24 Hours

The puppies have crossed 24 hours, and they seem to be doing well. Each has gained over an ounce from their birth weight (I'm so tired, I spelled that "wait" and had to go back and fix it- haa). So I'm hopeful that for now, they will continue to be OK. I'm seeing the slightest fuzz of fur on their toes and muzzles now. The red boy is a bit slow in the eating department, so I'm supplementing him a bit. Thankfully he took right to the bottle (I am now the proud owner of every brand of baby bottle Walmart carries in the baby section). The Playtex bottle worked like a charm, and everyone is happy! I just keep watching and waiting for some sign that the puppies are either out of the woods, or taking a bad turn. Right now, they are looking healthy.

I want to thank everyone for the thoughts and prayers for the boys and Syd, and for the puppies who were lost before they ever got started. Yesterday was tough for me, and the events were so quick it was surreal (until about the second time my alarm went off at the 2-hour increments). I'm so happy to have the two boys, and relieved that Sydney is OK. I also feel thiankful that if the other puppies were not able to make it, they didn't linger on and struggle.

Syd has taken to motherhood quite nicely, and I might even call her an over-achiever to the point where I have to tell her to knock it off on occasion. She'd really rather lay on my bed and have me deliver her puppies to her there for nursing, but we're going to have a talk about that one. Stay tuned for Sydney's bedtime story that she tells the two baby boys.

Early Delivery

Syd's puppies are here. Yes, they are here 5 days early. Like 58 days after ovulation. Syd's temp dropped last night, and this morning (sparing you the reason I took her to the vet) she had an emergency c-section. She was carrying six puppies (5 dogs, 1 bitch), but one was not alive from the start. Five were 'breathing' and we got three to cry. Two were trying hard to keep breathing, but they were just too early. In the end, by the time I left the vet, I have two boys, and I'm going to do my best to keep them going strong.

It was not a good morning when I was carrying Syd to the back for surgery, and Dr. Becker said, "We just have to hope for the best" when he's usually so optimistic and reassuring. After all was said and done, he thinks it's very lucky that two puppies are doing as well as these boys are.

Basically, in a nutshell, Dr. B says that one of the puppies was trying to abort, and in doing so, it detached all the pups (? it was really stressful, so I might have butchered that explanation).

Syd is doing OK, she's still very groggy, but she's let the boys nurse twice, and she did sniff one when I held it up to her. Her eyes got really wide, and I have no idea what she thinks it is, but she was not growling or trying to get away from it (yet!).

So keep these two baby boys in your thoughts and prayers, I don't think they are by any means out of the woods yet. Nothing like worst case scenario, damned if you get them out, damned if you don't for the first litter.