Week 1 Whirlwind

It's has taken me awhile to have the energy to sit down and update you all, but I'm happy to finally announce that the pups are here!! It's been very chaotic this last week but now things are starting to settle into a wonderful healthy rhythm.

I started noticing one Saturday morning that Moxxi's belly looked a bit different. Tighter and more strained. Moxxi herself was very disinterested with me being anywhere too far from her side which is always a good indicator for me. She won't even go into the kennel to nest unless Ryan or I help her.

When I started to collect blankets and towels and other things needed for what I'm assuming is impending labor, she is right on my heels inspecting everything with a snuff of approval.

Everything kicked off around 10pm that evening with huffs and whines, active contractions starting about a half an hour later. Moxxi pushed and pushed, laboring hard and steady, even with a water break but no puppy came. Around midnight I began to worry and put in a call to a local ER.

After getting a plan into place we began preparing for the inevitable move to the ER when I noticed a small bubble protruding from Moxxi's backend. A sac full of fluid that normally holds a puppy... my panic at that moment was probably more than palpable and became worse when it promptly retreated back into her body.

At that moment, we decided there was no time to waste. We packed Moxxi and all the birthing things into car and headed out into the night. It should be noted, the nearest ER vet is 45 mins away. Moxxi was so confused and became so nervous that she was all but crying in my lap in the back seat while we drove. We didn't make it too far before the small fluid bubble came back out, and Moxxi became increasingly uncomfortable. While I did my best to console her, I noticed something looked different. Something, wiggled...

"TOES!"

"What?!" Ryan questioned.

"Babe! I see TOES!! The puppy is backwards!!"

We frantically found a spot to pull over and then did what we could to assist Moxxi while our first beautiful pup, a Black/brindle male now named Kratos burst his way into the world in a splash of glory & goo at 1:50 am at 6.1oz on Sunday January 28th.

Immediately he began yelping and searching for food, & showed promise for good health as we decided to head back to the house and see if labor would jumpstart from there. We were right! Though not an easy labor, Moxxi did so good pushing through the next 4 pups.

Sheldon Pooper, a fawn male at 2:21am weighing an even 6 oz, (His name coming lovingly from our favorite TV show and the fact that he is ALWAYS pooping.)

Wall-E another fawn male following quickly after at 2:37am at 5.4oz.

The next puppy took a bit longer, as he was also backwards. Finally, at 3:25am at 5.6oz our next Black/brindle male, Jonesy made his way into the world. His breathing a bit shallow and his disinterest in feeding didn't go unnoticed while we prepared for the next pup, making sure that we set reminders to check in on him a little more often.

At this point we noticed Moxxi needing a lot more assistance as she began to tire quickly. Her energy levels depleting as we reached the 6-hour mark. We tried to allow her to lay down and rest, offering ice chips as often as she would take them, but things weren't looking good. She wanted the ice chips so badly, but she was eating so many she was beginning to shiver!

We started to prepare to head back into the ER since we knew there were at LEAST 8 pups, and in the process, she was able to birth one more tiny little all black male at 4:45am. at 5.6 oz we would later affectionately come to know him as Little Mouse because of his extremely adventurous nature and ability to squeeze into the teeniest of places.

At this Moxxi was done. We could tell. though her stomach was still contracting at regular intervals she was in no was inclined to try. All she wanted to do, validly so was sleep. So off to the ER we went. Her head in my lap, still contracting and uncomfortable as ever but still no attempt to put in any effort. When we got to the ER, she was curious and interested in walking around to explore the space.

After finally relieving herself for the first time all day, drank some water, ate a can of chicken and promptly took a nap. We didn't mind as we felt she really needed the break and took the moments of peace to take some time for ourselves as well.

(Moxxi patiently waiting for Ryan to come back when he excused himself to go to the restroom for a moment.)

The Doc came in and took Moxxi to do an exam, coming back to tell us that she was able to hear 3 heartbeats left aside from Moxxi's own. After a bit we decided to allow the pups to feed and see if that stimulated things to move along again... and oh my goodness!

Every time all 5 boys would begin to feed, the contractions would kick in hard! Finally, at around 7:55am we were able to welcome our first female, a black/brindle to the litter! The smallest of the bunch, our little Cupcake weighed in at only 4.4 oz. Our teeniest runt yet!

Only a half an hour later, at 8:33am, our second female made her entrance. A beautiful grey/fawn topping out as this litter's biggest at 6.3oz later to become known as Eve. (She looks very similar to her brother Wall-E and is never too far from his side.)

After this we noticed another dip in Moxxi's energy. Creeping up on almost a full day of active labor had done her in. We decided to run some blood tests and found her health was waning... measures would need to be taken soon. We had just agreed to allow the doctors to give her a stronger medicine to push the labor along when Moxxi promptly stood and let out a shrill yelp! I was sitting on the floor with her, and while I pride myself in being hard to frighten this definitely brough forth a yell from myself as well as a jet of fluids and other mess rocketed from her body! My reactions kicked in and I caught the projectile bare handed only to discover it was in fact our last puppy! Everyone in the room laughed with exhausted relief once he took a deep breath and let out a fantastic "MEEP!"

While the vet checked his vitals, she began to talk to him...

"Well dang! Eject-o, Seat-o Cuz!" she said, mostly to herself but I couldn't resist giggling. "Well, we know your good people if your gonna quote Fast & the Furious at us" I told her through my laughter.

"Heck yeah! And you, little one shall forever be known as Cuz..."

It was too perfect. Ryan and I agreed immediately and now that beautiful little Black/Brindle Male born explosion style at 10:08am at 5.2oz, bringing us right to the 24-hour mark is our little Cuz.

Moxxi for a hard job well done and marveling at the amount of exhaustion we could feel that we were barely holding at bay, we agreed to allow them to take Moxxi back to check that her abdomen was clear. We began to pack up when the vet tech came back in, holding Moxxi and a new set of blankets... a look of defeat on her face.

"No way..." I said as I realized what was happening. "Seriously?!"

There was one more pup. Unfortunately, there was no discernable heartbeat. Another doctor was called in to take another look with more detailed equipment, and not only did he confirm that there was no heartbeat... the puppy wasn't fully formed.

"More than likely, with how large this litter is... she just didn't have enough to give. So, the body capped it off shortly after it began to grow. This isn't necessarily a loss as much as just nature."

While that still wasn't pleasant to think about, it was easier than what it could have been. So, we sat. We sat and sat for hours with Moxxi, allowing her to rest and eat and nurse since we knew we had no real time crunch anymore. Thanking our luck that we were here with the assistance of the ER or we would have never known...

At somewhere around 2:30 in the afternoon the final pup was birthed. They took it back to examine it and deemed in definitely never viable, which helped some. We wrapped in in a beautiful sunshine yellow towel and took it home were our local vet agreed to allow it to go into the communal cremation. My kids, while sad still understood enough to not have it be heartbreaking. They call that baby "Sunshine."

All in all, it was a rough go but I'm so glad we made it through with everyone okay. So far, all pups are thriving and happy. Momma is finally starting to feel herself again, and I'm sleeping on the couch near the puppy kennel just as a precaution in case anyone needs a little extra help.

That being said, we have decided that this will be Moxxi's final litter. This one was a bit too much for her, and we just don't want to take the chances with her health. So, we have already set it up with our vet, and once she is all healed up from this trauma, we will be retiring Mama Moxxi to a life of couch Pug-tato luxury... and let me tell ya, I don't think any of us mind one bit... Especially Moxxi! <3