The Story of Their Birth

Yesterday was a long day but it flew by. It started with a phone call from Clare, the Paws breeding coordinator. He wanted to know how Wilma was doing. She was still panting, her temp had gone back up a bit, she had eaten some breakfast, and still no contractions. I wondered if I should go to work. After we talked about how far away that was and how long I'd be gone, and how much longer Wilma could be and if someone could check in on Wilma, I decided it'd be OK if I went in. So I went to work and Marilyn, my neighbor came over to check in on Wilma. She said she heard crying when she opened the door and was worried that something was wrong with Wilma. But when she got to the nursery, Wilma was sitting in her whelping box smiling at her. The crying was coming from the futon mattress I had on the floor next to the whelping box. A puppy was under the blankets. Marilyn picked it up, gave it to Wilma and called me. I flew home (in the 6 inches of new snow that was still falling.) I was so upset that I went to work and wasn't there for Wilma when she needed me. But I guess she didn't really need me. She delivered the little boy all on her own! She just didn't know what to do with him after that.

Marilyn stayed to help me and we delivered 9 more puppies during the next 6 hours. Some came an hour apart, some came 10 minutes apart, but most were about 40 minutes apart. I learned how to clamp, cut and tie off umbilical cords, how to break open sacs, how to help a puppy start breathing by clearing the fluid from a it's throat, and how to pull a breech puppy's head out. We dried off each pup, weighed each pup, gave each pup a colored collar, fed Wilma between pups, and recorded it all. We finally had time to get the pups to eat after number 4 was delivered. Everything went very smooth, almost text book. My only worried moment was when puppy number 10 wasn't coming out, despite Wilma's contractions. I called Clare, I called my vet, they both said don't panic yet and pretty soon puppy 10 was there. It was an hour and a half behind puppy 9. I called Clare and my vet to say "Finally, we are done!" Ten puppies, 6 boys and 4 girls.

Marilyn went home, I cleaned up the whelping box and the room, took Wilma outside, fed her, got her back into the box with all 10 puppies, made myself a margarita and started calling family and friends to tell them about the pups. I was sitting on the futon, talking to a friend about the whole experience when I saw Wilma pop out another puppy! I said "There's 11, I gotta go" and hung up. What a surprise! Another healthy 14 oz girl!

The puppies are doing great! Wilma is doing great! She was meant to be a mom. And I am enjoying watching them interact with each other and with their mom. It is truly amazing!