Nevada is being an awesome mom, she doesn't want to leave her babies at all and I almost have to force her out to go potty, she wont eat unless she is laying down with them nursing on her and has been doting and being an all around amazing mom, I couldn't ask her to be any better.
Her milk still hasn't come in, although I think they are getting more than they were yesterday and this afternoon for a minute I almost thought it had dropped, there is a humming sound when the babies nurse when momma's milk comes in, it is hard to describe, but any breeder knows what I am talking about, I think it was wishful thinking on my part, but I have faith it will be coming in soon.
I have named the wee little guy Stuart Little - he is so tiny compared to the others but he is a fighter. I have watched him and he has figured out that if he burrows down and goes for the nipple at the bottom that momma is almost laying on, then he doesn't get knocked off as easily. He is still not gaining like the others, so up until now, I have been tube feeding him. I ordered premature baby bottles from Amazon last night and they just showed up this afternoon, so tonight I will try and bottle feed him instead. He is getting supplemented every two hours, which means not very much sleep for me.
This afternoon I think I got a good nap, when Nevada crashed and was snoring, I layed down on the cot in the puppy room and before I knew it I was out like a light. I had some friends come by today and watch so I could take a shower, oh how that can make a person feel good.
I hope everyone has a happy Easter, we got pictures today with my phone camera and I have been trying to figure out how to get those on the blog. So tomorrow I will try again with my real camera. New Pictures coming I promise.
Susan
Ladybug
Saturday, March 31, 2018
Friday, March 30, 2018
Welcome to the World
We have 7 beautiful babies, 5 boys and 2 girls. I know that is the main information that everyone wants to know and my apologies for not getting this posted earlier, it has been a pretty hectic day.
We arrived for our c section this morning at 10am, my village of helpers was there to assist and I am sure other people coming into my vets office this morning wondered what in the world was going on. My vet is a small practice and her philosophy is she will do c sections, but her concern is for the momma dog and I am responsible for the babies and bringing necessary people to revive and take care of how ever many puppies we think we are having. This relationship has worked well and I am comfortable with it and mostly comfortable with her and her abilities to make sure my bitch is well taken care of.
today we had a new crew of helpers, some that have been through this with me before, some expereienced breeders that have helped with other c sections and a couple of people who wanted to come and help, although they have never done anything like this before, but they are new breeders and appreciated the experience. Overall we had an awesome group of people. As the puppies came out Ben and I hurried them into waiting hands and they worked their magic on reviving and cleaning up the puppies. One of the problems with c sections is that babies can take longer to revive because of the anthesethia, normally I am not concerned about this. But Nevada was fighting the anethesethia with everything she had this morning and although my vet didn't want to had to give her more than normal just to get her under for the surgery. One puppy had made it into the birthing canal, even though Nevada hadn't shown any signs of being in labor and that puppy was the last to be taken out.
This beautiful little angel didn't make it, we worked on reviving him for over an hour, tag teamed on him, rubbed and rubbed, did everything we could and pulled out as much fluid from him as we could, he just could not catch a breath. After Nevada was all closed up and in recovery, my vet even tried and just couldn't get him going. I have never lost a puppy during a c section and have been second guessing and questioning what could I have done differently and the fact is, I don't think there is anything we could have done, unless I was at a facility that had more trained staff, more Repro and Neo Natel equipment and even then who knows if he would have pulled through or not. I tend to believe that things happen for a reason and maybe there was something else going on that we were not aware of, as to why this puppy could not survive.
All of the puppies are beautifully marked, not over done on the white blazes, all have white on all four feet, some just a little bit, but all the toes are white so they are very consistent. All were born at a little over a pound except for one wee little boy that I have now named Stuart Little. Stuart is small weighing in at 8.4 ounces and has a cleft in his lip. We had to spend extra time at the vets office today because we needed to make sure that he could latch on an actually nurse. Dr. Allen gave me a better feeding tube than what I had and made sure that if I need to tube feed him, I could. I have only had one other puppy that had to be tube fed and I was a nervous wreck everytime I did it. I have to say that I have done it twice with him today and I am much more confident with my abilities than the last time I went through having to do this. Stuart is small but he is feisty and he has figured out that if he gets underneath his sibilings and gets the nipple on the bottom that mom is usually laying on, that he cannot be knocked off as easily than if he gets a top nipple. He is small and it doesn't take much to knock him off, but so far and into the night he is doing well and I have faith that he will continue to thrive.
