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Tuesday, October 9

A birth story! Part Three

Continued from Part Two, found here

"They have to give her a c-section."

Ty didn't even pause when the Vet told him. He said "I'm not losing her." He knew that c-sections are expensive, but he wasn't going to let Brady die. If we had said no, and taken Brady home to take her chances, she wouldn't have been able to give birth to the stuck puppy, and she would have likely gotten sepsis and died. For us, it was a no-brainer.

We debated on what to do, since we had both the kids with us. Ty had to work in the morning, so I said that he should just go home with the kids, and I would stay with Brady. Ty said that he wouldn't sleep anyways. I said I didn't want to wait out in the car with the kids the whole time, so we decided to drive home and see if Ty's Mom would take the boys overnight for us. The Vet had to wait for her assistant to arrive before she could get started, anyway, so we had a bit of time.

We were driving home, and we happened to take the route that leads by my sister's house. The lights were on! It was after one in the morning. I said "Maybe Adeena will take Deklan, and Reid can just stay with us. I'll go in with Brady and you can try to sleep in the car." Ty agreed, so we pulled in, and I ran up to her door and knocked. I said "It's just me! I'm not a stalker!" ;)

I explained the situation, and she graciously said that Deklan could stay the night. I ran back to the car, and brought Deklan in. He was upset because of the stressful situation with Brady (who he loves), and was not impressed to be left behind, even at his beloved Nah's house. Adeena tells me he eventually settled down, I hope so! ;)

I drove back to town, because Ty was falling asleep. I'm a much better driver while sleepy than he is, I don't fall asleep while driving. I just don't.

Reid and Ty slept in the car while I went inside to be with Brady.

The vet tech had arrived by then. They had Brady on a steel table, and were doing all sorts of medically necessary things, like giving her an I.V. and shaving the hair off of her belly. Brady was frightened, but true to her nature she was calm and gentle. I doubt it even crossed her mind to bite or growl. She was such a good girl! I was really, really proud of her.

The Vet was so kind, and so good with Brady. She told me that they would need an extra pair of hands with the puppies. I said "Sure, no problem."

I watched as they gave Brady the drug to make her fall asleep, and it didn't take very long for her to be out. They took her into the operating room, and laid her on her back. They intubated her, and swabbed her belly with disinfectant. It was hard to see her laying so still, and in such a weird position.

Ty came in, having been awakened by a protesting Baby Reid. By that time, Brady was covered with the sterile operating drapes, and only her head was visible. Ty couldn't bear to see her like that, so he stayed back from the door. I was able to compartmentalize what I was seeing, although I found it distressing that my sweet doggy was laying on the operating table, I also was fascinated by the procedure.

I watched the incision, watched the Vet gently draw Brady's uterus out of her body, and watched as she carefully cut an opening and pulled the first puppy out.

She broke open the sac, and pulled the puppy out. She handed the pup to the vet tech, who wrapped it in a towel, and handed it to me. There was a table set up outside of the operating room, and I took the puppy there and started working on it. The towel was dry and scratchy, and I rubbed it on the puppy's sides and back, cleaning out it's mouth with my finger. The vet tech brought me a suctioner to clean the mucous out of the puppy's throat, and after a tense 30 seconds, the puppy drew it's first breath! Success!

After that, three more puppies were brought out, each needing a different degree of stimulation to get them breathing. One was being exceptionally difficult, and the vet tech couldn't get him going. The Vet called her back into the operating room to assist with something, so she handed him to me, and I was able to get him breathing after a few scary moments.

The vet tech brought out poor puppy # 6. It was a sad moment. He was frozen in a horse-shoe shape, and it was obvious he had been dead for quite some time. The vet tech covered him in a towel, and took him away shortly after.

That was it! No more puppies. The four c-section babies were all squalling and crying on the table, crawling around, looking for their Momma. I put them in the basket with the 5 that we had brought from home. They had been kept under a nice warm electric blanket for the duration of the surgery, and there was a lot less room in the basket when we added the hatched babies to it! ;)

I washed my hands, and then Tyler and I went to the waiting room while they finished sewing Brady up.

It was a long wait, and eventually we went back to the other room, where they had Brady laying on her side, her puppies lined up on her teats. Eight of them were nursing happily, one of them was chilled and uninterested in nursing. It was little # 5. We gave him a bit of milk via tube feeding, but it didn't help. He lasted through the night, but died the next morning. :(

The other 8 were fine, healthy puppies! Brady slowly came out of the anasthetic, and she looked at all the puppies with a "Huh??" expression. When she went to sleep, she only had 5 puppies. Now she had 9, and they were all already dry and cleaned.

Once she stood up and walked, we were able to take her home. I held the puppies in the basket, and Ty sat in the back so he could have his hand on Brady to help her calm down, because she was still disoriented and nervous.

We got home, Ty let her walk around outside so she could go pee, while I went in and cleaned out her whelping bed and laid a fresh towel and clean papers down for her. I put the puppies under the heat lamp, and Ty brought Brady in and we got her settled down in her bed.

I sent Ty to bed (this was at 4:45 a.m., he had to wake up at 6:00) and I stayed up to watch Brady. Coffee was my nearest and dearest friend that morning, let me tell you.

Brady finally settled down, and sniffed each of her puppies. I was worried that she would reject the ones born by c-section, but no, she sniffed them and licked them and accepted them just fine. :)

It was a long, hard day, but seeing all those puppies lined up against Brady's belly was a lovely sight. I was so glad we made the decision to take her in to the Vet's. It would have been devastating if we had waited until morning, only to have to take her in and have a c-section anyway, and likely 4 more dead puppies.

Deklan absolutely *loves* the puppies. He adores them. And Brady is so good with him, Deklan sits in with her and watches the puppies, and she doesn't mind at all. She's never growled or snarled or acted at all aggressive, which can happen with some dogs. She's such a good girl. :)

I'll upload some pictures of the puppies later! :)

1 comment:

  1. That was stressful to read! And I even knew how it ended! ;)

    Yes, he did settle. And slept like a log until Jeff came home. :) He sobbed in his sleep (poor baby!) but was all smiles in the morning. All good. :) Glad I was awake! :D

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