Birthday

Happy Birthday "Heart" Litter!

Well this is an interesting story. We had a X-ray done at the Avenue of the Saints on Monday, January 29th 2018.
The vet confirmed there were 7 puppies in Ivy. We thought there were going to be more considering what we
had seen on the earlier Ultrasound and how big Ivy was getting. But 7 is a nice sized litter. The Vet said according
to her calculations we could expect puppies around the 4th of February. Of coarse Ivy had different ideas.
We should have known because she had delivered a couple days early on her first litter and we couldn't
be sure which of the breedings conceived the puppies, so delivery date was a guess at best.
But we sure didn't want them to come early. Again the vet assured us if Ivy waited a couple more days
the pups should be fully developed and ready for delivery. Tuesday Ivy seemed a bit more nervous which we
knew indicated she was getting close. Wednesday morning she did some pre labor things, but her temperature hadn't
spiked and she ate. So we figured we were safe to go to work. Suzanne was working at her remote office
and my work is a half hour drive from home, but I just had a feeling I better go home during lunch to check
on her. Good thing I did as Ivy had three puppies born on the whelping room floor. She decided to forgo the
whelping box and rip some towels our of a cloths basket. She had made quite a mess. Well I
made a frantic call to Suzanne and got Ivy and the pups into the whelping box. The three little pups (later
found to be all boys) were doing well. Ivy had cleaned them and chewed the umbilical. Must have eaten
the placentas also (yuck). I helped deliver the fourth pup (a girl) without problems while Suzanne was in route
quite possibly exceeding the speed limit excessively! It was shortly after she got there that the 5th pup was born about
a half hour after the fourth, another boy. But we waited and waited for number 6. It was well after an hour, almost two
and a lot of contraction and much coaxing of Ivy that a rear leg emerged. He was breech. The sack had ruptured
and he had to come out. Suzanne gently helped during the contractions to pull this boy free.
He was very active and Ivy was very eager to clean and lick him. All was well and we relaxed knowing
he had made it. So we just had to wait for number Seven. We thought it might be another wait as the
later ones usually come further apart. But Ivy started contracting in about 15 minutes. This one looked like
a normal birth. Ivy actually got her out with just a few contractions. The sack was intact, so we broke it expecting
to see her take a breath, but there was nothing. Ivy didn't seem eager to clean it and we were rubbing to
try and get her going. We got nothing, no breath, no kicking. We tried clearing the lungs and doing the sling.
Kept rubbing. There was some fluid in the lungs. We tried a little CPR, but it was to no avail.
We lost our little Von Rose Angle Heart. It was heart breaking. So this litter is dedicated to the sweet little
girl that was only with us for a few minutes and is buried is a small box under our piney trees.
Rest in Peace.