First Puppy Pics

Here they are - the first pics:

As you can see, Mom is doing a great job taking care of the puppies. I'm amazed at how well she's doing, as it was a very long night for her!

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I was on my way to work yesterday when my mother-in-law called and told me that Rogue was making a racket and was all worked up. I turned around, headed for home, changed clothes, then headed over to my in-laws. (We moved her over there when she was about due so that we could keep a closer eye on her since we haven't built our home yet out at the property.) This being Rogue's first pregnancy, I think she wasn't sure what was going on and was a little scared. She had started having her first contractions. I ended up sitting with her all day yesterday because she started barking and crying if I left her side even for a few minutes.

Around 4pm yesterday, she began squatting as though she needed to urinate. Then the first sac began to show. Rogue didn't know quite what to make of this and kept trying to lick it away. At 4:25pm, the sac broke, but no good contractions kicked in and no puppy appeared. I tried a few techniques to try to stimulate her to pick up her contractions, but they didn't work. After waiting an hour, with little-to-no contractions and a puppy I couldn't reach still lined up and waiting to arrive, I packed my whelping supplies up and we headed for the vet's office. Things just weren't normal and I wasn't willing to chance things.

At the office, the veterinarian examined Rogue. She was fully dialated, but he said he couldn't feel the puppy in the birth canal. I started worrying that we were going to lose the first puppy because of the amount of time that had passed - with every minute, the likelihood that the puppy would suffocate or drown increased. We hooked Rogue up to an IV, gave her some calcium to prime her muscles, waited half an hour, then administered Oxytocin to initiate contractions. Then we waited some more. Finally, around 8:30pm, she began to have some solid contractions. But she couldn't pass the first pup on her own - although it cleared her pelvic girdle just fine, she was too tight. Poor Rogue had to have an episiotomy, and the vet pulled out the first puppy to discover that despite the amount of time that had passed, he had made it out alive!

After successfully delivering the first puppy, I went about setting up the office breakroom as Rogue's new whelping area. She managed to deliver the next pup, a little girl, on her own about an hour later. We figured that everything would go smoothly from there on out, so the vet and the office staff headed for home, and I settled in for the night to wait out the rest of the puppies.

Unfortunately for both me and Rogue, things didn't go as smoothly was we had hoped and she didn't have an easy time of it. She was unable to pass any of the rest of the puppies on her own - I think she was just too tired and the pups were rather large for beagle pups. I spent all night and morning sitting up with her making sure that I helped each puppy out when it became clear that she wasn't able to do much on her own - and some of the pups had a very tight squeeze to get out despite the episiotomy! Finally, at 7am this morning, Rogue delivered her very last puppy - a little girl - right before the staff began coming back in for the day. When the vet came in, he stitched her up and Rogue was a champ getting through it. Throughout everything she had been through, she was patient, well-behaved, and didn't hold anything against me or anyone else.

I packed up Rogue and the puppies and headed back over to my in-laws where I proceded to get mom and pups situated and settled in. I got a little bit of laundry started, and then I was on my way home. Rogue was so caught up with her new little ones that she barely noticed when I left. Then home...post a message on this blog for everyone...then...sleep! I crashed on the couch with two beagles laying on top of me and didn't budge until 6:30pm this evening...checked in on puppies again, took some pics...posted this blog...and now its time to sleep again! Until the next post...