Need FAST help with whelping dilemma, please! - Page 2

If she is still eating and acting normal I would not worry I do not think she is ready, in fact could be a few days away from being ready, hopefully NOT, but could be.  Temp's usually will tell you but possible she will be different?  Just wait and watch (as you are) would be my only advice, if she was in labor I would be more worried, but does not sound like she has started as of yet.  I have had a bitch with 4 puppies that did not ever go into actual labor and she did have to have a C-section but was overdue 4 days or so.  The wait was agonizing though as this was earlier on in my whelping days.  Hope all goes well, try to get some sleep, can you have someone come and whelp watch while you get some rest?  Before the whelp starts hopefuly.  Good luck  Nan

From you post about using Fox Lake A.H. for X-rays, I'm assuming you are in the northern Chicagoland area and wanted to make sure you knew about Dr. Joann Randall at the Animal Hospital of Woodstock if you are in need of an experienced repro vet.

 http://animalhospitalofwoodstock.com/

Ok, back from ultrasound. Two large, very very alive puppies who are happy where they are and under no distress whatsoever, so the blood is as suspected- incidental and not indicative of anything horrible going on. The vet was so impressed with the size and strength of their hearts that she actually video'd them on her phone, lol. 

The skulls on the earlier x-ray did not look proportionately too large for her to pass, though ultrasound showed these suckers are big. Megy is big, though. She's quite a beast. 

I am sooo exhausted. This was supposed to be a simple "let's see how many pups there are" trip and she had to start bleeding in the office and freak the vet out and then get me all scared. The oxytocin was not my idea- I said I didn't like it and we compromised on a small dose that would help if she was in labor that was not progressing due to dead pup but not enough that it would affect pups who are not really ready to come out. She was almost sure one or both were dead already (though could not explain why; I asked several times "Why WOULD they be dead?") I will call this vet tomorrow and explain what happened when I was finally able to contact my "regular" vet whose opinion I trust a bit more. 

So, now, I go back to what I've been doing w/Aria the last couple days- watch and wait and try not to fall asleep, lol. 

ZweiGSD, thank you. I am actually a couple hours South. I drive quite a ways for those x-rays :)

Thanks to EVERYONE who responded. It helped to get perspectives on different experiences.I don't think as clearly when I'm exhausted and worried. Helps to bounce ideas off someone else who's been there. :)

I will post back when something happens. 

Jenni, are you a member of the FB fertility, reproduction and neonatal group?  It is a lifesaver for repro, breeding, whelping, puppy issues... The fact that her temperature dropped yesterday, no labor, the blood and the smaller litter size is concerning to me, although I'm glad things are looking good on the ultrasound.  Oxy before labor is a HUGE NO, it can cause premature seperation of the placentas or uterine rupture, although the small dose likely did nothing. 

Ok, premature coment...wanted to add that I wish you and your girl an easy whelping and two very healthy babies! 

Fingers crossed for you and Aria, hope all goes smoothly from this point on.

(Try and get some sleep while you can !)

If you can set up your sleeping area  next to whelping box believe me they will wake you up.  Any AM updates??  Good luck  Nan

Olga, yes, I am.

Her temp dropped then came back up. I've had that happen many times before, where it goes up and down before THE drop signaling labor. Until yesterday, she was dry; now she has a little colostrum which started yesterday. The blood is/was very minimal. It was like old, dried blood mixed into the mucus plug. It was not fresh or flowing in any way. There has been no more since that short time yesterday. It was sticky, like mucus plugs are. Today her temp is 99.8-100.1. Still no signs of labor. Eating like a horse. 

I don't use oxy at all unless there's a strong suspicion of a retained placenta. The position of the pups and the blood is what apparently had the other vet concerned that they were distressed or dead already and needed to come out ASAP. I was not sold on this. I don't think she was as confident as I was she was not in labor. She didn't trust I had any idea what I was doing and I didn't trust she had any idea what she was doing! LOL. I was very happy to get the other vet's phone call late that she was headed back and I could bring her for an ultrasound. She didn't think the oxy was an issue, either, at that stage, in that dose, though agreed it was likely unnecessary. 

I have always had the idea in my head that Megy is about 2-4 days behind Aria in terms of due dates going only by their breeding behavior. They are close experience and did everything as far as receptiveness and flagging about 2-4 days apart, consistently, and Megy stood for a full week after Aria was done, so I now that I know they were alive at 10:00pm last night, I have no reason to think they won't be in a day or two. I was not expecting her pups until tomorrow-ish. 

So now we wait. 

Good news is that Aria is mom to 9 gorgeous, healthy, vigorous pups! 

OOoopps ... Megy too, of course !

Had two litters born technically the same day 30 hours apart;  swore I would NEVER do it again, although a cute story makes me smile;  Pearl was rejecting her last pup (which was small and ??) gave her to Candy after rubbing her puppy poop on the orphan and away she went to feed and clean her like it was her own.  Mother nature can be soooooooo wonderful to watch.  Good luck  Nan

Pic's  we want pic's...