The kittens have landed! (image heavy!)

That is right! We have babies!!!

This picture was taken this past weekend. She dropped at the end of the week and her belly really just expanded. We were expecting just a few babies for several obvious reasons: Syb is not even a year old, she's about 10 months herself; it's her first litter (and only!); and she is tiny, there is no way 7 kittens could be living in her itty bitty belly.

Last week was 9 weeks gestation so they were expected at anytime. We lock her in the laundry room where we prepared a little birthing area (look at us!) but she wasn't having any outward signs of birth. No nesting, no contractions, nothing. Luckily I'm not working so I'm typically home and can keep an eye on her, we don't want any birthings going on in our bed, thanks.

So last night around 10 I heard a noise from inside our closet and checked on her. There were no kittens yet so I just left her alone. A few minutes later she climbed on our bed and started whining and kicking her legs out. I took her to the laundry room and within 20 minutes we had the first babe! Evan was completely grossed out but I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Cats will lick the sack that their baby is born in to help them breathe, to start their circulation, and to help their milk drop. Once the first baby was born she was all worried about giving herself a bath so we had to watch her and make sure she took care of the baby. (She's a selfish mom. It runs in the family.)

Within an hour and a half she had 5 more for a total of six! She got much better at cleaning them and letting them nurse as the night progressed but we still had to coax her along a few times. She also ate the placenta which was admittedly disgusting. But she's an animal so it's more normal than gross.

The babies are the cutest things I've ever seen and that was one of the coolest experiences I've ever witnessed. So here are some pictures of the night and 12-hour-old kitties!

I love its little legs!

Hugs. So sweet.

So teensy!

And this morning. Super stoked to having six hungry kittens clawing their way up her body.

 
 Did you note how she had them on the floor and not the bed we made for her? She started walking around right before the first one came (she even face planted into the wall twice...) and ended up right there. We left her because well...we didn't want to touch her. (This has been a very evident lesson that we are not prepared to have our own children. I kept saying to Evan, "is this what you're going to be like when we have kids?!" Evan tweeted and facebooked the entire process so he needs to be weened from that because there will be no such thing during our own child's birth.)

We have two black, two grey, and two orange. Oh, and I think there might be a 7th still hanging out inside. We looked it up and she can go 48 hours between births before labor starts again. We don't know if it's just milk or her shrinking tumtum or what. Everything went well so we're hoping we don't have a stillborn kitten on our hands later on. That would be the worst day ever. Slash she's really good at laying on them so we're hoping she doesn't suffocate one either. Double worst.

We've also named one of the orange ones "Tank" because he was the second born and cried more than a real baby. He takes out the other kittens when they're eating because he should always be eating and he likes to claw and crawl over everything. I love him. Boy after my own heart. Now if I could just remember which one he is.......