48 hours later...

Pups and mom have made it through their first 48 hours! Luna is nursing like a champ, and has the appetite to show for it.  One of ours puppies aspirated some  milk into her lungs, but luckily I got her to an emergency animal hospital in time and it's been almost 18 hours and she is improving steadily with their help.  The vets were NOT optimistic at all when I brought her in because she's so young and it's so difficult for them to survive with fluid in their lungs.  I decided to give her 6 hours to show which way she was going to to, and to everyone's surprise she has been getting better.  She is still in an oxygen cage, but she is nursing from bottle and gaining strength.  Her breathing is still a little difficult but the fact that she has survived 18 hours far exceeds any of the staff their and they are much more optimistic. She will stay with them for atleast another 24 hours before evaluating when she's ready to come home.  Fingers crossed everyone, still not out of the woods, but getting closer with every passing hour! She is definitely a fighter and we've decided to name her Phoenix!

THEY'RE HERE!!!!

10 puppies born at 9 am this morning via c-section.  7 girls, 3 boys ranging from 10.6-14.3 oz.  Amazing assortment of brindles and one red...keep looking for pics!

It's time!! (I hope)

Luna' temp starting dipping yesterday afternoon to 97.9, but she was eating and behaving normally and we were scheduled to see our vet in the am anyway so I just kept a close eye on her.  I was woken up at 3 am to hearing her softly grunting and found her shivering, whether it's because her temp was so low or because of contractions I don't know.  After several hours of her doing this and spacing out, yet still eating and able to sleep I finally called out vet at 6 am and she told me to bring her in at 7! Just a quick update and then we're out the door- hopefully next post will have pics of beautiful and healthy puppies!!

Not so patiently waiting...

So after a couple of days of high 99, low 100 temps she is back down to mid 98's, latest temp is 98.3!!  Question is- has she just dropped back to where she was or is this a legitimate pre-whelp drop? Last night she was so restless and couldn't sit still and when she did lay down she would have to rock back and forth to get some momentum and get back up! She goes back in to the vet in the morning to be worked up again, to avoid an emergency over the long weekend.  I'm highly doubtful that she'd last until Tuesday at this point so hopefully her levels are low enough that they can do the C-section tomorrow!

Vet visit today...

Her temp has actually been up in the lower 100 range for the first time this week.  She had her progesterone level checked this morning and it was 7 ng, anything under 2 ng indicates whelp within 12-24 hours.  So she's declining but not quite there yet.  Vet wants another check and exam early Friday morning to see if we can catch it before  heading into the long weekend.  However, tonight she is really restless, pacing, laying down for a minute and getting back up to pace some more.  She can't seem to get comfortable.  Latest temperature check was back down to 99.0, will see where she is in the morning! She is also up to 56 lbs! So she's now gained 13 pounds which is incredible! It's all puppy too as the rest of her body is still in awesome shape, she's just a walking beach ball now! Check back often as we are getting closer!

Making room...

She's having to spread all the way out to get comfortable! The puppies have to be jam packed in there but when she lays like this I can see them moving all around, it's pretty neat! Temperature is holding steady in the 99's.  Her vet will probably take a look at  her tomorrow and run some blood tests to narrow down date.  Today is day 60 fom first AI.

Poor mama....