Peaches’ Pits arrived a couple days early on February 27 with some drama. Thank you to so many of you who reached out privately to check on us. It’s been a stressful week but I believe we’ve turned the corner.
Peaches’ Stage I labour began Sunday midday and serious contractions started Monday mid morning. Puppy #1 was stuck and resulted in a rushed visit to Trinity Hills 24 Hour Pet Hospital in the afternoon. With the help of many skilled hands, Puppy #1 was born and shockingly required no resuscitation. In hindsight he was our 2nd smallest puppy but though he was head first I believe his positioning somehow was impinging her sacral plexus — she had a limp tail when pottying that day which resolved as soon as he was born.
We hung out the rest of the evening in Trinity’s Whelping room with assistance if/when we needed it. Puppies 2-4 came in a reasonable period of time though #4 arrived breech & without his placenta. After much additional effort a c-section was done to rescue #5. Sadly, it was too late as our one and only lovely girl had become entangled in her brother’s placenta as she tried to descend and she became our first angel puppy. 
Birth weights of these puppies were as we would expect of an ACD litter – between 12-14oz. They usually say a bitch in whelp should gain 2lbs/puppy… Peaches only gained 8.5lbs. This surprised me as she looked so much bigger. I think if she was a woman she would not have been the cute lady with the beach ball belly who didn’t look pregnant from the back. No, Peaches would be the enormous lady who can’t put her shoes on at 6 months in!!
Our return home was in the wee hours of Tuesday morning with four beautiful boys in tow. Though Peaches was quick to mother her “Peach Pits,” her milk let-down was very disrupted over the last few days by the extent of her labour and emergency c-section at the end. I have been assisting her with latching, ensuring the brothers are sharing what milk she has and weighing many times per day to ensure gains.
All I can say is that I am so impressed with Peach Pie. She endured all kinds of pain and had more stamina than I could have ever imagined. She’s recovering well now and is a devoted new mama and is surprisingly cool with what visitors we have had. She’s even allowing Lucky & Romeo to watch what’s going on at a distance.
They say, “It takes a village,” and that has been no truer in the last week. Much gratitude to friends Carol Gordon (WR Aussies), Karena Miller (Tinydancer Mini Bull Terriers), Leona Stringer (Heartstrings Shelties) and my Mom (Mabel Liebrecht). The collective in person and at a distance was vital and I could not have asked for a better “Pit Crew” to help these babies into the world.
Let the puppy spam begin…!!
CanCH Hillhaven’s Reel Lucky Star HTs HSs PCD RN RA VA
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CanCH Reel Austlyn Ksenia Crown Royal Flush HTs PCD RN RA RE VN