I have spent the majority of the day, watching and making sure he is getting enough to eat and thus haven't had time to write. I was getting ready to take a nap and realized that I am sure those that are following the blog have been anxiously awaiting the news - so I am sorry, I didn't get to this earlier.
tomorrow we will get pictures and I will post them, until then I need to get some rest while I can.
We arrived for our c section this morning at 10am, my village of helpers was there to assist and I am sure other people coming into my vets office this morning wondered what in the world was going on. My vet is a small practice and her philosophy is she will do c sections, but her concern is for the momma dog and I am responsible for the babies and bringing necessary people to revive and take care of how ever many puppies we think we are having. This relationship has worked well and I am comfortable with it and mostly comfortable with her and her abilities to make sure my bitch is well taken care of.
today we had a new crew of helpers, some that have been through this with me before, some expereienced breeders that have helped with other c sections and a couple of people who wanted to come and help, although they have never done anything like this before, but they are new breeders and appreciated the experience. Overall we had an awesome group of people. As the puppies came out Ben and I hurried them into waiting hands and they worked their magic on reviving and cleaning up the puppies. One of the problems with c sections is that babies can take longer to revive because of the anthesethia, normally I am not concerned about this. But Nevada was fighting the anethesethia with everything she had this morning and although my vet didn't want to had to give her more than normal just to get her under for the surgery. One puppy had made it into the birthing canal, even though Nevada hadn't shown any signs of being in labor and that puppy was the last to be taken out.
This beautiful little angel didn't make it, we worked on reviving him for over an hour, tag teamed on him, rubbed and rubbed, did everything we could and pulled out as much fluid from him as we could, he just could not catch a breath. After Nevada was all closed up and in recovery, my vet even tried and just couldn't get him going. I have never lost a puppy during a c section and have been second guessing and questioning what could I have done differently and the fact is, I don't think there is anything we could have done, unless I was at a facility that had more trained staff, more Repro and Neo Natel equipment and even then who knows if he would have pulled through or not. I tend to believe that things happen for a reason and maybe there was something else going on that we were not aware of, as to why this puppy could not survive.
All of the puppies are beautifully marked, not over done on the white blazes, all have white on all four feet, some just a little bit, but all the toes are white so they are very consistent. All were born at a little over a pound except for one wee little boy that I have now named Stuart Little. Stuart is small weighing in at 8.4 ounces and has a cleft in his lip. We had to spend extra time at the vets office today because we needed to make sure that he could latch on an actually nurse. Dr. Allen gave me a better feeding tube than what I had and made sure that if I need to tube feed him, I could. I have only had one other puppy that had to be tube fed and I was a nervous wreck everytime I did it. I have to say that I have done it twice with him today and I am much more confident with my abilities than the last time I went through having to do this. Stuart is small but he is feisty and he has figured out that if he gets underneath his sibilings and gets the nipple on the bottom that mom is usually laying on, that he cannot be knocked off as easily than if he gets a top nipple. He is small and it doesn't take much to knock him off, but so far and into the night he is doing well and I have faith that he will continue to thrive.
I have spent the majority of the day, watching and making sure he is getting enough to eat and thus haven't had time to write. I was getting ready to take a nap and realized that I am sure those that are following the blog have been anxiously awaiting the news - so I am sorry, I didn't get to this earlier.
tomorrow we will get pictures and I will post them, until then I need to get some rest while I can.
Thursday, March 29, 2018
Baby Eve
After many phone calls and discussions, I decided to stay home today rather than driving to Tacoma. Nevada has shown no signs of going into early labor and being in the car 5 hours is just not in her best interest. So instead we went to the Dog Food Store and stocked up, picked up a few last minute things that I keep on remembering I need and worked half a day at the office.
She no longer wants Costco Chicken, Duck, Steak, Eggs, you name it and I have tried it. I am getting her to eat. Dr Cindy said she needed to eat at least a cup of food a day, I am probably getting 2 1/2 to 3 cups in her, still not as much as I would like, but I think she is having nasea issues and I don't want to give her anything that might upset the babies. Hopefully after babies are born, her appetite will be back. In the meantime if the puppies like baked potatoes and grilled cheese sandwiches it is not my fault. Seems to be the only thing she will eat the last two days. Tonight consisted of two grilled cheese sandwiches and two baked potatoes with butter, of course all hand fed for the maximum benefit.
