Thursday, January 31, 2013

A Long Labor But We Have Puppies!

Bella was miserable yesterday. She was in, then out, every few minutes. She was on the sofa, on the floor, on the bed, in the hall, in the bathroom, just couldn't find anywhere to get comfortable. Late yesterday afternoon we swept her cervix to see if that would speed things up. She had a few contractions but far apart. I stayed up with her all night as she wanted to go outside in the storm for a walk. Then she wanted to be a lap dog. I massaged her back, her tummy, and even  gave her a pillow to rest her leg on.

  Finally around 3AM she started having contractions every 15 minutes. She wanted out so I took her back to the goat pen and put her in the stall where she delivered last year. That lasted about an hour. Then she came inside and rested where I had fixed a spot for her to have the puppies. That lasted a few minutes and she managed to dart out the door when William opened it. We searched and found her underneath a pile of lumber. I finally decided if that is where she wanted to have her puppies then leave her be. 30 minutes later she was barking at the back door and William let her in. I was sitting on the sofa when she came running in and jumped up beside me. She laid her head on my lap and looked up with her big brown eyes. I told her she finally realized she wanted her mommy. Before I could get up to help her to the birthing spot. She had a puppy on the sofa! 

Made sure she was breathing good and moved her and mom.

Wasn't be a minute and she was nursing away!
45 minutes later her brother made an entrance.Slowly throughout the day 4 more brothers were added to the family.





 I won't say Bella is done as I thought that an hour ago when she and the puppies took a nap. I cleaned up the birthing area and just got them all settled back down when the 5th little boy popped out.
Right now they are all resting after fresh, clean bedding was fixed for them. (Hopefully last time tonight). I am so ready for a nap but first I must wash up all the labor and delivery mess, put a closed sign on the labor room door and a welcome sign on the nursery. Its going to be a crazy time in my livingroom nursery for a few weeks.
P.S. The little girl already has a home when she is old enough. Her new family are going to call her Snow. Snow will be moving to Lexington, NC in 6 weeks.

Make that 6 boys and a girl. Time to change the bedding again. Guess labor and delivery isn't closed after all. Another update>>>> 7 boys and 1 girl. Wonder if labor/delivery nurses get overtime.




5 comments:

The Homestead Lady said...

Congrats...we had pupppies the 20th of January...must be the puppy season..lol

Tombstone Livestock said...

Congrats, that's a lotta boys .... sort of my kinda luck. My Bella turned 2 this month. She did not come in heat until she was 18 months, and ended up with strange white cell count and a vet bill so I decided not to breed her. Neighbor had a male, well that's out now, he got in a dog fight with one of their other dogs and ended neutered. Besides Bella's mom had 13 puppies in her first litter, your experience makes me doublely glad I did not breed her.

Linda said...

Congratulations. Adorable photos!

Kelly said...

Wow!!!! Congratulations!!! Lots of boys in that litter!!! They are all too cute!

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Holy Cow---bet you are exhausted... No wonder Bella was so uncomfortable... Bless her heart... The babies are precious though...

Hope you have a good weekend and get some REST. We finally got some SNOW this morning... Yeah!!! BUT--it was 10 degrees when I got up early today...

Hugs,
Betsy