Well the puppies arrived November 25, 2012. Mild changes began Friday night, with panting, pacing and restlessness. We tried various methods to speed up the process.... long walks, lots of potty breaks, and making the whelping area very dark and den-like and giving her privacy. We went in first thing Sunday morning to our vet to get an xray, which showed 4 babies on x-ray.
Around 5:30pm, more changes began. The panting and restlessness increased dramatically, she vomited twice and started licking a lot more. The first puppy arrived around 9:20pm ... a male weighing 12.5 oz. Within 30 minutes, the second puppy arrived, a female weighing 13.5 oz.
Then...we waited. And waited, and waited. After the first hour, we made a call to the local Emergency vet to find out if there was anything we needed to do. There was no pushing, no activity whatsoever. Having seen the same thing with my first litter, I wasn't too concerned as my prior vet said if there was no active pushing and the female wasn't in distress it wasn't an issue. The vet advised they could be in labor up to 4 hours between puppies. So we set our clocks, and waited and waited and waited. We did potty breaks, massaging and allowed the babies to nurse on and off to stimulate contractions.
Hour 3, more pushing started off and on, and we thought we were close. We got the car set up for an emergency run to the vet and made the decision to load up mamma, babies and whelping supplies. Approximately 4 hours had passed, and she passed a small amount of fluid but nothing majorly concerning.
Bella was rushed to the back and they found that puppy #3 was stuck in the birth canal and most likely deceased. The vet began trying to free the puppy, while I negotiated with the hospital manager regarding the cost they were projecting for the emergency c-section ($2500-3500!)
We put our emergency deposit down and waited... and were greeted with amazing news that the vet had gotten the puppy out manually. The puppy appeared to have a deformity in the shoulder which the vet said probably contributed to why he got stuck. His size was completely normal, he just entered the birth canal at the wrong angle.
She did an ultrasound and found puppy #4 still had a heart beat, so we gave an injection of oxytocin and the hospital set us up in a quiet room with blankets to wait for puppy #4 to arrive.
Within about 30 minutes, #4 came into the world. I thought I saw movement when she came out and we went to work cleaning off the sack and clearing fluid out of the mouth. In hind sight, I remember looking and seeing her mouth was white. Jason ran to get the vet who went to work trying to revive her but we lost her as well.
So with an exhausted mama dog, we returned home with two babies just as the sun was coming up (7am).
We stayed up round the clock the last three days, constantly monitoring the babies. Bella was exhausted after her ordeal, so we tried our best to get her to bond with her babies. She was clearly confused by the entire process but by the second day has really taken excellent care of them. We had to contact the emergency veterinarian once more because she was still having contractions the next day and was showing signs of a UTI. The vet advised a second shot of oxytocin just to clear everything out, and a round of antibiotics since the UTI was most likely caused by having to get the puppy out.
Today is the end of Day 3 and the babies are doing amazing and Bella has rested and is feeling a lot better. She is cleaning her babies and keeping them full. Its been strange that she hasn't wanted to move them around as I remember Cindy loved to pick her puppies up and place them all over the box and arrange them how she wanted them. Bella also has no idea what to do when they cry ... she just looks at them and is now starting to lick and show interest but for the most part she is just confused by the crying.
As for the babies. they are growing so quickly!
Baby Boy's weight Progress....
Birth: 12.5 oz
Day 1: 13.5 oz
Day 2: 15.5 oz
Day 3: 1.2 1/2 lbs
Baby Girl's weight progress....
Birth: 13.5 oz
Day 1: 14.5oz
Day 2: 1.1 lbs
Day 3: 1.4 1/2 lbs
The babies individual personalities are starting to really show themselves.
The male insist on being under Bella, or touching her. He loves to curl up under her chest, or rest on her hind legs. This past day he has become extremely vocal .... screaming his head off if he can't find the nipple or if he gets too far away.
The female is very mellow and laid back. She is way more independent about exploring the box and much more receptive to handling. She is pretty content just nursing and sleeping.
You would think with two puppies and 8 nipples that there is more than enough food for everyone... but of course the two siblings are constantly fighting over the same nipple (whichever one the other one has).
Anyways, I'm really looking forward to seeing how these babies mature and grow in the next couple weeks. More updates coming soon!