She has now reached the point where she cannot have anything else to eat until tomorrow morning, that should not be an issue. We have our C Section scheduled for 10am and I have my helpers all lined up. I think I am ready, so off to bed to get the last good night sleep I will get for a while...
She no longer wants Costco Chicken, Duck, Steak, Eggs, you name it and I have tried it. I am getting her to eat. Dr Cindy said she needed to eat at least a cup of food a day, I am probably getting 2 1/2 to 3 cups in her, still not as much as I would like, but I think she is having nasea issues and I don't want to give her anything that might upset the babies. Hopefully after babies are born, her appetite will be back. In the meantime if the puppies like baked potatoes and grilled cheese sandwiches it is not my fault. Seems to be the only thing she will eat the last two days. Tonight consisted of two grilled cheese sandwiches and two baked potatoes with butter, of course all hand fed for the maximum benefit.
She has now reached the point where she cannot have anything else to eat until tomorrow morning, that should not be an issue. We have our C Section scheduled for 10am and I have my helpers all lined up. I think I am ready, so off to bed to get the last good night sleep I will get for a while...
Monday, March 26, 2018
X Rays - Any Guesses
Today we headed off to Tacoma to visit our Repro Vet for X Rays. I could have done it at home and my vet is awesome, but I have been worried because Nevada just isn't eating as much as I would like, or at least the way her mother ate at this stage of the game, so I felt it was worth the 2 1/2 hour drive to make sure everything is looking good. Dr. Cindy gave us two thumbs up and said everything looks normal and I shouldn't worry so much...sorry it is just in my nature, I get very involved with my breeding program and I don't ever want to lose a single baby for any reason. If there was something happening and I didn't do everything in my power to stop it from happening, I would never forgive myself.
She counted 7 babies and she thinks there is possibly an eighth one hiding, all look good and healthy so that is excellent news. She also doesn't think Nevada will wait until Friday to have these babies. So I am on extra duty watching and monitoring her. She wants me to check her progesterone on Thursday (which means another 5 hours on the road, as we cannot get same day progesterone here in town) and based on what that number is, I should have a better idea of when they will arrive. Dr. Cindy thinks that if it looks like they are coming on Thursday, she would like to do a c section then. I came home and talked with my vet and we both agree it is much better to get her home and do it here, closer to home, then I am not driving home 2 1/2 hours with mom and new born babies in the van. I will be half way home before they call me with the progesterone numbers anyway, so it is best to be closer to home for mom and babies.
Nevada has had two litters and both resulted in c sections, one because she had a single puppy and one because the puppies were so large and she just couldn't push them out with her last Bully litter. So we have all agreed with this litter, just do a c section which will reduce her risk of tearing something or having a puppy get stuck in the canal and losing it.
So now my timeline has moved up and the chores are calling me... Susan
She counted 7 babies and she thinks there is possibly an eighth one hiding, all look good and healthy so that is excellent news. She also doesn't think Nevada will wait until Friday to have these babies. So I am on extra duty watching and monitoring her. She wants me to check her progesterone on Thursday (which means another 5 hours on the road, as we cannot get same day progesterone here in town) and based on what that number is, I should have a better idea of when they will arrive. Dr. Cindy thinks that if it looks like they are coming on Thursday, she would like to do a c section then. I came home and talked with my vet and we both agree it is much better to get her home and do it here, closer to home, then I am not driving home 2 1/2 hours with mom and new born babies in the van. I will be half way home before they call me with the progesterone numbers anyway, so it is best to be closer to home for mom and babies.
Nevada has had two litters and both resulted in c sections, one because she had a single puppy and one because the puppies were so large and she just couldn't push them out with her last Bully litter. So we have all agreed with this litter, just do a c section which will reduce her risk of tearing something or having a puppy get stuck in the canal and losing it.
