Today’s date: April 30, 2026

Expected due date: May 6th

For two nights in a row, I have slept with the door to our second story master bedroom balcony open. It’s early spring in Michigan and it wouldn’t have been my choice. The first night, the overnight temp about 50 degrees. Tolerable. The second night, the high was in the 40’s. Less tolerable.

It started as a request from Lyric. I tucked in for the night, a book in my lap. Lyric came over to my side of the bed and I gave her a soft pep talk and a pet. She is getting to the point in her pregnancy where everything is uncomfortable and she seeks out comfort in various forms often. She made sure I was watching as she turned and faced the sliding glass door leading out to the balcony. She stood there, wagging her tail gently, facing away from me and after a moment, as if to make sure I saw her, she looked back at me with that happy, panting smile.

Over the years, we had developed this routine, and somehow, she and I have come to a relative agreement. Although she’d certainly prefer me to let her out on the balcony overnight on very cold nights, she seldom asks unless the temp is acceptable for us both. Spring and fall weather, usually. So, when she asked and the temp was not really within range—in my opinion at least—I paused.

These last days of pregnancy are hard, especially carrying a large litter as she is. She pants heavier than average, she’s uncomfortable, she’s got to pee more frequently, the pups are moving around (we can feel them pushing paws and rolling around), all the things any woman who has been eight months pregnant is sure to sympathize with. So I opened the balcony door. Lyric slept out in the blissfully chilly weather all night.

The next night was even colder and I had told Nick I wouldn’t open the door again. But again, the same routine, the same soft brown eyes implored me, and I’m not ashamed to say I caved pretty easily. I just grabbed myself an extra blanket.

The pups are expected in a few more days.

Lyric is already leaking milk, a sure sign we are in the last phase of this relatively calm period before whelping, before newborns, and before some nearly guaranteed sleep deprivation we voluntarily signed up for.

We have some last minute things to finish up, some things to arrange, but things are largely done. Every moment is a breath of anticipation, scooting to the edge of your seat and waiting. Waiting.

These new pups are already so loved. We are excited to watch Lyric mother them, with all the instincts she brought to the first litter and the experience gained from it. We are eager to watch Letty learn from her mother and probably offer to help. We are curious to see Izzie and his response to his ‘kids.’

But also at this stage, there is a sense that any care or preparation that could have been done has been. Choices about supplementation, nutrition, or exercise… it is now much too late in the game to wonder or worry about what could have been done better, more or less, or differently.

In the end, it is always nature, doing what nature will. We have done the best we can with the knowledge and resources we have. And now, all that is left for us to do as we wait is to repeat the mantra of all the Good Life pregnancies… healthy mamma, healthy babies.