This is why we test!
Capella’s progesterone was basically unchanged and so now we wait and see what tomorrow has to say 🤯
LH0 (probably)
It appears that we might be a winner at Hormone Bingo after all.
Capella’s progesterone was 1.96 at 8:30 this morning. This is not quite the magic 2.1 that would clearly shout, “LH0!!!” but given the early test time and the fact that it is indeed surging, we can — probably — safely assume it went over 2.1 at some point today, making today the official start of the breeding clock.
We will test again tomorrow morning just to be sure she is not hanging out at 1.9 - 2.0. That said, I will be surprised if her progesterone level tomorrow is not on the way up. If I am correct, we should then see 3.9 - 5.7 (or thereabouts) on Friday (LH2).
If today is indeed LH0, I have good news and bad news.
The good news is the due date (if all goes well 🙏🍀🧦): Valentine’s Day ❤️
How cute is that?!
The bad news — the clinic that can help us ensure a breeding is closed on Sunday, and Sunday would be the first ideal breeding day 🤯
There is a Sparkle pic for every occasion!
Carol sent me a hilarious question: “Is Capella’s rendezvous with the dad live in a fancy hotel room or a sterile vet office with a turkey baster?”
O.M.G. 😂
It is actually a very relevant question. I would like to say the rendezvous will be live BUT there is a lot of inexperience involved 🙄 and I have learned the hard way to not trust the dogs to just figure things out. Therefore, we need a turkey baster expert on stand by!
But — SUNDAY ⛪︎
🤔
Why Now?
The timing of this planned litter has been shaped by circumstances. Life was much too unsettled to even think about breeding Capella before I moved. Waiting was the only sensible choice, under the terrible WTF circumstances.
But I have been anxious about this necessary period of waiting because both time and heat cycles increase the risk of pyometra, a scary uterine infection. It would break my heart not to have a Capella puppy.
I read someplace that pyometra is typically caused by e-coli, and I also read that cranberry extract could change the PH of urine and reduce e-coli-caused urinary tract infections. I am not sure if it works for the uterus in dogs but what the heck — Capella went on cranberry some months ago.
Capella was in season in July — she cycles every 5 - 6 months. All those “hits” on her uterus have been concerning but the math suggested breeding on her next expected heat cycle would mean missing the 2025 Specialty.
I could not imagine that — miss all my friends, Lori’s lasagna, and my most favorite week of the year?! No. I decided to roll the dice yet again and breed Capella after the 2025 Specialty.
And then something happened that I REALLY could never imagine. My beloved Claire died 😭
As I cried over Claire’s body after her sudden and shocking death that night, I talked to her. I told her how much I loved her. How much I would miss her and how much she would have loved the new yard we were moving to in just a few weeks. I thanked her over and over for being everything she was to me, which was more than words can say.
I told her about all the things we still had to do together — as if telling her those things would cause Claire to reinhabit her still body so we could get back to work. She was, after all, the ultimate Comeback Kid.
And I remember saying to her, “…and you didn’t even get to be a grandma.”
💔
Everything shifted.
Claire needed to be a grandma.
And that was suddenly more important than the Specialty: Making Claire’s next Comeback — her grandchildren.
N Litter = Comeback Kids.
💔❤️