The Wildflowers

The Deconstruction Stage has arrived — you know, the hindsight, questioning, and what if’s.

The first puppy arrived at 7:39 a.m. She was not in a sac and so the birth was “dry” — Daisy vocalized with the pain. We used gentle traction and gravity to say hello — and good-bye — to this wildflower taken before she had a chance to bloom.

We started the Zoom session — it looked like this in Boise…

Those on Zoom watched as a boy arrived safely at 8:12 a.m. and another one at 8:36. When Daisy started pushing again, those two puppies headed for the warming basket.

Red is Paintbrush and orange is Mallow.

But nothing happened — she pushed and pushed. We tried all the tricks — calcium, walking, nursing puppies, etc. to no avail. We reached out to the vet who gave Daisy 15 - 20 more minutes to produce a puppy or we had to head in.

Team Daisy kicked into gear, gathering up all the needed things in case Daisy could not deliver — literally — and so we were ready to go.

We had a 35 minute drive into Missoula. Suzanne drove and I was in the back with Daisy and the puppies. Daisy continued to push and when we were approaching Lolo I saw a head.

Suzanne was getting us to the parking lot of the tractor supply store as the puppy slithered out.

To all appearances this was another angel puppy. Thank goodness we had the oxygen and Team Daisy is not easily dissuaded — we worked and worked and the puppy started to spark. When she squeaked, we knew that somehow — after well over an hour of being pushed — this little one had a chance.

I had already checked in with Kris about my idea for her name and so that girl is Clarkia in honor of Clark Osojnicki — I think he would appreciate the story of her dramatic arrival.

We continued on to the vet and after checking remaining puppies with ultrasound, they gave us a space to finish whelping the litter.

I told Suzanne that for all future litters we will just call and say we have a stuck puppy so we can camp out there while whelping. I am kidding (sort of) but it was seriously awesome and especially after the last few scary days.

At 11:30 we welcomed another boy — his name is Sage.

At 12: 26 Mariposa arrived — a girl.

At 1:45 another angel arrived — a boy — clearly having aspirated meconium.

Team Daisy had a confab.

Meconium prior to birth (which is yellow — not green) indicates puppy in distress. This had been a long labor with a lot of puppies — and more to go.

Clearly Daisy could likely deliver the rest of the litter naturally — but we had clear evidence we could well lose additional puppies.

Benefit vs. Burden — there it was again.

The benefit of a c-section is for the puppies and the owner’s peace of mind — the burden and risk is all on the mom.

I was unwilling to risk Daisy to reduce my anxiety about whelping. In my mind, human anxiety is actually not a good reason to risk a dog’s life — and yes, dogs die from c-sections.

Losing puppies is heartbreaking but it is a risk I will take over risking the mother, who had no choice in all this reproduction stuff, after all.

But there we were — an exhausted mother dog who clearly loved her puppies already and likely more puppies in distress — the balance shifted. Team Daisy elected a c-section for the remaining puppies.

As we sat in the room — in the very place where Zoey’s life ended — four new members of the family were arriving in the surgery suite.

Was the decision a correct one? Well, here’s our sign…

Larkspur — a boy.

And so arrived Larkspur (boy)…

And three more girls — Buttercup…

Clover…

And Lupine…

And seriously — anyone who think breeding dogs well and with love is easy, a money maker, great for kids, etc. needs to get their head examined — and their heart, if they have one (which I doubt). Terror and tears — that is the reality of breeding dogs well.

But the Montana Wildflowers have started to bloom and they are a beautiful sight…

Collar colors correspond to the blooms of the wildflower for which each puppy is named.

Bright Pink: Clarkia (girl)

 Lavender: Lupine (girl)

 Teal: Sage (boy)

 White: Mariposa (girl)

 Yellow: Buttercup (girl)

 Orange: Mallow (boy)

 Red: Paintbrush (boy)

Purple (changed from green due to easy confusion with teal): Clover (girl)

 Bright Blue: Larkspur (boy)

Their new families may, of course, change their call names but while they are with us — those are their names.

Daisy is being an outstanding mother.

Should we have done the c-section sooner?

