Happy Birthday

Bridget’s due dates were April 15-16, and being as big as she was, I was thinking  she would go a bit early.  But I am learning that these subsequent whelps tend to be less predictable and often late.  Bridget started showing early signs  of impending labor (restless, panting) at 10 pm Friday April 15, and I thought we were on track for a April 16 whelp. . . but no.  By 3 am Sunday morning she was resting peacefully and had appeared to have given up on the idea of having puppies any time soon, and I went to bed.  Later Sunday morning, about the only behaviors she was doing differently were not very interested in food (normal prewhelp) and wanting to hang out in a crate (denning behavior), but only occasional soft pants not much different than she was late term pregnancy.  I was just about ready to go out into the yard to do some yard work with frequent checks back in when I heard a groan, and looked over to see a Bridget having a contraction.  When a pregnant dog has externally visible contractions that typically indicates the onset of Stage II labor and a puppy is likely to be born within 30 min!!  I did a quick change of clothes, called my whelper helpers, and inhaled some late lunch (currently 1 pm).  Bridget quickly started having some serious contractions and broke water, but no puppy.  I examined her (I am a DVM), and could barely feel a puppy.  I rechecked her after a few more contractions and that puppy wasn’t making any forward progress – not good.  And then the tip of another fetal membrane appeared, and I was becoming seriously worried we had a stuck pup.  By now, my whelper helpers had arrived and we were coming up on 1.5 hours and no puppy.  Nancy got her van configured for an emergency trip to the vet and probable c-section.  Since Bridget was being such a trooper, I decided to make one last attempt to loop something around a puppy foot (coming breech, which is perfectly normal) and if so, would hopefully be able to provide a bit of traction.  It worked, and I was able to deliver one very vigorous, vocal puppy (Pink girl).  And within 7 minutes, her sister quickly followed (Purple girl).  At first I had suspected we had a big first puppy, and big breech puppies can occasionally obstruct when their heads don’t clear the pelvic rim.  But after noting Pink girl only weighed 13 ½ oz and we had that mysterious second set of membranes, I now believe we had two pups in the birth canal, and Purple girl had gotten wedged in there causing the obstruction.   Afterwards, we commented that Purple girls have had a reputation in previous litters of being the trouble makers and it looks like this Purple girl was off to an early start.  After that rough beginning, Bridget was truly amazing, delivering 9 puppies in 2 ½ hours!!  Then she finally slowed down to a pup an hour and was done at 8:17 pm.  By the end, Bridget had delivered 11 pups.  Ten healthy puppies (one didn't survive), 1 black female, 5 yellow females, and 4 yellow males.  So much for reading up on Mendelian genetics.  Statistically, we should have had a 50/50 mix of yellow and black puppies (the pup we lost was a yellow female).  Poor Jammer may be wondering if these are really all his puppies.