By 23 days she was nesting, letting me know she's pregnant. As if her whole pound of weight gain wasn't enough evidence :)
Gracie generally delivers anytime after 7:00 PM on day 30. With her first two litters, she delivered at 11:00 PM. With her most recent litter, the third (born over the summer), she started labor in the morning around 9:00 AM but took a break because of the heat, and didn't deliver until 7 that night.
Her labor is always easy. No mess, no fuss. In the box, out of the box, babies. She's so gentle and sweet even while giving birth too. I've videotaped her labor and delivery about twice, and I've watched 3 times. She always nurses the babies immediately after birth as well. She always has enough milk.
She also always raises 5 kits to weaning. Her first two litters were 5. Her next litter had 6 but sadly one was a runt and didn't survive past a few days. She's huge this time, so I'm wondering if she'll have more.
Another predictable thing Gracie always does is eat the hay out of her babies' nest. I don't know why. She probably does it while nursing. Since her last litters have been in the summer and in the house, it wasn't a big deal because they still stayed warm enough. However, this time, she can't do it because they'll need it.
But her cage is filled with hay (outside the box), at the moment, so hopefully if I keep giving her a ton she'll stay away from eating the babies' hay.
We have planned to not bring Gracie and babies inside, since if she has 5 or more like always they will be able to keep each other warm. Gracie always pulls an abundant amount of fur, too much for the babies during summer. And I put some bedding in the bottom too so hopefully they'll stay warm enough. If they do struggle to keep their warmth we will bring them in. We'll just have to wait and see.