That would have risked Daisy’s life without the potential benefits time identified, risked her maternal instincts since even a bit early can impair maternal behavior, and we have three smaller puppies who would not have benefited from arriving earlier.

So no — I am sorrowful for the angel puppies but do not regret staring terror in the face and marching into it. The blooming happened as it should — such is the nature of Nature.

SO much gratitude to Suzanne, Dear Husband, our incredible veterinarian, and every one of you who sent their best wishes and good thoughts — and who together created community around these wonderful new lives.

Thank you is inadequate.

Stage Two (Updated)

Dear Husband woke me up at 2:00 a.m. — Daisy was having some discharge.

Sure enough — dark green drips and discharge (birth is not for the squeamish — neither is this post).

Daisy is stressing me out!!!

I remember reading an article about this being normal so I looked for it on the Facebook group, couldn’t find it, and so posed a question about the discharge — I got multiple “Get Thee to the Vet” responses.

Great, more dead puppy images crowded my mind. Just what I needed after spending my birthday stressing about that.

Deep Breaths.

I called my vet — at 2:44 a.m.

As a result, we are at home and waiting — and I found the ARTICLE I remembered. Too bad I did not find it BEFORE I called my vet at 2:44 a.m.

Although obviously unafraid to make those middle-of-the-night phone calls, I waiting for things to be a bit more imminent before I call in the troops (aka Suzanne).

Have I mentioned how flipping terrifying this all is?!

7:15 pm Update

What a day.

Lupine

The story of this day tomorrow but for now know we are home safe and sound.

Five girls, four boys — and two puppies that could not stay with us. The Angel Puppies are heartbreaking, of course, and we celebrate the nine that could stay with us.

This first week is also terrifying — please think good thoughts for all of the new lives.

So Many Things (except puppies [so far])

The only thing currently residing in the whelping box is one cat.

The extra material in the whelping box is for Daisy to “dig.”

Puppies cannot be early or late — well, they can but it is not a good thing. This is why it is important to do progesterone testing when creating the litter — it both correctly times the breeding and establishes the whelping window dates.

I reviewed Daisy’s progesterone numbers yesterday and know we are still in the safe whelping window.

As I mentioned previously, a decrease in body temperature is a sign that labor is imminent but Daisy seems to have had at least three drops in her temperature, making things confusing. Yesterday her temp was 99.2 at one point — it is under 99 this morning.

Breeders like to think temperature drop is some kind of sentinel event, but the professional literature does not seem to share that opinion. Runcan and Coutinho da Silva (2018) identify that “…the preparturient “temperature drop” is highly variable and at times unpredictable” (p. 13) and advise not using it to inform timing of elective c-sections.

Clearly something is happening now that is different than before to be giving temperature readings under 99 when her normal is about 100.5 — and that something is positive.

The same article I mentioned above, one of many I have read recently, offers this helpful table for assessing when veterinary intervention is needed:

From: Runcan, E., & Coutinho Da Silva, M. (2018). Whelping and Dystocia: Maximizing Success of Medical Management. Topics in Companion Animal Medicine, 33(1), 12-16.

Daisy does not currently meet any of the criterion listed above for veterinary intervention. Although we likely had the temperature drop (see #2 above), Daisy is showing signs of Stage One labor, which include panting, restlessness, and nesting (digging).

Daisy needs to move towards Stage Two labor today. If there are issues or concerns, I will use the secret hotline number and seek additional input from Daisy’s veterinarian.

We have not flown solo thus far. In addition to having access to literature not typically available to breeders, I am lucky to have a veterinarian in the family who provides ongoing moral and professional support.

I also have a breeder-colleague I was communicating with yesterday. I can and do ask her directly, “what do you think?” — if my thinking is off, I trust her to tell me. She shared something I think is important for all to consider because it is so true and speaks to the scary challenges of this time:

“The way I see it, there are risks with both natural whelping and c-sections. I think the natural whelp is riskier for the pups, and the c-section is riskier for the bitch. And overall, breeding is risky business.”

Risk.

All of this is about risk.

Risking lives and deaths, trying to balance benefits and burdens without complete knowledge or the wisdom of hindsight — that is what this is about right now.

I have to live with the consequences and therefore, the decisions must be mine.

The job of friends is to trust me.