Here it is. After all the web site, videos, conversations with our veterinarian staff and assisting in an actual whelping, we were ready...NOT!
We could not get Trixy to get in her box and stay although I was sure she was in her first stages of labor. Aug 13 I was up most of the night with her. She paced back n forth, nested, hid behind things, jumped in and out of the box, stayed tight to me and I rubbed her stomach n back through out the night. At some point we both dropped off.
Most of Wednesday she was all over the place. Id like to mention that after reading some info on websites and learning about the temperature drop to 98.6-99.0 range that certainly helped us understand what was going on. My veterinarian being the first to mention it, with-in 12-24 hours of that temp drop birthing was to be expected. It was another site that mentioned taking the temp at least 3 x daily.
I had a plan set in motion that evolved around Trixy's due date of Monday Aug 19. Day 63 of the gestation period. Thursday was the initial day I had chose to start taking her temp to be sure I was on top of things and not compromising her near Saturday for the years spiritual picnic down on Nicolson's Farm. Learning about the 3x daily was on Tuesday am so due to my surprise at the frequency I thought I would for that day take her temp 3 times to see if or how it might vary. Am reading was 99.3 which surprised me as the temp was supposed to be around 101. Hmmm? Noon temp was down even though slightly I thought well now 99.1, the evening reading was 98.8. I was pretty sure along with her behavior that this was it. When I woke Wednesday am first thing I took her temp again. There it was the exact temp I was given by the Vets office 98.6. I was now certain beyond any shadow of doubt that sometime today we would have puppies.
We stayed on top of her and sure enough about 4ish she lost her plug, sharing the experience with my husband, which is one experience i'm sure he won't soon forget!
At 5:30 pm we had our first puppy. A Black n Tan weighing 8 oz. Poor Trixy couldn't lay down and she yelped in pain. That's tough as you don't know if its just painful as most child bearing woman giving natural child birth will tell you, or are we in distress? After we got her to lay down and that first puppy showed its head it was understandable why she yelped as it looked huge!
I'll spare you the rest of the Gory details and struggles as they were all pretty similar but let me say this. With each puppy except for #4 she would pass the pup and stand up with it still attached and without the passing of the placenta. That was probably more scary to me to see than it may have actually been.
The other incident that we had was umbilical bleeding as she chewed to close to the end on the puppy and her continual licking was only causing it to continue bleeding. With the Breeder friend of mine close in hand I immediately called and she walked me through it and we quickly recovered from a situation which again was more scary to us (being it was our first litter) than it truly was.
It's not for the weak at heart though as we discovered from a friend who stopped by to see the event and pups that had already arrived. She didn't stay long at all..LOL
Our Good Friend Erin, Home and Pup Sitter
Keeping us in touch while we are away. (I believe by Skype)
The Arrival of Puppy #4 A Ruby and the Only Girl
Today is Aug 18, 2013 Sunday eve. I'm working on the site and I discover from the time stamp on my photos that they say Feb something 2011...What?! Well apparently the date setting was never set when I bought my camera. OOOPS! I have now set it to the correct date so please do not look at the date on the photos. They are NOT accurate!
The weekend has passed and the puppies are now 4 days old. We weigh them every two days to be sure that they are gaining weight. Each pup is thriving. Born strong weighing in, in order, P1 8.0, p2 7.8, p3 7.8, p4 8.0, p5 6.7, p6 7.1. Todays weigh in are, p1 9.6, p2 9.4, p3 9.6, p4 11.2, p5 7.7, p6 8.2.
Trixy is doing well. Now we just want to continue to monitor them and invite our friends who are numerous to stop by and visit both Mom n Pups. This aides in socializing them which is actually quite important.
We will continue to post pictures as they grow and progress on their journey in life.
Aug 19 Today we made arrangements to bring Trixy and the crew to see the "Doc" so they will have their first Vet visit tomorrow Aug 20 at 10:30 am (Day 6) where they will have a quick peek check-up and Dew Claws removed.
Aug 25, 2013. After speaking with the veterinarians office I decided to go on-line and do some research on Dew Claws. I was fascinated by what I was reading. I must tell you at this point, the only reason I had initially made that appointment was due to the fact that we had one of our cavaliers (Ginger) get hers snagged on something and had it pulled out and left dangling on her. She yelped in pain and it was not a pleasant experience for either pup or myself. I am an emotional person when it comes to seeing animals or children in distress and helpless. They need us to look after them and they look to us for comfort in times as such.
Along with the info I was reading and the input my husband gave which was: "We have had several dogs in the past and never had a problem, just the one incident " He was right, and so I leaned more to not having the procedure done. I called my Vet's office and cancelled the apt.
To learn more about the dew claws please click on the link I have provided for you here.
Today is day 11. Eyes still not open. Gaining weight at a good pace. Todays weigh-in: 1P:13.5; 2P:15.5; 3P:15.4; 4P:1lb 3.6; 5P:11.6; 6P:11.9. As you can see if you are tracking their weight, Gracie is in the fore front. Our little Cow-Girl for sure.