So now my timeline has moved up and the chores are calling me... Susan
Saturday, March 17, 2018
2 Weeks to Go
Hard to believe in two weeks these sweet little babies will be here. I took this picture of her tonight and you can see she is starting to have a wide load, but she is doing great. She stands back when the dogs are coming or going so she doesn't get trampled, but she doesn't hestitate to let them know when they are not behaving correctly. She is eating well, actually better than me - for that fact. She is getting roasted chicken with the drippings from Costco mixed in with her kibble and she loves it, but I noticed this morning that she couldn't quite eat all of her breakfast, so instead of two meals a day, I will start giving her three. That will be a little easier to digest and not quite so much in one meal time.
Today, my dad came over and we tore apart the whelping box and put it back together. My dad made my whelping box and I love it, except the pig rails (boards to stop mom from squishing pups when they are new born) were just too low, the pups kept getting their heads stuck under them in the last litter, so we moved them up, now they are probably too high, but I am not taking this thing apart again. It is solid and heavy. By taking it apart, I was able to give it a good cleaning as well and I was able to get under it, which I haven't done in a while, surprisingly, it wasn't too bad, but it got a good bleaching - all ready for the new babies. Nevada came in and supervised and we got her seal of approval when it was all put back together.
We go in for X Rays on Monday the 26th at 10am, so I will have a better idea of how many puppies she is going to have at that time.
Meanwhile it is starting to sink in that I have a lot of work to try and do before pups come, because after they are here, not much gets accomplished as far as day to day chores around the house. I try, but there is just never enough time and I spend as much time with the babies as I can.
Today, my dad came over and we tore apart the whelping box and put it back together. My dad made my whelping box and I love it, except the pig rails (boards to stop mom from squishing pups when they are new born) were just too low, the pups kept getting their heads stuck under them in the last litter, so we moved them up, now they are probably too high, but I am not taking this thing apart again. It is solid and heavy. By taking it apart, I was able to give it a good cleaning as well and I was able to get under it, which I haven't done in a while, surprisingly, it wasn't too bad, but it got a good bleaching - all ready for the new babies. Nevada came in and supervised and we got her seal of approval when it was all put back together.
We go in for X Rays on Monday the 26th at 10am, so I will have a better idea of how many puppies she is going to have at that time.
Meanwhile it is starting to sink in that I have a lot of work to try and do before pups come, because after they are here, not much gets accomplished as far as day to day chores around the house. I try, but there is just never enough time and I spend as much time with the babies as I can.
Monday, March 5, 2018
Happy To Say.....Nevada is Pregnant
As a breeder it is never easy to actually get your girl pregnant and knock on wood, I have been successful most of the time. Mother nature is never convenient and things don't always go the way you plan. Take this breeding for example. I knew Nevada was going to come into season and I knew it would most likely happen when I was at a dog show in January. January was pretty packed for me. I wanted to enter her in the Portland shows as she finally had coat and looks mature and I thought she would do well. Of course right after entries close, the coat starts coming out in buckets and I knew she would come into season. Trying to be at a show with a seasoned stud dog and a bitch that is in season is miserable for everyone in the hotel, and most definately me. So I decided to eat my entries and leave Nevada at home with the house sitter. Strict instructions to watch for signs of her coming into season.
My house sitter calls on Saturday and lets me know she is in season. So I contact the Stud Dog owner of the dog I plan to use just to give her a heads up and make sure they don't have plans that will cause us problems. I next call the repro vet's office to make an appointment so we can come up with a game plan of when to have her ship semen for us to use, He lives across the country and I didn't want to drive there in the winter. My repro vet is on vacation until the following Monday so she says to get progesterone on Thur, Sat and then they will pull on Monday when I come in. Thur I take her to my vet, and we get the results the next day. My vet sends me an email and says she's at 2. For those that don't know 2 is when they start to surge and when they hit 5 is when we want to breed them. I figured on Thursday she would be at .2, certainly not at 2. I kidded with my vet and told her you mean .2 right. She says no she is at 2. Crap! My house sitter didn't catch her on day one as there is no way she could have progressed this fast. I contact the stud dog owner and let her know and we both start worrying about the weekend and if this is going to work. Saturday I take Nevada back in and wait for the results because I have a bad feeling. Sure enough she has ovulated and is at 5. It is now Sat Evening Back East. The soonest we can get the shipment is Tuesday if she collects on Monday and that will be iffy because there is a terrible snow storm.
