[dragonflysw]

First of all, I want to thank everyone that sent there prayers and concerns to me when my Lily passed away. It has only been 4 days now and I still hurt sooooo much. My house doesn't seem the same without her......nothing seems right without her. I wake up in the middle of the night carefully rolling over as not to disturb her as I had done so many times.....I hear the tapping of her nails walking down my hallway and turn to pick her up.....I truely hurt in a way I have never before. I talked to family and friends with everyone saying that they understand my pain and feel so bad for us.......the strange thing is, that I feel more understanding from you.....the wonderful, caring people on this site!! There is something about having someone that has a the same feelings for there four-legged child saying that they understand my pain and will be thinking about me that truely comforts me! I could never explain the feeling of reading all of your post about praying for me and Lily and how it made me feel. If I could send each one of you a thank you card, I would in a heart beat!!! The more I read them, the more I cried, but I needed to hear that someone cared and half-way understood the love that I have for my Lily. Lily would have been 4 years old on Nov. 17th and I truely feel that her life was cut way too short.....but she did leave me 5 beautiful babies and she would want me to take good care of them! I am doing the best I can with feeding and stimulating, but what else should I be doing?? How often should they eat....the vet says every 2 hours, but they don't eat good if I wake them every 2 hours. Does anyone have any experience with this? Is it o.k. to hold them or should they stay with the heating pad? How long do I keep the heating pad in their box? About how much should they be eating.....they are taking anywhere from 3/4 teaspoon to over 1 teaspoon every feeding.....they are 9 days old today. They weighed 3 oz each at birth. I just have so many questions and I am having a hard time calling the vet's office.....to much of a reminder of calling and checking on Lily. Any help would be appreciated!!

Again, thanks to everyone for your support and prayers.....they meant so very much to me......you will never know what it all means to me!

I had originally posted this in the 'general discussion' and was told to repost these questions in this section. I was told that ya'll would have more experience with hand-raising pups.