Why aren't puppies born during the day?? Last night was a very long night. Duchess' water broke (on the bottom bunk of course) about 830pm. She hadn't eaten much all day, so I thought we might be getting close, even though she isn't due till Wed. She's definitely not related to me--there was NOTHING I could ever do to induce my labor any earlier than my due date--other than pitocin. Anyway, at 9pm Adam and I hauled the whelping box we had made and Emma had so finely painted up two floors to the guest room. (Yes guests, now every time you stay at our house you can think about the guest room being used as a labor and delivery room). We started shredding paper quick and got finished just in time. Soon after she had a little back leg and tail hanging out---breech. So I tugged a little, massaged, told Adam to start looking for a sharp object to give an episiotomy with, and after a few long minutes of a stuck puppy, we got her through. She was much bigger than I'd imagined them coming out. Long story short, I spent the rest of the night midwifing. Finally got a little sleep from 5-7. Emma & Sarah spent most of the night awake assisting as well. After the breech, she could have done most of it on her own, but by #4 she did need some help. She'd labored on and off for over 3 hours trying to get him out. Then I got hungry and went downstairs for a quick snack--seriously 2 minutes--of course she gave birth while I was gone, chewed the cord, ate the placenta, etc. When I got back, I found that the puppy couldn't breath due to fluid, I had to hold him in my hands and swing him down a few times to get it out---I was thrilled it worked, it was our little red one, the biggest pup of all--he's huge, 1 lb 3 oz.

After that she had one more around 0430. I wasn't sure how many she had in there, but I thought maybe one more--I was beat though, so put Em in charge and got a couple of hours of sleep. When I woke up, it seemed like she was still trying to labor a little, but unsuccessfully, so I called the vet and made her a 1015 appt. No one went to school today, the girls went w /me to the vet--puppies and all! They did an x-ray and found one more was still in there, up higher in her ribs still. They gave her a shot of oxytocin, and sent us home w/ a syringe for later. An hour later she had puppy #6, a black female, but she was limp and not breathing when she came out. I did everything I could, but was unsuccessful. The kids were pretty upset about it, not matter how many times we told them that it's normal to have a still born. Pets are sure good for life lessons!! Adam came home for lunch and we have a little funeral in our backyard pet cemetary, and I tried to refocus the kids on the other five healthy little puppies. Duchess is doing great, she licks them to death, sometimes a little too much, but she's doing great. She has a big grin from ear to ear.