As much as I like the dog I wanted to use, I realized that timing is just not going to work and I need a plan B and Fast. I called Anne and asked her how she felt about repeating the Nevada and Bull litter and was she open to taking Nevada for a week, while I flew down to Arizona to judge Sweepstakes at a Dog show that week. She agrees that it is the best idea and I drove from Tacoma to Portland to leave Nevada with Anne and still needed to get home that night to feed my dogs that were at home. Needless to say, it was a lot of miles that day in the van. Nevada spent a week on the farm and of course she Loves Bully and Anne and Greg. I went and picked her up the following weekend and have been babying her ever since.
We went in to see Dr Cindy last Monday where she confirmed that Nevada is pregnant. she tried to count puppies by ultrasound and her unofficial count was 7 with one additional puppy being reabsorbed. I was concerned but she assured me this is quite normal and we would put her on antibiotics just for the safe side and she wanted to see her again today to do a recheck. Nevada has been very nautious, hasn't wanted to eat and I have been begging her to eat. At this point she is eating better than I am. Today we had our recheck and Dr Cindy said everything looks really good. All the puppies look healthy and Nevada had actually gained 4 pounds which surprised me as since I was sure she had lost weight. She gave me suggestions on the food and tonight Nevada ate the best she has eaten for the past week. She had two cups of kibble with Roasted Chicken and the drippings. She inhaled her food and wanted more, but I didn't want her to get sick, so she gets the other 1/2 of the chicken for breakfast tomorrow.
It makes me very happy to be able to tell folks now that this pregnancy is looking good. We will be doing x rays on the 26th of March and we have scheduled a c section for the 30th of March.
My house sitter calls on Saturday and lets me know she is in season. So I contact the Stud Dog owner of the dog I plan to use just to give her a heads up and make sure they don't have plans that will cause us problems. I next call the repro vet's office to make an appointment so we can come up with a game plan of when to have her ship semen for us to use, He lives across the country and I didn't want to drive there in the winter. My repro vet is on vacation until the following Monday so she says to get progesterone on Thur, Sat and then they will pull on Monday when I come in. Thur I take her to my vet, and we get the results the next day. My vet sends me an email and says she's at 2. For those that don't know 2 is when they start to surge and when they hit 5 is when we want to breed them. I figured on Thursday she would be at .2, certainly not at 2. I kidded with my vet and told her you mean .2 right. She says no she is at 2. Crap! My house sitter didn't catch her on day one as there is no way she could have progressed this fast. I contact the stud dog owner and let her know and we both start worrying about the weekend and if this is going to work. Saturday I take Nevada back in and wait for the results because I have a bad feeling. Sure enough she has ovulated and is at 5. It is now Sat Evening Back East. The soonest we can get the shipment is Tuesday if she collects on Monday and that will be iffy because there is a terrible snow storm.
As much as I like the dog I wanted to use, I realized that timing is just not going to work and I need a plan B and Fast. I called Anne and asked her how she felt about repeating the Nevada and Bull litter and was she open to taking Nevada for a week, while I flew down to Arizona to judge Sweepstakes at a Dog show that week. She agrees that it is the best idea and I drove from Tacoma to Portland to leave Nevada with Anne and still needed to get home that night to feed my dogs that were at home. Needless to say, it was a lot of miles that day in the van. Nevada spent a week on the farm and of course she Loves Bully and Anne and Greg. I went and picked her up the following weekend and have been babying her ever since.
We went in to see Dr Cindy last Monday where she confirmed that Nevada is pregnant. she tried to count puppies by ultrasound and her unofficial count was 7 with one additional puppy being reabsorbed. I was concerned but she assured me this is quite normal and we would put her on antibiotics just for the safe side and she wanted to see her again today to do a recheck. Nevada has been very nautious, hasn't wanted to eat and I have been begging her to eat. At this point she is eating better than I am. Today we had our recheck and Dr Cindy said everything looks really good. All the puppies look healthy and Nevada had actually gained 4 pounds which surprised me as since I was sure she had lost weight. She gave me suggestions on the food and tonight Nevada ate the best she has eaten for the past week. She had two cups of kibble with Roasted Chicken and the drippings. She inhaled her food and wanted more, but I didn't want her to get sick, so she gets the other 1/2 of the chicken for breakfast tomorrow.
It makes me very happy to be able to tell folks now that this pregnancy is looking good. We will be doing x rays on the 26th of March and we have scheduled a c section for the 30th of March.
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