Keep your fingers crossed everyone!!!

But when we woke this morning to Milly panting up a storm so I knew they were coming today! To the whelping box we went AGAIN and Milly panted and paced and dug and then…. she whined.

She NEVER whines! Ever! She’s a silent whelper!!! And this was not her first time. We were waiting over 4 hours and still no puppy – Totally unlike her. I knew we had a problem! Off to Dr. Rodgers in Lakeland we were headed!!!!

The drive was rather uneventful – My co-pilot was a real trooper. Keeping herself calm and staying focused the the task at hand. I swear she knew I was on a mission helper – I could see it in her eyes!

Dr. Rodgers was amazing, AS ALWAYS and got her right into surgery. We had 6 puppies in there but the boy that was stuck didn’t make it. He was positioned across the birth canal, blocking the way for all of the others, hence…. no progress on the whelping and lots of whining!!!

We had five happy and healthy puppies in shades of black to blue. Two girls and three boys. Milly took right to them, even while coming to from her anesthesia! Man oh man is she an amazing mother!!! And we have ourselves a stunning litter of puppies!

As we drove home and I got them all settled I thought long and hard about this whole whelp watch. Two fulls days waiting for their dramatic arrival -Same way I come into the world! An entire week early for me though! So with that said, these puppies were being named after birthday cocktails! Decision made!!!

They all have a bit of their parents personalities – Two of our most energetic and social dogs in the house! Their babies got that for sure – Some more than others. Can you figure out how from these pictures? I believe it is our last week to get a group shot of them that’s for sure!

They are a very chill litter of puppies with only one being vocal (the last boy born). Milly has taken to them in an equally chill fashion. She clearly does what she needs to and is attentive but not overly consumed. She still loves attention from her humans so we give it to her often – allowing us to also handle her pups a lot. It’s a twofer!!! Love when that happens!

She started to show signs of going into labor around 5:00pm. I figured I had a few hours before the pushing would start. She had eaten her food at 1:00pm so I assumed it would be an early morning arrival. I had a 6:00pm appointment so I left her in the peace and quite of the whelping room. To my surprise, when I returned at 8:00pm I was greeted by her first puppy already having been born, cleaned and she was nursing! (a girl weighing 4 ozs.) Milly was actually pushing out the next puppy as I walked into the room. It was from that point forward that I got to watch my very first “ALL BY HERSELF” whelping. I mean, she did EVERYTHING without my help! She was amazing!

Her second puppy was a boy, weighing in at 3.7 ozs.. She took a 45 minute break and then whelped the next two at the same time! Another boy (3.2 ozs.) and another girl! (2.6 ozs.) 36 minutes later her fifth puppy and third boy arrived – the biggest in the litter, he weighed in at 4.5 ozs. All five puppies here in just over an hour and a half. She’s was amazing!! And all of he puppies are doing fantastic. I assume she will be like her mom and grandma and grow them the outside. They always had uber-milk – Let’s see if she follows suit!

We caught it just in the nick and time that’s for sure. Once we got in there it was apparent that the breeding did in fact take. There were seven embryo sacks but two were seconds from rupturing. It appeared as though two of the sacks had already tried to self-heal, with what looked to be scar tissue attached to them. Once ruptured to get a sample for testing it was clear she was filled with infection. If they had ruptured she would’ve died for sure.

I cannot tell you how happy I am that we caught this I have followed my gut. Barbie has lived to tell the tale and live from this day forward as a spayed, happy and healthy girl.