Well I really thought that I would not be doing another entry for this pregnancy diary as I was convinced Amaretto would have gone into labour by now. She obviously has other ideas though. I can't remember the last time we got a full nights' sleep because we are constantly waking up at odd hours i.e. 3:30am, 5:16am etc. to check that she is okay and hasn't started anything. Each time we wake up, Amaretto has been sleeping. She sleeps on the bed with us, and more often than not, on our pillows, leaving us sleeping with no pillow at all. Her babies are still moving quite a lot and I am sure it can't be too much longer before she has them. I do feel sorry for her when she is trying to rest as she finds it difficult to get comfortable, not only due to her size, but because the babies are so incredibly active. During the day she is not left in the bedroom as she prefers to be roaming around the home with everyone else so every hour, if we can't see her in the vicinity we get up and just make sure she is okay. Considering her size, she is still quite active in the respect that she scratches on the scratch posts, jumps up on furniture but fortunately she is no longer trying to jump up to the very top of the wardrobes which we are relieved about. At the moment we are just happy to go with the flow and keep doing what we have been until she decides to go into labour.

Amaretto is doing really very well however she is much farther along than I thought a few weeks ago. Her babies are kicking the heck out of her at the moment which is making her slightly uncomfortable. For the past 5 days she has been sleeping of an evening with us as it's much better to be safe than sorry. She is extremely restless and spends a lot of her night looking for somewhere to have her babies and she barely touches her food so she maybe she will give birth this week. I personally would rather she held out until next week at the earliest because the smaller the gap between her babies and Drambuie's (if she has any) is much better for both mum's and babies. Her kittening box has been set up in the bedroom for a week now and she has spent quite a bit of time in there scratching around. She's not completely convinced that the box is the best place to have her babies because she does keep getting out of it and going into the clothes shelves and trying to get into the wardrobes, on top of the wardrobes. I know though that when the time comes, she will go into labour in the place she thinks best and as per usual, I will move her into the box and there she will stay (I hope!). What amazes me about Amaretto is the way she takes pregnancy in her stride. She is always so calm and relaxed about it all which is wonderful.

This is the day that I discover to my surprise that Amaretto appears to be pregnant and even as I write this entry, I am desperately hoping I am wrong. Not for any reason other than the fact that 2005 was a very exhausting year, Drambuie is also pregnant and I did want a break. I happened to look at Amaretto who was lying in the upstairs hallway on the vet bed on the floor near the radiator and I thought to myself that she looks slightly rounded. Then I noticed her nipples which were protruding quite a bit and were slightly pinker than normal. (By the afternoon of the 21st, they were bright pink!). I also remembered that for the past 2 weeks she has been really cranky with the younger girls in the home and during visiting hours of an evening, she would lie on the bed inbetween Graham and I and stay with us. The other thing I remember as I look back now is that her appetite has definitely increased and not only is she eating more dry food, but whenever I have lunch (which I eat here at my desk while I work), Amaretto would sit right next to the plate and try and eat my food as well. So I guess that the signs are all there, it's just a case of whether or not I am right. Like our other pregnancy diaries, there will be a weekly update which will be done every Tuesday/Wednesday. At this stage, this could still be a false alarm and I am not 100% convinced that she is pregnant so I guess we'll know for sure in the next couple of weeks.

Not a honeymoon photo in sight because I have now been well and truly caught by surprise. I've also learned an extremely valuable lesson and that is.........."Just because and up and coming future stud boy acts gay, doesn't mean that he is". In actual fact, what he is really doing is pretending to have no interest in the girls so that he can take you by suprise and suddenly impregnate half the house while you're not looking. In other words, Sheridans strikes again. The difference between this diary and the other 2 is that I don't even know how or when the honeymoon took place which means that I am now in the situation whereby once Amaretto is looking more and more like she is ready to give birth, I will be totally housebound because her due date could really be any time at all and she can not be left alone. Even though this will be her 4th litter, I do not believe in leaving expecting queens at home on their own because something can go wrong even with an experienced girl. So basically, either myself or Graham will be home now 24 hours a day and I have no one to blame but myself (and Sheridans of course!) Mind you, we don't often leave the home anyway as we are content just to be here with all of our fur kids. If this mating is successful, we will be expecing possible Havanas, Oriental Lilacs, Chocolate Point Siamese & Lilac Point Siamese.