Cavalier king charles spaniels are notorious for not waiting till day 63 to give birth. I predicted that Phoenix would give birth sometime over the weekend and true to form, Sunday afternoon she started to get super clingy, not letting me out of her sight and panting a little. By 5pm things started to get a little more serious as she panted and dug in her bed beside me, and vomited a little.

She started pushing and we realised that there was a baby but no sack. These are the births that make us most nervous as it’s harder on mom when there is no lubrication. I could tell the baby was a good size as with every push Phoenix would yelp. I ask ed my husband to come and help and I held Phoenix’s hips apart as he gently guided it out.

Baby 1 was an 8oz girl! A beautifully marked blenhiem girl!!

Baby 2 got suck, once again coming without a sack, but this time even harder feet first. We tried so hard to get her quickly, but 20 mins of gently pulling with every contraction, we knew there was little hope of a live baby at the end. And we were right – our 2nd perfectly marked blenhiem girl was born DOA 🙁 UGH. We did all we could and rubbed her down to no avail.

At this point, I started called ER vets – I didnt want to pull each puppy out – it’s hard on us and the mom – and I didnt want to lose any more. 3 ER clinics said they were full and not taking any more patients. One told us to call Mt Vernon – despite being an hour away, we called them and they said COME so we jumped in the car and drove.

Phoenix and the blankets and her firstborn were on my lap and my husband drove us. On the way, she started pushing and had a tiny ruby boy. We later weighed him at 4.5oz.

While waiting in the waiting room in the clinic, she started pushing again and had a 2nd ruby baby boy – again small at 4.5oz.

The vet asked if we still wanted surgery with 1 pup to go. We decided to see if she could do it herself and went into a quiet room for her to labor. The final pup, a ruby girl, was another big one but the vet assisted her out and was able to do it so she made it.

I think we arrived home at 4am. Exhausted but grateful. Phoenix is a great mom and now the work begins.