies and their beautiful mother are living inside my wardrobe at the moment. They are not in a box as that is too awkward as I found out with Drambuie's litter, so instead they have their lovely soft bedding on the floor, Toussaint is happy in there, and the babies seem to be happy. I think they will remain in there with us for a few days until we are certain they are all okay and feeding fine, and when they are, we will move them into the kitten room. For now, we are just going to continue to pray that they will do well. As you can imagine, we are quite shattered, and we have so much to do, particularly with our other babies as well, to say nothing of updating the web site, and doing mountains and mountains of washing. Many thanks to husband Graham for being there for me yesterday and for keeping me calm, and to Tina for her love and help, and to all of our friends on Siamese Cat Chat for their prayers and thoughts yesterday. Now that the initial entry is out of the way, we would like to introduce you to The Trotters, pictured below. The reason we are calling them "The Trotters" is because of Toussaint. For those of you who know us well, you know that one of our pet names for Toussaint is Uncle Albert. She has a small creamy white patch under her chin which to us looks like a little beard and we think she does look like Uncle Albert from Only Fools and Horses, so this litter has to be called The Trotters. Obviously at the moment, sexes are unknown as we've not even looked and don't particularly care, although our Red baby is a boy for obvious reason, and he will be Del Boy. As soon as we've able to have a look at the babies to try to figure out their sexes, we'll tell you which is which.

The Day 1 entry will not go online now until the morning of October 12, because the Trotters are not officially 1 day old until approximately 1600 on the 11th which will hopefully make sense to you all. At the moment, very little is making any sense to me :)